I’m not a shaving cream person — when I do shave, I use body oil.  Because it lasts a lot longer than shaving cream, and it gives my legs a nice shine, and I think it works better than shaving cream.  I’ve been using body oil to shave with for years — I love how “shaving oil” is coming into fashion nowadays — I’m just ahead of the trend!  

Anyway, I thought I’d try some Badger branded body oil, since I’ve never tried any Badger stuff before and I always see it at my local independent hippie market.  I used to use baby oil, but then I switched to almond oil because I hate the smell of baby oil (and I don’t think there is any 100%-cruelty-free baby oil — or at least there wasn’t at the time I first switched to almond oil), but that became a little frustrating because I always poured out too much almond oil.

So first off, I really like the Badger nozzle — it squirts out a very small amount of body oil, which is great.  You really don’t need that much oil to shave with — less is more.  Also I really like the glass bottle — some people may not like it because if you drop it in the shower, it will break, but I say pffft!  The glass bottle is very pretty.  

There are only two things I’m not so keen on — first, the price is kind of high — $14.99 for 4 oz.  While I think Badger oils are very high quality and undoubtedly worth that price — cold pressed, ecologically grown, USDA organic, etc — that’s a little expensive for my budget — I think I’ll be on the lookout for some less expensive oil in the future.  And second, the fragrance is a little . . . too savory for me.  I think it’s the rosemary.  Oddly enough, when I was testing this at the store, I really liked the fragrance.  I didn’t smell the rosemary at all.  But then I brought it home, and I was like, what IS that smell?  It really smells like something you should pour over potatoes before you roast them.  It’s a lovely fragrance, but definitely not a fragrance I usually look for in skin care products.  

(Besides being 100%-cruelty-free, Badger products are vegetarian — and they contain no animal products other than beeswax, according to the website — and USDA certified organic.)

So my overall verdict is 4/5 stars — great oil, pretty and well-designed bottle — but expensive and roasted potato-ey.

Badger Body Oil (4oz) is available for $15.00 from the Badger online store and most natural stores.

Badger Sore Muscle Therapy Massage Oil

A profoundly healing Poet-Warrior blend, with gingery fragrance, and the natural anti-inflammatory effects of Cayenne Pepper Extract. The essential oils promote good circulation, clear thinking and confidence. Lemongrass is said to strengthen connective tissue and reduce cellulite. The blend is rich in essential fatty acids, E vitamins and anti-oxidants to smooth the skin while bringing much needed relief to your hard working, hard playing and very sore, give-me-a-break-please muscles and joints. The Ginger, Cardamom, Rosemary, and Lemongrass essential oils are also good for muscle and joint healing. The fragrance helps to calm, center and strengthen the emotions. When used prior to physical activity, Sore Muscle Therapy Massage Oil helps keep muscles and joints warm and loose. And, it’s good for the skin.

Ingredients: *Extra Virgin Olive Oil, *Castor Oil, *Cayenne extract, *Jojoba Oil, Essential Oils of of *Ginger, *Cardamom, *Lemongrass, *Rosemary, Wild Marjoram, & *Sage, and CO₂ extracts of *Ginger, *Rosehip, *Seabuckthorn Berry, & *Calendula.

Alba Botanica Papaya Mango Body Cream is from Alba’s “Alba Hawaiian” line in the yellow, orange, and green print bottles. It has the words “Alba Organics” on the side — I suppose this must be a new development at the Alba Botanica/Avalon Organics/Unpetroleum company. Maybe Alba Botanica is now Alba Organics?

Anyway, the cream is hypoallergenic, made from 75% certified organic ingredients, and filled with “tropical fruit enzymes and beta-carotene blended in a rich, luxurious body cream to soften, soothe, and smooth rough, dry, flaky skin.” To use it, you’re supposed to apply liberally to entire body, especially elbows, knees, and heels.

(It’s 100%-cruelty-free, vegetarian, and 75% organic. But it is not vegan.)

