Wendyl's Green Goddess Website

My natural skin care picks.

Dear Wendyl, what skin care products do you use everyday?

I get asked this question so many times that I have decided to list everything I use on the website so that people can try them out for themselves. I've tried and tested so many products over the years and some of them I've been using for nearly 15 years they are so good. All of them meet or almost meet my criteria of being natural and not containing any nasties like parabens, nano particles or synthetic products. I hope you try them and enjoy them as much as I do:

Skincare:

Weleda Rose and Calendula cream. I use this as a daily moisturiser because it smells gorgeous and has loads of wonderful essential oils in it. It's also a great cream to have around as it is really soothing for rashes or bites.

Make-up remover. I try not to wear a lot of make-up but when I do I use Healtheries Apricot oil to remove it. It is also a great oil to rub into your skin at night.

Living Nature Nourishing Night cream with 2 drops of Radiance Night Oil added. I put this on last thing at night mainly because I love the rose smell and it feels really luxurious. (You'll notice a rose theme developing.)

Make-up. If I have to put some make-up on I use Living Nature products for anything which touches my skin. So I combine half and half their foundation with the tinted mosturiser for my face. I don't like a thick foundation and this works out nice and light. I also use their eye-shadow, eye pencil and blush.

For mascara I have to confess to using L'Oreal telescopic, just because it's really effective and I don't use a lot.

For lipstick I'll use a Living Nature one for day time, but for a red lipstick whcih they don't have in their range I use Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in the Raisin colour. I find this stays on really well and doesn't leave my lips dry. I also like to use Kereru's natural rose lip salve - you can access this at www.kereru.co.nz.

Hair:

I have yet to find the perfect product. At the moment I am using Pureology shampoo and conditioner which goes someway towards reducing unnecessary chemicals in my hair. I've also found Natural Instinct which you can get in chemists and health shops is quite good. Let's be clear though, if you were going to use a totally natural shampoo there would be no bubbles and your hair would feel stripped out. That's how Nana's hair used to be, but I'm not ready to go there yet. I also use aloe vera gel to condition my hair sometimes and always my rosemary hair rinse - recipe under Beauty Recipes to your left.

Before drying I add a tiny bit of Argan oil - you can get this at www.lotusoils.co.nz. Just rub it through the ends. And try to leave your hair to air dry as much as possible to help keep it in good condition.

Teeth

All I need is my tooth powder - recipe under NewstalkZB recipes at your left

Bath and Body

I am addicted to Kereru's Bath Salts - the rose geranium pamper blend. You can access them at www.kereru.co.nz. I don't need any excuse to plunge myself into the bath with their salts because you emerge covered in a beautiful oil and you smell amazing. I've tried to replicate it myself but never achieved the same wonderful result.

Body cream/oil.

My favourite is Weleda Wild Rose body lotion or in summer I make up my own body oil - see Beauty Recipes.

Deodorant

After much trial and error I have settled on Weleda Wild Rose Deodorant. It costs about $25 and I use about three bottles a year. It's not a heavy duty deodorant but you always feel as though you don't smell too bad. My husband uses their Sage deodorant.

Greenwashing and Ecostore

I recently posted a link on Facebook and Twitter to a Consumer NZ story about misleading claims on supposedly "green" laundry powder labels - you can read it here. The next day the story ran in the NZ Herald, and it stated that Ecostore, a big brand with a big reputation to keep had been caught out with a higher pH level than was acceptable for their packaging and that the company had reformulated to correct this. This morning they took a full page ad in the Herald basically re-stating this information but the tone of the ad "There's no dirt on our laundry powder" and "(To put it in persective, the national pH guidelines would mean that fresh limes and lemons should be in child-proof packaging with warning labels.)" leaves me with the distinct impression that they are being very defensive.

I have to ask the question, if Consumer NZ had not tested the laundry powder how would we, the consumer, ever have known that there was a risk to the safety of our families? This highlights the need for some sort of government regulation to test green claims made on packaging and regulate what is a million dollar industry getting a lot of support from people who genuinely want to remove harmful chemicals from their lives and have no choice but to trust brands like Ecostore.

