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May

29

Review & Giveaway: Dimpleskins Naturals Bum Bum Balm Diapering Salve

Filed Under Giveaways Coupons, Product Reviews, Skin Care | 51 Comments

bumbalm1 I’ve been lucky that my son doesn’t really get diaper rash often (and let’s hope his new baby sister follows suit on that) but when he does, anything with zinc in it tends to irritate his skin more. We also cloth diaper, and while I do use disposables on occasion, I need something that I can use while using cloth, so that I don’t have to use even more disposables. So when I got the opportunity to try Dimpleskins Bum Bum Balm, I jumped at the chance. Bum Bum Balm is completely all natural, zinc free and also safe for those who cloth diaper. Score! This is not your typical diaper rash cream. As I’ve stated, it’s zinc free, so you don’t have that typical white smelly paste that you have with regular diaper rash creams. Zinc can leave an almost waterproof residue on cloth diapers when they get washed, ruining their absorbency so this is a great alternative for those who are cloth diapering. Since this is a balm, it goes on nice and light and doesn’t seem to coat the skin where it can’t breathe, yet the beeswax acts as a barrier to keep moisture away from rashes.

Bum Bum Balm’s ingredients are completely all natural. With less than ten ingredients, all of which I know and can pronounce, I feel good knowing that I’m not putting any unnecessary chemicals on my children. Check out the DimpleSkins Naturals website – they have some great products! Bum Bum Balm gets a hearty thumbs up from SafeMama.com!

Get it: You can order Bum Bum Balm directly from Dimpleskins website. Get 10% off online orders through http://www.dimpleskinsnaturals.com by entering the code SAFEMAMA at checkout, offer expires July 1/09!

Bonus Giveaway!

The wonderful ladies at Dimpleskins have offered to giveaway a free tin of Bum Bum Balm to one lucky winner! How nice!

To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this entry telling us what diaper rash cream you currently use and why it’s your favorite or why it’s not working out for you at the moment.

For bonus entries do one or all of the following and leave a separate comment for each (so your extra entry will get counted!)

Add our SafeMama button to your site (get the code on the lower right)

Retweet this giveaway @safemama and follow @safemama on twitter

Blog about this giveaway and leave us the link to your entry

Entries accepted until 10pm EST on June 5th, 2009. Contest open to US residents. One winner will be chosen at random. Good luck! Giveaway Closed.

Congratulations Mandy for picking up the tin of Bum Bum Balm! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Jan

15

Review: Kiss My Face Obsessively Natural Kids

Filed Under Product Reviews, Skin Care | Comments Off

kiss my face kids My mom actually bought some of this kids Kiss My Face line for us when we were visiting and I kind of fell in love with it, so I thought I’d share my thoughts with SafeMama Parents. Kiss My Face released a line of kids bath products and deemed them Obsessively Natural. They are free of all the icky things I prefer to avoid like parabens, phthalates, PEG’s, SLS (see glossary for info), dyes or fragrances… all scented with essential oils.

They have a variety of products including some hard to find items like bubble bath. I adore the Orange U Smart Shampoo and Conditioner and of course the Orange U Smart Bubble Wash. I just saw they have a fluoridated toothpaste as well which if you are pro-fluoride might be a nice alternative. These all work great and have a nice orange scent which is a welcomed change from the usual lavender scented products around. Another perk, these can be readily found and are pretty affordable. The bubble bath is $9.95 versus the $12+ you might spend on a bottle of CA Baby Bubble Bath. I’ve seen some of these at target and Publix and I am sure they’re available elsewhere like Whole Foods and stores that typically carry Kiss My Face products.

Buy Online: you can also order these on their website if you have trouble finding the items you;re looking for. Kiss My Face Online Webstore carries the full line and I’ve seen them on drugstore.com too.

Jun

24

BeeCeuticals Re-Review & Giveaway!