My take on it: Well, I like the jar — it’s a medium-sized plastic tub that is easy to carry around and doesn’t take up much space on any countertop. I like the fragrance — it’s very fruity and mango-ey, though it is a little chemical smelling, which I’m not so keen on. It has a wonderful texture — creamy and thick but melts into my skin pretty quickly for a thick cream, not grainy at all, very smooth, and not heavy or greasy. I do kind of wish it were a little thicker — I was looking for something primarily to moisturize my feet — I’ve been wearing flip-flops all summer long and my feet are really in need of serious moisture. I think this is a great rich cream for legs, arms, and hands, but really dry feet that have been exposed to really dry dusty conditions every day of the week? Not so much. I think I may have to find something else for that. (The other problem I have is that I usually put this on before I go to bed, and get it all over my hands, and then when I wake up and rub my eyes in the morning I get papaya-fragranced chemicals in my eyes and that makes my eyes tear. I think I’ll have to find an unscented foot cream somewhere . . . )

Alba Hawaiian Papaya Mango Body Cream (6.5oz) is available for $11.95 from the Alba Botanica online store, as well as Whole Foods and Longs.

Ingredients: Purified water, certified organic aloe barbadensis leaf juice, caprylic/capric triglyceride, carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed oil, stearic acid, vegetable glycerin, glyceryl stearate, stearyl alcohol, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), polysorbate 60, dimethicone, extracts of carica papaya fruit, mangifera indica (mango) fruit, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit, arnica montana flower and anacyclus pyrethrum root, aleurites moluccana (kukui) seed oil, macadamia ternifolia seed oil, rosa moschata seed oil, beta carotene, phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin, potassium sorbate, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), carbomer, caramel and fragrance.

[poll=6]

I’ve written before about Juice Organics products I’ve tried. I bought this lip balm around the time I first started buying Juice Organics products back in the winter. I really didn’t care for it then, but I thought maybe I should try it in the summer as well. So I’ve been trying it out lately too.

Juice Organics is a very nice company — it is the bargain-product-line to Juice Beauty. Everything made by Juice Organics is made from certified organic ingredients, 100% vegetarian, made from five juices, has no harsh paraben preservatives, synthetic fragrances, petroleum derivatives, artificial dyes, harsh sulfates, phthalates, or toluene. Juice Beauty is also a supporter of the Compact for Global Production of Safer Health and Beauty Products and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics — i.e., it never uses chemicals that are strongly suspected of causing cancer.

So yeah, Juice Organics is a very nice brand. The only real issue I can see with it is, why in the world isn’t it vegan? And I’ve looked at a lot of its products — what nonvegan but vegetarian ingredients does it use? I can’t figure it out.

Juice Organics Lip Amplifier

Nourish your lips with safe, healthy organic ingredients. You’ll love the way your lips look and feel. Achieve sumptuous, smooth lips immediately, with a blend of lip amplifying peptides, refining cane sugar, certified organic citrus juice and nourishing essential fatty acids.

• Increase lip volume up to 40%
• Immediate plumping technology
• Glossy finish

So — while I like the packaging of Juice Organics Lip Amplifier a lot — the squeeze tube with the slanted tip applicator is my favorite lip gloss packaging! — this lip balm just does not work for me. It’s far too light — when I was using it in the winter my lips became chapped. I need something with more moisturizing capability. Even now I’ve been using it in the summer when chapped lips aren’t as much of an issue for me, and it’s better than nothing, but it’s just not as good as a more moisturizing lip balm would be. Also, I haven’t noticed any lip amplifying whatsoever, and it has no UVA-protecting ingredients. So I’m taking off three stars because of those problems.

It does have some good features — while I found the smell a little strange at first — it smells kind of like sour oranges — it grew on me, and now I kind of like it. It also has a great texture — it’s nice and slightly shiny without being too viscous or over-the-top shiny or sticky, and it doesn’t tend to run off the corners of my mouth if I apply too much.

Juice Organics lip balm is cruelty-free, organic, but not vegan (but it is 100% vegetarian).

Juice Organics lip balm is available at the Juice Organics online store for $9.99.

Juice Organics Lip Amplifier Ingredients:
Organic juices of citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) juice & aloe barbadensis leaf juice, organic simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, glycerin, organic honey, organic essential fatty acids of linum usitatissimum (linseed) seed & borago officinali (borage) seed, tocopheryl acetate & tocopherol (vitamin E), ascorbyl palmitate (vitamin C), caprylic/capric triglyceride, ethylhexyl (octyl) palmitate, tribehenin, sorbitan isostearate, palmitoyl oligopeptide, glyceryl stearate, sorbitan stearate, phospholipids, organic saccharum officinarum (glycolic acid), palmitic acid, stearic acid, cetearyl glucoside, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, benzyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, limonene, linalool, citrus aurantium (sweet orange) pure essential oil.

