The magnificent formula

VIA «Shampoo-conditioner for care UGG»

Before I read Slow Death by Rubber Duck I was unaware of a lot the chemicals put in every day things. It's really impossible to escape them, which is terrifying. But there are a few things you can do to minimize you're contact with certain chemicals. I thought I was doing pretty well on the environmental scene, but this book showed me so areas I could improve on. The biggest one for me was home bath products since I already use natural home cleaners and do not buy Teflon. After reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck I decided to switch out my shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash, and deodorant.

1. I purchased the Burt's Bees Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo and conditioner. Burt's Bees has a few different types of shampoos but this had the lowest amount of chemicals. Some of them might smell better but I didn't really care. This cost about the same as the shampoo I was originally using, so it really isn't a big change for me.

2. Tom's of Maine Natural Toothpaste is what I replaced my former toothpaste with. This is a dollar more perhaps, but other than the chemicals it tastes a lot better than my old toothpaste and I don't feel like I have to scrub and scrub with it to make it work. That might be psychological, but I do like it more. I also got Tom's of Maine Natural Mouthwash but that was actually more because Jason needed a new mouthwash and he hates the alcohol taste in them. Tom's doesn't have alcohol in their mouthwash.

3. I got the unscented Tom's of Maine Natural Deodorant. A lot of you are probably wondering how that is working. I've noticed a little smell if I get particularly sweaty, but I actually had the same problem with my old deodorant (I don't use antiperspirant) so I think the Tom's deodorant works just as well as normal deodorant.

Aths has a great post up today about further options for detoxing ourselves from chemicals and she goes into what chemicals you're actually getting rid of. Be sure to check it out at Reading on a Rainy Day!

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For one year Vanessa Farquharson decided she would make one environmentally friendly change every day. She would keep a blog about her progress, and try to figure out what all of this green movement stuff meant. Sleeping Naked Is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days

is the book version of her blog, although they're very different. The blog had in-depth posts for each change, while the book only has a little bit about a few different changes every month. And sometimes nothing about the changes at all, just a mention of the change and then a story about a date she had that same day. Something completely unrelated. If you can't tell by my lackluster introduction, I was less than pleased with this book.

Maybe I should preface the rest of this review with a statement: I'm an environmentalist. I pretty big environmentalist. I recycle, bike/walk instead of drive whenever possible, buy organic food, recycled products, make homemade cleaning products, take military showers, wear clothes several times before washing. Yeah, I'm kind of green. But there is still so much more I could do, so when I picked up this book I thought maybe I would also pick up some new ideas. Which I did, let's make that clear. I'm planning on creating compost box after reading her description of hers, and there were a few other ideas. But for the most part, I think this book was a cheap ploy to cash in on the media success of the green movement. Oh, and a way for her to brag about how she started dating her boyfriend.

The biggest problem I had with this book was the lack of information. She says she did something, like stop using paper towels, but she never goes into why she decided to make that decision. She doesn't talk about any research she did, and scientific information to back up that decision. And without education, people are not going to make a change. Another problem I had with this book is that she complains relentlessly about everything. She decides to wash her hair with natural oils instead of shampoo, and then complains and complains about how this will prevent her from getting a boyfriend because what kind of guy will date a girl who uses oil to wash her hair. She decides to bike instead of drive to work, but then complains and complains about how this is going to prevent her from wearing cute outfits to work, and that's she's going to have to take backpack (God forbid!) with her to work. She has a real thing against backpacks, just hates them. And there are multiple instances in the book where I was under the impression she was doing all of this to meet hipster guys instead of for herself. To her credit, she does stick with some of her changes and stops complaining about them after a few days, but honestly my view of her was not the greatest, and I didn't find this book to be very interesting, helpful, or mind changing.

I'm giving this book a D.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.