Filed Under Eco-Mama, Giveaways Coupons, Skin Care | Comments Off

I know I have raved about BeeCeuticals Organics in the past. However, now that the site has come to many new people’s attention I feel it’s definitely warranted to bring it up again. We focus so much of our time and energy on our kids but us safe moms want some pampering without the parabens. I discovered BeeCeuticals Organics from a commercial on the Howard Stern show over a year ago but since then, and since becoming seriously hooked on their products… I am now a devout believer and follower. I really cant say enough about this company. Why? Because they use as much certified organic fair trade ingredients as is humanly possible to find. They care about their environmentally friendly packaging, they care about the environment… they offset 100% of their power usage with Green-e certified wind and solar power energy…. and they care about saving the bees! bzzzz…

But enough about how caring they are. What I want to focus on is their products. Sure they are a great company but are their products great? YES. I started out trying a few things here and there and fell in love with their Bee-yond Body Balm™. I had a few peeves about it but once I was past them I fell head over soft supple heels. Imagine my shock when they FIXED my peeves with a reformulation. Now, this stuff is heavenly perfect. It works some serious rough feet miracles that no foot balm has ever fixed for me. I use it all over the place now and plow through a container a month. Its great for dry hands, lips, rough spots, feet, elbows, cuticles… it softens everything without saturating you with some awful petroleum like other balms.

I am also a self professed lip balm addict. I have about 12 in my diaper bag. I wish I was kidding. BeeCeuticals lip balms are my favorite. I dig through the pile in my bag to find my BeeCeuticals lip balms over all others. I recently learned also that some natural and even organic lip balms are packaged in polycarbonate plastic. Big natural name brands that sell at natural food stores. They don’t mark the tubes. What a dirty little secret! BeeCeuticals Organics packages all their products in safe recyclable materials and plastics and are making moves towards glass containers soon as well. No polycarbonate lip balm for me thanks!

They have 3 new flavors of lip balm available: Blueberry, Peach and my personal favorite, Raspberry. I am hoarding 2 of them as we speak. No one gets my raspberry BeeCeuticals.

Win it!

One lucky reader will receive a tub of Bee-yond Body Balm™. To Enter, check out the BeeCeuticals Organics website. Send an email* to safemama [at] gmail.com with the subject “Save The Bees!” and tell us what BeeCeuticals Organics lip balm flavor you’d love to try. Giveaway ends Friday July 11th, 2008 at midnight EST. We’ll announce the winner here and we’ll be submitting winner info to PRIZEYWinners so you can check there to see if you’ve won as well. Contest has ended.

*your email address will never be shared or used to email you. It will only be used to notify you if you win.

Jun

4

Father Day Gift Ideas: Aubrey Organics Men’s Stock

Filed Under Safe Dads, Skin Care | Comments Off

Safe Daddy’s need safe skin care too! Aubrey Organics, one of the approved Safe Mama skin care companies has a line of Men’s Stock that includes skin, hair and shave products free of parabens, phthalates, synthetic chemicals and fragrances, and not tested on animals. The packaging is nice and manly so your Father’s Day recipient won’t be left with a frou frou bottle of face wash to tote around.

Their shave system includes a face scrub, shave cream, a shave balm and an after shave. Aubrey Organics say the lightweight balm calms and conditions just-shaved skin and helps reduce razor bumps with flaxseed lignans, plus soothing organic aloe. The aftershave leaves skin cool, tingly and smelling great. They have three scents available: North Woods, Spice Island and City Rhythms.

We haven’t tried this ourselves yet but I’m thinking I may need to get some for my guinea pig…err, I mean my husband. Pamper the papa in your life with some safe, natural skin care!

Get It Here: Aubrey Organics (free gift with purchase!)

May

20

SafeMama Review: Stuff 4 Sprouts

Filed Under Product Reviews | Comments Off

Last year, while looking for yet more lotion for my son (I don’t have a problem and I can quit at anytime, I swear), I came across Stuff 4 Sprouts. It looked cute, with fun scents, and natural. Kristen was nice enough to recently send me some samples of their cream and lip balm. She sent me the Blueberry cream, which currently has phthalates in it, but will be phthalate free by next month. She does disclose this though on her website, as well. I liked the cream. It’s a little greasy at first, but it absorbs nicely and lasts through a few washings. Since it’s a cream for kids, the smell is fun. I mean, what kid wants to smell like an old lady’s attic? They also have the cream in fresh cut grass. Fresh. Cut. Grass! That is one of my all time favorite smells ever. All in all, I liked the way it made my hands feel.