L’Occitane Shea Butter Lip Balm Stick is yet another lovely L’Occitane product. For those of you who are new to this site, L’Occitane is an upscale Provencal brand that describes itself as “a unique brand focusing on the well-being of women and men alike. It seeks to create harmony which links the pleasure of the senses with inner balance. The products range from personal care lines to home fragrances. All are manufactured in the time-honored traditional way using fine natural ingredients, primarily from Provence.”

I especially like L’Occitane products because they are usually very high quality, they tend to have fresh uncomplicated nature-inspired fragrances, and their packaging is elegant and understated. (In fact, the only things I don’t like about L’Occitane products is they tend to be very expensive what with the dollar being as weak as it is, and they are not organic, and not vegan. Though I think L’Occitane is moving towards organic products — a lot of their products list a few organic ingredients. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time . . . )

The L’Occitane website states that the Shea Butter Lip Balm Stick will repair and nourish dry lips. I would definitely agree with this — the lip balm is very moisturizing. It feels very luxurious as well — I can definitely tell there’s shea butter in it (10% shea butter according to the writing on the tube). It’s an excellent lip balm for winter months. It also doesn’t have any added fragrance, which I like — it has a faint, sweet fragrance. It also goes on pretty smoothly, which is especially nice if your lips are chapped. I also really like the tube — it’s built like a lipstick tube with an outer compartment, which is VERY nice because it keeps the lip balm from overheating. Lately I’ve been keeping lip balm in my pocket and a lot of those natural-non-petroleum-based lipbalms that are oil-based become extremely runny when they warm up. But not this L’Occitane lip balm — it’s always usable. You can trust L’Occitane to have excellent packaging!

However, this lip balm does have a few drawbacks — it didn’t last very long, and for $10 I would have expected it to last a little longer. (Or to be priced a little lower — but L’Occitane products are always a bit on the expensive side.) Also it doesn’t have any UVA protection, so it won’t protect you from skin cancer. So I took a star off for that.

Overall though, it’s an excellent lip balm.

(L’Occitane products are “bee vegan” — i.e., some of their products have clearly marked bee ingredients such as honey, royal jelly, and propolis, but the rest of their products are vegan — but not 100% organic — though they have a lot of products with organic ingredients.)

L’Occitane Shea Butter Lip Balm Stick (.17 oz) is available for $10 from the L’Occitane Online Store.

Ingredients: HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL, NEOPENTYL GLYCOL DIHEPTANOATE, MACADAMIA TERNIFOLIA SEED OIL, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER), EUPHORBIA CERIFERA (CANDELILLA) WAX, HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL, OLEIC/LINOLEIC/LINOLENIC POLYGLYCERIDES, COPERNICA CERIFERA (CARNAUBA) WAX, TOCOPHEROL, FRAGRANCE, BENZYL BENZOATE, BENZYL ALCOHOL, ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE, LINALOOL, CITRONELLOL, HEXYL CINNAMAL, LIMONENE, GERANIOL.

L’Occitane Philosophy

“The sun smiles on Provence. Its warmth makes the soil generous and the people open-hearted. Its bright rays are reflected in the crafts, customs and traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation. The sun, the products of the soil and a love of nature are the essence of my Provence. It is this essence I want to share with the world. It is what inspired me to create L’OCCITANE.”
- Olivier Baussan - Founder of L’OCCITANE

With its roots in Provence, L’OCCITANE shares the colors, scents and traditions of the south of France with the world. As the company continues to grow, L’OCCITANE remains committed to its core values of Sensorality, Authenticity and Respect.

Sensoriality

Stroll through Provence and you are struck by the rich colors, scents and beauty of this abundant land. Every day the people of Provence celebrate their pleasant lifestyle and abundant soil. When Olivier Baussan created L’OCCITANE, he set out to capture this bounty in all-natural products. Today, more than thirty years later, the fertile south of France remains the inspiration for all L’OCCITANE fragrances, bath, body and skincare products for women and men, and fragrant products for the home.
Read L’OCCITANE in Brief

Authenticity

The generous Provencal climate and soil yield an exceptional variety of fragrant plants with unique properties. Olivier’s objective was to revive their use, preserve local customs and update traditional products. Stimulated by local folklore and history, Olivier developed products that represent the Provencal land and people. Behind each of L’OCCITANE’s inspirations is “A True Story.”
Discover all our True Stories

