Local Beauty Secret

Check it out:

944 Magazine’s San Diego Editor shares five local beauty secrets in their recent “Be Well” article and our vegan lip balm is one of them!

Our 100% natural, vegan lip balms come in three flavors: Hint of Mint, Cocoa Butter & Orange Vanilla.

Our lip balms are made of organic cocoa butter, organic caranauba wax, jojoba oil, vitamin e, and natural essential oils. No artificial colors, preservatives or flavorings.

For a limited time we are offering all of our lip balms on sale for only $2.99 each (regularly priced at $4.95).

You can order yours online at our website:

What is that smell?

What is that smell in your bathroom? No, we’re not talking about that smell.

We’re talking about the many scents emanating from bathroom. You know, from your:

hand soap
shaving creme
lotion
deodorant
body wash
toothpaste
mouthwash
sunscreen
hair styling products
shampoo
hair conditioner
lip balm
body scrub
make-up
perfume

Wow, that’s a lot of different bathroom products and these are just the items that I decided to list because these ALL get washed down the drain and end up in OUR water system. Even a minimalist in our culture is likely to use at least two of the above items at least once a day. More likely, most of us probably use at least five of these items on a daily basis.

As a female in my late thirties, I use on average eleven of these products daily. Even my husband can be found using at least nine of these products daily and nobody would ever accuse him of being metrosexual.

So, consider this – most products contain artificial fragrances or parfums and other artificial ingredients and preservatives. All of these chemicals are being absorbed into and onto our bodies and then trickle down into our waters daily. Even some products that are advertised as “all-natural” sneak in an artificial fragrance or two and think nothing of it. Oddly enough, some “unscented” products use artificial fragrances to cover up the natural scent of their product so they can market it as unscented.

Our products, here at San Diego Bath & Body Co., do NOT contain artificial scents, artificial colors or other artificial ingredients. We use plant-based (botanical) essential oils to naturally scent our products. To check out our full line of bath and body products visit www.sdbathandbody.com.

We’re curious, how many of the above products do you use daily?

Benefits of Sweet Almond Oil

Our Light Body Lotion and Hydrating Cremes are both made using a combination of plant based oils, waxes and butters emulsified together with distilled water. Today we’d like to highlight one of the oils in our formula: sweet almond oil.

Here are some interesting facts that you may or may not know about sweet almond oil:

• Sweet almond oil is produced from pressing almonds;  100% of the commercial supply in the U.S. and 80% of the world’s almonds are grown in California.
• Almonds are a rich source of vitamin E and fatty acids (oleic, pamitic, linoleic, linolenic, stearic).
• Sweet almond oil is easily absorbed by the skin; doesn’t leave it feeling greasy or tacky, which is why it is popular among massage therapists.
• Sweet almond oil is good for moisturizing dry, chapped, irritated and aging skin and hair.
• Sweet almond oil has been used throughout history for a variety of purposes; from lighting, cosmetics, aromatherapy, cooking, medicines and perfumes. There is a long history of healthful benefits from using sweet almond oil.

Now you can see why we love using sweet almond oil in our light body lotions.

The quality of the oil is determined by the quality of the almonds and the method of extraction. We only use certified organic oil that is extracted from organic, raw California-grown almonds using the cold press method. The cold press method refers to the temperature of the dried almond kernel when it is pressed to release the oil (when it is heated it degrades the quality of the oil).

Wouldn’t you rather have a lotion made with organic sweet almond oil rather than nasty chemicals (mineral oil, petrolatum)  like many lotions and cremes are made with today?

Visit our store to order one of our Light Body Lotions or Hydrating Cremes made with organic sweet almond oil: www.sdbathandbody.com.

*Please note that people with nut allergies should not use our products containing sweet almond oil.

Spring Has Sprung

Rosemary Mint Bath Bar

It’s official – spring has sprung! Time to dig into your garden and start bringing it back to life.

Our Gardener’s Bath Bar is specially made to help you scrub away the dirt and grime from your green thumbs. This special batch of Gardener’s Bath Bar is made of all natural, organic,  food-grade vegan oils and butters for a rich, creamy, abundant lather. We then added RosemaryMint essential oil to lightly fragrance our bars and crushed apricot seeds to gently exfoliate away the dirt.

For a limited time we’re offering free shipping on all orders of Gardener’s Bath Bar. No minimum number of bars to qualify for the free shipping. Enter code “GARDEN” upon checkout on our website to get free shipping on any order containing at least one bar of our Gardener’s Bath Bar.

Benefits of Exfoliation

Spring Break is just around the corner and before you start packing the shorts, swimsuits and flip-flops we want to remind you of the benefits of exfoliation.