The lip stuff (for extra crispy kissers) was awesome. It comes in a wider tube for smaller hands and even though it’s for kids, I’m all over anything that smells like chocolate. The lip balm is awesome and comes in three kid friendly flavors: chocolate, frosting, and peanut butter and jelly (no peanuts are used in the actual product, so no worries of allergies).

All of Stuff 4 Sprout’s products are paraben and phthalate free, with the exception of the blueberry muffin cream, which as I mentioned is changing to phthalate free as well soon. And a bonus for me is that Kristen lives in my area. I love supporting local businesses.

Safe Mama readers can order online at Stuff4Sprouts.com and receive 15% off your order when you use the code: SAFEMM15. Code is good through the end of June.

May

13

Product Review: Nature’s Baby Organics

Filed Under Product Safety, Skin Care | Comments Off

I know, you think I love everything. But, I am usually moved to write a review when I am passionate about a product. A few months ago I ordered some items from Nature’s Baby Organics to try out on my son. I’ve always been a California Baby user, because I liked the line but also out of convenience… it’s easy to find. But after starting our Safe Baby Care Cheat Sheets I quickly realized that there are a lot of great companies out there who’s goal is to provide us safe and organic products, without compromising quality. One of those is Nature’s Baby Organics. I forget where I came across them originally but after looking at their website I knew I had to give it a try.

My biggest peeve with truely natural products is the abundance of lavender scents. Lucky for me, I like lavender. But sometimes, you are just over it. Something, anything not lavender will do. Willing to do anything to escape the ho-hum lavender scents I was surrounded with, I purchased the Vanilla Tangerine Shampoo and Body Wash and the Leave in Conditioner and Detangler (we get some serious bed head in this house) and the company generously sent us a few extras to test out. I have a wide array of items that we’ve tried from the Safe Baby Care Cheat Sheet in our bathroom, but I keep going back to the Vanilla Tangerine goodness. I first tried the Shampoo & Body Wash and when it comes out of the bottle it looks little jelly-like, so at first I was skeptical about the performance. But it lathers well and smells sweet without being too overpowering. It rinses clean and a relatively small amount goes a long way. I decided to give the coordinating conditioner a try too… it seemed gentle enough and it touts “Leave In” as an option. This conditioner seems to have erradicated the morning case of bedhead and makes his hair shiny and soft. And did I mention he smells delicious?

In my shipment I also recieved the Fragrance free Face and Body Lotion whic I quickly stole for myself. Duh. Many times, I’ve encountered “unscented” or “fragrance free” lotion and it smells like chemicals or smells weird. Not this one! It has a really subtle clean smell to it and once absorbed it doesn’t smell at all. It has a creamy thick consistency but goes on thin enough to absorb fast so you aren’t waiting around to get dressed. Personally, I hate the smell of the Burt’s Bees body lotions – they are too strong for me – so I ditched them for this one.

I got an array of other items they make including the Organic & Preservative Free Diaper Cream, which I like. I have been a die hard California Baby Diaper Rash Cream person because that seems to work the best on my son, but what I like about Nature’s Baby is the lack of scent. Sometimes I can’t stand the smell of diaper cream so this is a nice change.

They have a wide array of products that cover most of the baby care bases including a nice room spray, the PU All Purpose Room Deodorizer that is safe and long lasting… we all know the evil smell of the diaper pail can be a powerful force. The Organic Soothing Stick was a nice solution to spot treating dry skin patches without needing to slather lotion all over the place, fits nicely in a diaper bag too. I once used it as a make-shift lip balm. And one of the more brilliant products is the Ah-Choo Chest Rub. We haven’t had any colds yet but I love the idea of using this instead of the icky Vicks petroleum based chest rub.

