GUD Vanilla Flame Body Wash by Burt's Bees Review

06/28/13

Surprisingly my older sister jumped on the eco friendly train prior to me. While I've always cared about the environment her care for her children prompted her to make wiser choices on her household items. When I was looking for eco friendly lines that stores near me might carry I decided to ask her what she used. She suggested burts bees and I have to say I was definitely pleased with the body wash!


GUD by burts bees has no petrochemicals, parabens, or phthalates, it is also NOT tested on animals! Burts Bees' company takes pride in being eco friendly. According to their web page not one piece of trash is EVER sent to the landfill! They recycle everything, and anything that can't be recycled is turned into fuel or electricity. Burts Bees also uses a reverse osmosis system in order to reuse thousands of gallons, and has switched to more eco friendly and energy conservative options that has allowed them to use 21% less energy  in 2012 than in 2011.

In addition to reducing waste from manufacturing and operating Burts Bees is also striving to cut excess packaging on their products, having reduced some of their packaging by up to 50%. Beyond reducing packaging Burts Bees also tries to be more sustainable by creating their product packaging from recycled materials, their bottles average 78% PCR content (post-consumer recycled) and their primary packages are around 39%. Everyday household products normally average around 25-35% PCR.

I have to say that I am very pleased by Burts Bees company. While their products are not the cheapest on the market they are made by a responsible sustainable environmentally conscious company! They also have a wide range of products for personal care, that smell great and are more healthy for your skin!

Now on to a review of the particular product at hand: GUD Body Wash, Vanilla Flame scented

I just used this product for the first time last night. My normal body wash is Softsoap, they have a variety of great smelling body wash with beads which are great for exfoliating... however the Softsoap company isn't really one that is known to be eco friendly nor is the line itself. While they claim on the website the body wash is made using safe, effective ingredients however the ingredients aren't explained!

The Body Wash smelled GREAT, and while it didn't have beads like I'm used to and prefer that was something I knew before purchasing this 10 oz bottle for around $5 on sale. I can't wait to try more of Burts Bees line and the GUD line along with the other scents! 

Light up your world: cfl's versus incandescent

06/10/13


Most people have heard that the CFL bulbs are better. But do you know why, or even if that is true? Here is a spoiler: It is true. CFL bulbs are better for many reasons. Despite their higher upfront cost (you won't be finding these guys in a dollar store), these bulbs are reported to save you over $6.00 annually and supposedly over $42 over the life of the bulb.

The lifespan of the compact fluorescent bulbs is roughly 10x that of the incandescent bulbs. CFL's lifespan averages 10,000 to 15,000 hours while the incandescent bulbs average only 1,500 hours. The greater lifespan is a good thing for the environment, it means less waste and less resources used to create new bulbs to replace the old bulbs that had gone bad.

When comparing energy usage of the two bulbs then its obvious that the clear winner as far as energy conservation is the cfl bulbs. The cfl bulbs only use 104 kw of electricity versus the incandescent bulbs which use 480 kw of electricity. Using four of the cfl bulbs uses the same amount of electricity as ONE incandescent bulb. With this information we can surmise that by switching from incandescent to cfl bulbs in our entire house we can cut our lightening costs by 1/4 overall.

There has been some concern as to the mercury content of the cfl bulbs. Cfl bulbs contain around .4 mg of mercury within the bulb. There has been a debate as to if the cfls are better since they do contain mercury whereas the incandescent don't. To find the answer refer to the spoiler alert in the beginning of this blog! Despite containing a small amount of mercury within the bulb Cfl's still win the mercury wars because they emit less mercury from usage. Incandescent let off 5x more mercury emissions when in use than Cfl's do. Incandescent bulbs emit 5.8 mg of mercury emissions, cfl's only use 1.2 emissions and contain .4 mg of emissions for a total of 1.6 emissions of mercury! 1.6 versus 5.8, cfl wins hands down!

Being in a rental for around a year I haven't changed out all the bulbs in the house, especially not the really long ones that I'm not sure even come in cfl's! I have changed around four bulbs and when I buy a house then I will only be using cfl's or possibly LED's after I research them! What about you, whats in your house?







Last words: If your using cfl's ask your city about recycling them. While they are a better alternative that .4mg of mercury in each bulb can add up in landfills!

Why more people don't jump on the eco friendly train, is it the smell?

So I was out today shopping and I went to a spa for a facial. Well I was there I was considering whether I thought there might be an eco friendly spa in the area or even an eco friendly facial option. I have heard there are new eco hair dye options... I don't dye my hair though so I haven't checked if their are any options in my area.

What I was looking for after my trip to the spa was an eco friendly exfoliater since the lady at the spa suggested to me that for my skin I should exfoliate twice or three times a week. I usually shop at Walgreens and Kroger... I haven't really been thrilled by the eco friendly options the stores in my area carry! Since moving to a new smaller city I have noticed that my choices are SEVERELY limited!

I went into one store and I bought a reusable bag and I was talking to the cashier and she mentioned that her daughter has been getting onto them about recycling, being eco friendly and eating more healthy! We were discussing why more people don't and the point was made that many just don't know or don't think about it. I found another reason why being eco friendly can be unappealing to some, when they aren't finding the right options! The smell!!

When I was shopping today I was thrilled to see some new organic options in a Kmart near the spa I went to... I was not thrilled however by the smell! Each of the products I looked at looked great on the label but as soon as I opened the jar to smell it I was immediately off put. I have already tried Tom of Maine's deodorant and lets just say I smell worse when I use it!
 The Greenscape organic line I feel would be the same, at least from what I smelled of the body scrubs... which wasn't at all pleasant.  I do however want to say that there are MANY eco friendly/organic products that don't stink! So of course smell the product before buying it if possible, but if your buying online just check the reviews! If you go to amazon you will see a reviewer called one of the items in this line stinky, and they weren't joking! It seems like it will be a great eco friendly product once they get the smell right!