I contacted the Green Party earlier this year to try to get some movement towards this aim, but have not had any follow up from them. But I do understand Consumer NZ are going to do some more tests and I welcome this move (and I'll be sending all my products their way in the hope they'll be included.)

Meanwhile it would seem a good idea to opt out of any product which has unclear ingredients or any degree of mistrust. And perhaps if Ecostore feels so strongly about the fact that they have been "looking after people's health by ridding every day cleaning products of unnecessary and harmful chemicals for the last 18 years" as they state in their ad, they will voluntarily carry out independent tests and publish those results.

And a reminder.All my products state clearly on the labels the ingredients they contain such as baking soda, washing soda, castile soap and essential oils. They also carry the recipes to encourage people to refill themselves with ingredients they can buy in the supermarket or their local bulk supply store. That's how I am "looking after people's health". I'm not in the business to make a million dollars, I just want people to live better, greener, healthier lives.

Consumer highlights a banned product used in "natural" baby products.

I was appalled to read in Consumer that a product called Mahu which makes baby products has been found to contain a nasty and harmful chemical. Mahu which has the sell lines "designed by midwives," "trusted by midwives," and "trusted by mums" to promote a safe image, have used preservative IPBC which is classifed by ERMA as having acute oral toxicity and inhalation toxicity and it is not allowed in moisturisers or any other "leave on" preparations for children under three years of age. However Mahu used this product in their Mahu Stretch Mark Lotion and Mahu Nipple Cream. IPBC has also been identified as a potential contact allergen. Despite this, Mahu products Consumer bought state "Contains no ingredients that are potentially harmful".

Mahu said they asked retailers to recall these products in 2008 yet Consumer had no trouble finding them on sale as old stock. Mahu have now accused Consumer of being reckless in publishing an article which contains "errors, untruths and omissions". I read their press release and was disappointed to see the usual defensive attitudes taken by "natural" and "green" marketed producers who are caught out by claiming that:

1) "the content of IPBC was minute" - I don't care, I don't want it near my baby.

2) "IPBC was a preservative commonly used by many leading cosmetic and skincare companies" - a lot of people commonly smoke, doesn't mean it's right.

3) "mahu's ongoing research and its commitment to both safety and quality lead them to change their formulations so as to remove IPBC." Then why is it still on sale? Surely the right thing to do was to recall every single product and dump it. Obviously this hasn't happened. And perhaps they could offer a refund to those who bought it and have since found out it contains IPBC. This is current practice in other countries where so-called safe and natural products are found not to be so.

4)"The New Zealand Health Department did not ban or request the recall of any mahu products" I don't care, if you are indeed a company which as stated in the release "stand by our values and our ethical and honest approach to all that we do. Our customers and their safety are paramount and our products reflect this deeply personal and heartfelt commitment to their well-being” then surely you do a voluntary recall of a product you know to be harmful.

5)Mahu also tells us about how the business was started by a brother and sister seven years ago. This is also a common defense I find used by companies who are eager to give an image of a little cottage industry being hit by the bad guys, in this case Consumer. Let's be clear here. Mahu is stocked in all major supermarkets which means it is doing very well. And according to this article they have a significant shareholder in Phil and Ted's - the world's leading manufacturer of three wheel baby buggies and a significant player in online baby stores. So I think they could probably have afforded the recall of products which they knew could be harmful to babies.

Consumer has asked for an immediate recall and has notified ERMA of their concerns. Meanwhile show your concern for the protection of our babies from false claims of safety, natural ingredients and a failure to keep dangerous products off the shelves by refusing to purchase.

Here is the Consumer press release link http://www.consumer.org.nz/news/view/consumer-calls-for-cosmetic-withdrawal#

And the Mahu press release link http://www.mahu.co.nz/pressmahu/press+release.html

By the way congratulations to Living Nature and Dr Haushka for being the only cosmetics investigated by Consumer to contain no synthetic preservatives unlike Trilogy, Sukin, Skinfood, Natio, Huni, Earths Organics, Avalon Organics, Antipodes, The Aromatherapy Company, Giovanni Organic Haircare, Jason Pure, Natural and Organic, Olive,Planet Earth, Spa Organics and St Ives.