The natural way to go!
Because skin is the first organ to respond to it's environment the saying "you are what you eat" also applies to what we "consume" externally. According to Ayurvedic medicine, oils (and other applications) are carriers into the nervous system. As our skin's ability to absorb is by no means selective, beneficial fat-soluble vitamins are readily absorbed – along with harmful petro-chemicals such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (synthetic detergent in some shampoo, shaving foam and toothpaste), Glycerol Stearate (a drying skin irritating baby wipe additive), and Propylene Glycol (surfactant in cosmetics and baby products). In the case of the skin application there is a lot of material to suggest that these chemicals have biological effects detrimental to one's health. This is particularly so for infants and children as synthetic chemicals are far more toxic for them than for adults. The "chemicals to avoid" list is far too long to include here, however when considering skin care products plant based ingredients rank supreme. For more information go check out the websites below.
www.allnaturalbeauty.com www.greenpeople.co.uk
There are some easy skin care recipes at the end of this newsletter. You can also check out the new 100% plant based shampoo bar that we have in store. Hand made in Christchurch, the Joli Savon bar can also be used on the skin and is mild enough for babies.
We now stock the Weenees waterproof baby pouch pants. These nappies can be used with either a cloth liner or a fully compostable, worm-safe, flushable, "disposable" pad. The cloth liner is super absorbent micro fibre with a 300ml capacity. The disposable pad is non-chlorine bleached pulp from farmed trees – so you can home compost the wet pads and flush the soiled.
OTHER SHOP NEWS
Yet another month has gone by since we've been in our "new" shop and the memories of trading from "The Shed" are far behind us. We celebrated our official reopening of the new/old shop on the 13th of May. We would like to thank our wonderful suppliers for their generous donations of food and drinks and huge amount of support through this very crazy time at Piko, and our customers for your support - we really couldn't have done this without you. It was great to have a bit of time to celebrate our reopening for staff, suppliers and customers. It was a lovely evening, with the Kowhai tree planting ceremony and the delicious food and drinks. Speaking of drinks we are now a licensed premises and have a fine range of organic wines.
The Sunset Valley Pinot Noir is particularly nice, Lothlorien Feijoa wine is a delicious classic drink and the Green Man Bitter Beer is well worth sampling.
On the staff front, Andrew and Aisling have both recently become Piko Co-op members, and we've also hired Rebecca who was working in America before she headed to New Zealand and Robyne a long time Piko customer who wanted to see how things work on the other side of the counter.
As we have become even busier it's so wonderful to have some fantastic new people working at Piko. Now that all our expansions are finished we have seven carparks accessible from Barbadoes Street only! (as delivery trucks use the Kilmore Street Drive Way.)
Baby "wet wipe" alternative
1 spray bottle
Fill with;
50% water
50% olive oil and / or almond oil
To use:
Shake (bottle!) then spray and wipe- baby with soft cloth/tissue at nappy change time.
Follow up with one of these next two recipes:
Simple nappy rash prevention
1 Spray bottle
Fill with olive and / or almond oil
Spray on after cleansing baby.
Baby Botty Balm
150 ml olive oil and / or almond oil
17 gr beeswax
Optional 1-2 drops essential oil of Manuka or lavender
Melt vegetable oil and wax together using a double boiler. Allow to cool down to warm temp before adding essential oil, then pour into a jar.
Note; for a vegan recipe experiment with vege based emulsifying wax.
This recipe is also great for massage or as body balm.
Lip Balm
25 ml olive oil and / or almond oil
5 gr beeswax
Follow mixing instructions for Baby Botty Balm.