Bottom Line: This is a great product line and a responsible, kind company. They promise their products to be USDA Certified Organic and free of parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, sulfates (SLS), synthetic fragrances and DEA. They are also signers of the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics and are animal cruetly free. Nature’s Baby Organics is Safe Mama Approved!

Apr

23

Safe Mama Review: Pit Putty

Filed Under Green Mama, Product Reviews, Skin Care, paraben free | 7 Comments

With everything going on in the news, I haven’t had much in the way of time to post a review, and generally, I’d say this is a good thing as news is what keeps us going around here, but this review is one that I’ve been been pretty excited about. I know you’re probably thinking: excited over deodorant? You need to get out more, Statia. And indeed I do, but that’s not going to stop me from being excited.

Replacing all of my beloved beauty products has been a very arduous and painful process. For one, I LOVE product. At any given time, I was once known to have at least 11 tubes and/or tins of lip gloss in my handbag. Now that I’m trying to live a less chemical life, it’s been trial and error, and also a lot of money. One of the last things I tried to replace was my antiperspirant. For one, most of the natural deodorants that are out there, are just that, deodorant, not antiperspirant. I was kind of scared of that, since I sweat like my father (and that’s just not pretty). The other thing is that most of them were like rubbing honey on my armpits, which left me feeling sticky all day, on top of sweating.

Enter Bubble and Bee Organics. I found Stephanie and Steve’s site while surfing around and I really don’t even know how I stumbled upon it, but I was really intrigued by Pit Putty. I slept on it, paced and took one long last hug of my icky chemically laden antiperspirant, before I bit the bullet and ordered it.

Oh my sweet baby Jesus. I saw angels! And rainbows! And unicorns! I LOVE this deodorant. When I first put it on, it was really flaky, and I looked in the mirror at my black t-shirt, that was now covered in white stains, and I was disheartened, but then I realized that I didn’t need an entire stick. I backed off and used a small amount, rubbed it in, like the directions said and then headed off to spend a day out in the hot sun. I did sweat a little bit, but it wasn’t much and quite frankly, we’re supposed to sweat, but I did not stink. At all. I wanted to give it a good week to give it a fair chance. I still love it. It isn’t sticky in the slightest, and when you rub it in, there’s no residue left behind. And it smells great, kind of like chai.

All of Bubble and Bee’s products are chemical free and organic. Everything smells so fresh and light. And Stephanie and Steve are so committed to making sure you’re happy, that they’ll go the extra mile to help you find a deodorant if you’re not satisfied.

Now if only I can convince them to make it in 5 gallon drums….

Update: There’s been a big response to Pit Putty both here and over at Bubble and Bee, which makes me happy. Stephanie has been generous enough to offer a coupon code. Simply enter the code “safemom” at checkout and save 15% off your order, over $35, which can also be combined with free shipping on all orders over $50. (offer expired, but check out the new offer over at LovelyMama valid until 11/1/08)They have several different deodorants to choose from. And if you’re not happy with it, they have an awesome deodorant guarantee policy.

Apr

11

Baby Skin Care Products: A Quick Users Guide

Filed Under Phthalates Info, Product Safety, Skin Care, paraben free | 7 Comments

One of the things that we’ve been frustrated with, here at SafeMama, was what seemed like a lack of safe baby skin care products. Hence, the second version of the Paraben and Phthalate Free Bath Care Cheat Sheet. As we were searching we realized that there actually are a lot of really great products out there, and so we compiled as many of them as we could find, and put them all in one central location for our readers to peruse. A few things to note:

1. Not every single product that’s out there, is going to be on this list. We’ve found tons of stuff, and have turned over many stones, but I’m sure there are some out there that we’ve missed. That said, if you’re using a product that’s safe, and it isn’t on here, please email us or comment and we’ll research the product add it to the list.

2. If your product isn’t on here, it may be because it didn’t meet the requirements for this spreadsheet. All of the products listed on here are free of parabens, sodium laureth sulfates (SLS), phthalates, 1,4 dioxanes, propylene glycol, and PEG’s. The who? The what? We’ve outlined briefly what these are and why you might not want them in your child’s skin care in the glossary.