Respect

Reviving traditions is only part of the L’OCCITANE philosophy. Respect for the environment, consumers, suppliers and employees is ingrained in every aspect of the company. This respect has led to L’OCCITANE’s partnership with local producers all over the Mediterranean Region - these farmers families and cooperatives harvest precious ingredients, such as lavender, honey, neroli flowers and organic verbena.
More about Our Commitment
Braille Labelling
Read the Shea Butter True Story

Numerous people have recommended Juice Organics to me — it’s 100% cruelty-free, it’s vegetarian and it’s organic. (It would be the trifecta if it were vegan instead of vegetarian — I’m not sure why Juice Organics hasn’t gone vegan.) It’s made by the same people who make the Juice Beauty line — it’s just better priced, less concentrated, has fewer age-defying ingredients, and is made with only 5 organic juices instead of 26. Juice Organics is really much better priced than Juice Beauty — 6 ounces of the Juice Organics Nourishing Cleanser is $9.99, whereas 6 ounces of the Juice Beauty Cleansing Gel is more than double the price at $22.00.

I ordered a Juice Organics travel kit which was a really good deal — $10 from Amazon Prime — and tried out the nourishing cleanser, the vitamin antioxidant serum, and the SPF 30 Light Tint Moisturizer. I hate to buy full size bottles of products I’ll never use, so this was great for me.

My conclusions:

Juice Organics Nourishing Cleanser is a nice cleanser — it’s oil-based, so it is good to remove oil-based cosmetics from your skin, and it does gently clean without stripping your skin — in fact, it adds oil to your skin. It’s kind of like a very thin cold cream. I suspect if you’re a fan of the oil-cleansing-method this might work very well for you. It’s soap-free, and supposedly is made of white grape and apple juices, aloe vera, plant oils and vitamin antioxidants. Despite being oil-based, it does wash off my face pretty well — there’s only a mild oil residue, it doesn’t leave my face disgustingly greasy. (I suspect this might not work very well for people with really oily skin.)

Juice Organics Antioxidant Serum seemed just okay to me — supposedly it has age-defying antioxidants in a base of organic grape and orange juices to “revitalize, help smooth fine lines and help firm for radiant, ageless skin.” I didn’t see much effect, but I did find it a nice intermediate step before putting on the moisturizer — though I do think any sort of toner would have worked just as well.

Juice Organics SPF 30 Light Tint Moisturizer, however, is an excellent moisturizer with an organic white grape and pomegranate juice base with 10% titanium dioxide SPF. I really, really like this stuff — I think the idea of using tinted titanium dioxide as a sunscreen is a great idea — all the other mineral based sunscreens I’ve tried out have been awful because they use these brilliantly white minerals as the sunscreen without tinting them. I mean, I’m pretty pale but I still end up with bright white chalky streaks of titanium dioxide on my face from those things. Titanium dioxide is frequently used as a cosmetics base in nonsunscreen applications because it is brilliantly white — why anyone would think a mineral based sunscreen made of it is a good idea I do not know. So I think tinting titanium dioxide is a great idea — you get the skin cancer reducing benefits of titanium dioxide, without looking like you’ve smeared chalk all over your face. It’s the best of both worlds! (Plus titanium dioxide is a very long-lasting sunscreen, which is nice — unlike avobenzone which is only effective for 2 hours after you put it on, titanium dioxide is supposedly a good sunblock until you wash it off. If you hate to frequently reapply sunscreens, titanium dioxide is definitely a good way to go.)

I did have a little trouble putting on the SPF 30 Light Tint Moisturizer at first — I put it on way, way too thickly and ended up with an orange cast to my face. But now I spread it on very, very thinly and it blends right into my skintone and gives me a very slight evening out of my complexion (yay!). It doesn’t provide as flawless a finish as Earth’s Beauty powder foundation, but it’s a lot less trouble — with powder foundations I always manage to get powder all over the place, and I have to double check to make sure I’ve evenly powdered — this stuff is much less messy than powder, it blends in much more easily, and best of all, it does have a pretty matte effect once it goes on (though not as matte as a powder). (It’s very sheer — this would not be good for anyone who wants a lot of coverage.)