The skin naturally exfoliates approximately every 28 days. Exfoliation can help it shed faster than normal and help keep skin healthier and younger-looking.

Exfoliating your face, chest and back helps to prevent breakouts, whiteheads and blackheads. Gentle exfoliation can help keep pores from getting clogged and help minimize fine lines and wrinkles.

The skin on your feet is thicker and can be drier than normal during the winter. It is important to exfoliate your feet, especially your heels, so you can remove dead skin to allow your cremes and lotions to lock in the moisture better.

Our body scrubs gently exfoliate away dry skin using organic sugar crystals and organic oils; allowing moisturizers to work to their full effect, revealing softer, healthier and more youthful looking skin. We make all of our body scrubs fresh upon order and use only all-natural, vegan ingredients. We never use petroleum-based ingredients or artificial colors or fragrances.

Check out our delicious Vanilla Coconut Body Scrub, spa-inspired Eucalyptus Body Scrub and our luxurious French Lavender Body Scrub at our website: www.sdbathandbody.com. For a limited time offer we are offering free shipping when you order any body scrub now through March 15. Just enter promo code “SCRUB” upon checkout on our website for your free shipping!

Holiday Spirit of Hope & Optimism – Mary’s House

We wish that all of our friends, family and customers feel an amazing sense of hope and optimism for the coming 2011 year. We recently discovered a non-profit organization that works to help instill some hope and optimism in our community – Mary’s House in Escondido, just north of San Diego.

“Mary’s House opened its doors in 2003 with the goal to provide young women aging out of the foster care system with guidance, counseling, and programs designed to support them during this critical stage in their lives. The sudden jolt out of the foster care system can be overwhelming. Mary’s House provides young women with the tools needed to move into the next stage of their lives with hope and optimism.”

San Diego Bath & Body Company will be donating holiday gift bags to the young ladies that are currently residing at Mary’s House. We encourage all of our friends to support this positive program. For more information on Mary’s House visit their site: http://www.promises2kids.org/programs/marys-house and scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the link to donate or contact Edith Glassey at 858-427-1103 or at edith@promises2kids.org if you would like to lend your support in other ways.

San Diego Bath & Body Company wishes you and your family happiness and good health through the holiday season and new year!

Christy Bartlett
Owner of San Diego Bath & Body Company
www.sdbathandbody.com

Your Largest Organ? Your Skin!

Why are you eating organic foods and then putting toxic products on your skin?

Your skin is your largest organ. It has over 1 billion pores and acts like a sponge, absorbing everything you put on it.

So, if you are eating organic foods but using synthetic and toxic skin care products, it works against what you are trying to accomplish by eating organic, natural foods.

Many people tell us that they overwhelmed by the ingredients list on their skin care products. Here is a short list of the nasty, toxic ingredients found in skin care products and cosmetics that you should avoid. Always read the ingredients list on all of your products. It should NOT contain any of these synthetic ingredients.

The most common synthetic chemicals used in skin care products are:

1. Propylene Glycol (PG) and Butylene Glycol
2. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
3. DEA (diethanolamine), MEA (monoethanolamine) & TEA (triethanolamine)
4. Polyethylene Glycol (PEG 4 – 200)
5. Sodium Hydroxide
6. Triclosan
7. DMDM and Urea (Imidazolidnyl)
8. Parabens (Methyl, Butyl, Propyl.. etc)
9. Alcohol, Isopropyl (SD-40)
10. Mineral Oil
11. FD&C Color Pigments
12. Synthetic Fragrances

Our products are organic, natural and made locally here in San Diego in small, fresh batches.  Visit our website to see our full line of products.

San Diego Bath & Body Company

www.sdbathandbody.com

Not Another Bottle of Wine…

The holiday season is right around the corner. As you start calendaring all of the upcoming parties we encourage you to think outside of the ordinary wine bottle as a host or hostess gift and instead bring a bottle of organic lotion, jar of organic hydrating creme or a soy aromatherapy candle. All of these make unique, thoughtful gifts that will last beyond just one night of imbibing. Everytime they reach to use your lotion or candle this winter season they will be reminded of your thoughtfulness and appreciate the lasting usefulness of your gift.

Visit our website to see our full selection of natural, organic products that all make wonderful host or hostess gifts for the next party you attend. As a special holiday offer, order 6 or more of our products in one order before Nov. 23 and take 25% off your entire order. Enter discount code:  GIFT upon checkout on our website to get your 25% discount.

Happy Holidays & Party On!Christy Bartlett
San Diego Bath & Body Co.
Be Good To Your Body!
www.sdbathandbody.com

Natural Beauty

 

Today’s beauty trend emphasizes a natural, clean, minimal look for our faces. I’m thankful for this trend since I have never been a fan of wearing makeup on a daily basis. I have always been a firm believer that natural, healthy skin is the key to true beauty. If you don’t have a good foundation, good skin that is, then you are going to have to work a lot harder to achieve the “natural” look by using make-up.