3. Safety Rating: In addition to that, we crossed refrenced these products with EWG’s Cosmetic Safety Database and added the score to each product on the sheet. Not every product, unfortunately, is in the CSD, however, that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad product, but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether or not you feel comfortable using it.

4. Not all products that are manufactured by these companies have been listed. We kept this simply listed to baby skin care, and products that a person might use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and we noted each product as such. Again, it’s not that the other products are bad, it’s just that, well, this is list already very long, and the website is called SafeMama after all.

5. At the time of this publication, we hadn’t heard back from a couple of the companies. We’re pretty sure that California Baby is free of dioxanes, but because we hadn’t heard back from them after a few attempts at contact, we decided to put “unknown.” We’d rather be safe than sorry.

We hope you’ll find this spreadsheet useful. We wanted to make sure that the Mamas (and the Daddys) know that there are lots of options out there for your little ones skin care needs. The link to this sheet will also be added to the sidebar. If you have any questions regarding these ingredients, please refer to our glossary.

Once you’ve chosen safe bath products, make sure your bath toys are safe too.

Mar

6

Whole Foods Market Launches New Safety Seal

Filed Under Articles, Skin Care, paraben free | 2 Comments

My mother ship, Whole Foods (also lovingly known as Whole Paycheck by my pal Noel) recently put out a press release announcing their new new Premium Body Care seal of approval which will start to appear on their products:

In response to growing consumer interest and confusion about natural personal care products, Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket, has developed a new Premium Body Care standard and labeling seal of approval, setting a new industry benchmark. The new standard raises the bar for defining quality natural personal care and helps consumers decipher which body care products in its Whole Body™ departments contain the most natural and highest quality ingredients.

As stated by Jeremiah McElwee, senior global Whole Body coordinator, personal care products are not regulated the way food is in this country. Anyone can slap the word “natural” on the label and no one will say a word about it. This frustrates me on so many levels because these days, you have to practically be a scientist to figure out what’s on the ingredients list of a bottle of baby lotion. My girls at Serendipity Soap Company know this all too well and did some undercover work on the subject. (I love you girls…you crack me up)

Highlights of the new Premium Body Care guidelines are as follows (and they make me giddy inside):

Preservatives — While few are truly benign, some are necessary in body care products, especially water-based products. The Premium Body Care standard allows only milder preservatives that are shown to function properly — such as potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate — yet have a lower likelihood of causing cosmetic-related allergies and sensitivities. Parabens and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (i.e. diazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin) are unacceptable.

Surfactants — Used for cleaning, degreasing, emulsifying, conditioning and creating foam, these ingredients often irritate the skin and can remove essential fatty acids. The Premium Body Care standard allows only the most gentle types available, including decyl polyglucose and sodium stearoyl lactylate.

Fragrance — Only natural essential oils and components of natural essential oils are allowed as fragrances.

Sunscreen — Only physical sunscreen, such as zinc oxide or titaniumdioxide as better alternatives to those containing chemical sunscreens, such as oxybenzone and octyl methoxycinnamate.

Seeing Whole Foods take a more active and careful role in what goes on the shelves in the personal care aisles means more changes will come and other chain stores will follow suit. There is a reason you can buy California Baby at Publix and Target these days…

Mar

1

Product Review Series: California Baby

Filed Under Phthalates Info, Product Reviews, Skin Care, paraben free | 4 Comments

I’ve long wanted to sing the praises of California Baby® products. I’ve tested a number of other lines and I keep going back to my “old faithful”, California Baby. I wanted to start my series of reviews of phthalate-free and paraben-free products with this line since I’ve used a number of their products extensively, and when I saw another article about phthalates in baby shampoo in the Palm Beach Post last weekend, I felt I should get the ball rolling. What better place to start then with the line I’ve used since the day my son was born.

California Baby provides baby/kid bath products as well as sun protection, diaper care, bug protection…. all eco-friendly, cruelty-free, paraben-free and phthalate free. And they work. They have expanded their line to include freshening spritzers, essential oils and mother care too.