Many of us spend our hard earned money on the latest and greatest serum, lifting potion or revitalizing crème to make our skin healthy and beautiful. The cosmetics industry spends a lot of marketing money to convince you that their product is the only way you will achieve beautiful, healthy-looking skin.

So, besides good genes, how else can you obtain healthy, beautiful skin? It’s pretty simple – good skin comes from a clean, balanced, hydrated diet. One that is rich in fruits, nuts, beans, vegetables and a minimal amount of processed foods. Smoking cigarettes, doing drugs (legal and illegal) and visiting tanning beds are just a one-way, high-speed train ticket to Haggard Street in Fugly Town. (Proof: Lindsay Lohan).  Too much meat, alcohol, dairy and natural sun exposure without sun protection also buys you a one-way ticket to Fugly Town, but, you’ll arrive on a slightly later train.

Good skin also comes from sleeping well, laughing heartily, exercising regularly and having minimal stress in your environment. Exfoliate and moisturize your skin regularly and you will be putting the icing on the cake. I encourage you to work towards achieving beautiful skin the natural way. Our products use organic botanical ingredients to help you achieve your most healthy, beautiful, natural skin.

Christy Bartlett
San Diego Bath & Body Co.
Be Good To Your Body

Why Is Natural Soap Better?

Trio of Natural Bath Bars

Why is natural soap better?

Commercial synthetic soaps are laden with chemicals and artificial fragrances. These ingredients are made in a lab to mimic natural ingredients at a much cheaper cost. Some of these ingredients are petroleum by-products – yuck! These same ingredients wash down our drains into our streams, lakes, oceans and drinking water.

How do you know if you are purchasing commercial synthetic soaps? Look at the ingredients on these popular commercial synthetic soaps:

Dial Antibacterial: Active ingredient: triclocarban. Other ingredients: soap (sodium tallowate, sodium cocoate or palm kernelate, sodium palmate types), water, PEG-6 methyl ether, palm acid or tallow acid, fragrance, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium chloride, pentasodium pentetate, tetrasodium etidronate, BHT, FD&C yellow #5, D&C yellow #6, FD&C Red #4.

Lever 2000 Pure Rain: Sodium tallowate, sodium cocoyl isethionate, sodium cocoate, water, sodium isethionate, stearic acid, coconut fatty acid, fragrance, titanium dioxide, sodium chloride, disodium
phosphate, tetrasodium EDTA, trisodium etidronate, BHT, FD&C blue no. 1, D&C red no. 33.

CAMAY: Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palmitate, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Water, Tallow Acid, Palm Acid, Coconut Acid, Palm Kernel Acid, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance, EDTA,
Titanium Dioxide, FD&C Red #4, D&C Yellow #10.

In addition to the unnecessary artificial colors they also add artificial fragrances. Artificial fragrances are a leading irritant to skin. Natural soap doesn’t add artificial colors or fragrances. They scent their soaps with natural essential oils from plants and flowers. (Please note, however, that some people are also sensitive to even natural essential oils and they should use soaps that have no additional natural or artificial scents added to them).

Glycerin is another good reason to buy natural soap. It is a natural by-product of the soap making process. Glycerin is a natural humectant and draws moisture to your skin. Soap companies can make more money by taking out the glycerin and then selling it to pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies and replacing it with synthetic ingredients that try to mimic glycerin.

We encourage you to look at the ingredients on your soaps and body washes. If you see any ingredients that you cannot pronounce or are not sure what they do for you then we encourage you to Google the ingredients and learn more about them.

Our bath bars (we don’t like to call them soaps, we feel that they are in a class way above commercial-grade synthetic soaps) are made by combining lye and food grade, organic vegetable oils and butters (such as organic olive oil, organic coconut oil, organic cocoa butter) to make “soap.” We don’t remove the natural glycerin and we only use natural organic essential oils derived from plants and flowers. The only additives we add to some of our bath bars are sea kelp, ground oatmeal, ground almonds, dried lemongrass, dried lavender and aloe vera gel.

For more information about our organic bath bars or to learn more about any of our products visit: www.sdbathandbody.com. To learn more about what makes the ingredients in the commercial soaps above so bad visit:
http://www.cleansolutions.biz/household/article-soap-dangers.html

If you have a particular question regarding any ingredient in your soaps or body washes feel free to email us: info@sdbathandbody.com.

Christy Bartlett
San Diego Bath & Body Co.
Be Good To Your Body!