Overall, I really liked the way the cleanser, serum and moisturizer worked together. The pump packaging is very cute, easy to use, impossible to break a nail on, and pumps out exactly the amount of product you need. The scents were a little difficult for me to get used to at first — the cleanser and the serum smell kind of like fermented citrus fruit. But now I kind of like the way they smell — they smell kind of bright and citrusy to me now, and I’ve grown to like the lack of chemical fragrance. The moisturizer smells kind of like a mixture of kitchen spices to me — maybe allspice or cloves? That also took some getting used to but now I like it. I also appreciate the fact that all of these products are fairly concentrated — you really don’t need very much of any of them so I think they will last a long time.

However, I have had distinctly different experiences with these three products in the summer and winter. I started using the kit last November when it was still pretty warm here in the Bay Area, and the oil-based cleanser made my skin oily and the mineral-based spf moisturizer did not sink into my skin but stayed in a thin insulating layer on top of it — especially because I was applying it WAY too thickly — and the combination made me break out a little bit and become really sweaty every morning. So I was not happy, and was thinking of giving Juice Organics 3/5 stars at best. But I kept using the products and the weather suddenly became a lot colder, and miraculously my skin stopped breaking out and becoming sweaty and started looking great. Then I remembered that my skin usually goes from having oily patches and breakouts in the summer to having too-dry-skin in the winter, and realized that this oil-based insulating routine was great in the winter but bad in the summer.

Since then, I’ve ordered full size bottles of all the products and have been using them ever since — I like them a lot, I think they’re nicely moisturizing and skin-cancer-preventing and am ranking them at 4/5 stars. I actually think they are 5/5 star products for winter, but definitely not good products for summer unless you have really dry skin and do not live in a humid climate, so I’m compromising with 4/5 stars. In the summer I plan to switch back to the alba botanic sea moss line.

The Juice Organics trial and travel kit is available for $9.99 on Amazon (free shipping if you have Amazon prime). The regular sized cleanser, serum and moisturizer are available from the Juice Organics online store.

Juice Organics Nourishing Cleanser. Ingredients: Organic juices of vitis vinifera (white grape) juice, pyrus malus (apple) juice & aloe barbadensis leaf juice, organic botanical extracts of calendula officinalis flower & matricaria chamomilla flower, glycerin, organic plant oils of carthamus tinctorius (safflower) seed & helianthus annuus (sunflower), caprylic/capric triglyceride, cetearyl alcohol, cetearyl glucoside, sorbitan stearate, tocopheryl acetate & tocopherol (vitamin E), ascorbyl palmitate (vitamin C), tetrasodium edta, panthenol (vitamin B5), allantoin, phenoxyethanol, xanthan gum, benzyl alcohol, potassium sorbate, citric acid, limonene, linalool, citrus aurantium (sweet orange) & citrus aurantium (orange blossom) pure essential oils.

Vitamin Antioxidant Serum. Ingredients: Organic juices of vitis vinifera (white grape) juice, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) juice & aloe barbadensis leaf juice, glycerin, organic essential fatty acids of linum usitatissimum (linseed) seed & borago officinali (borage) seed, thioctic acid (alpha-lipoic acid), ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10), magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (vitamin C), dipeptide-2, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3, tocopheryl acetate & tocopherol (vitamin E), sclerotium gum, phenoxyethanol, sodium hydroxide, benzyl alcohol, disodium edta, hyaluronic acid, potassium sorbate, amyris balsamifera & litsea cubeba (may chang) pure essential oils.

Juice Organics SPF 30 Light Tint Moisturize. Active Ingredient: Titanium dioxide 10% Inactive Ingredients: Pyrus malus (apple) juice,* vitis vinifera (white grape) juice,* punica granatum (pomegranate) juice* and aloe barbadensis leaf juice,* glycerin, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract,* camellia sinensis (green tea) leaf extract,* glyceryl stearate, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil,* cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, caprylic/capric triglyceride, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), sodium PCA, hyaluronic acid, panthenol (vitamin B5), allantoin, cera alba (beeswax),* magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (vitamin C), mica & iron oxides (mineral tints), benzyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin, limonene, linalool, farnesol, geraniol, citrus aurantium (petitgrain) and citrus reticulata (mandarin) pure essential oils.
* certified organic by a USDA approved agency.

I think this is a perfectly nice low-shine lip gloss (it’s really more of a cross between a balm and a gloss) with great ingredients (all-natural ingredients, naturally-derived dyes), a nice consistency, and a lack of stickiness. However, the color really didn’t work for me. Despite being called “petal pink” lip gloss, which made me think it would be a pale pink, it’s actually a very vibrant medium-pink that’s almost berry colored. It’s so vibrant that even if I apply it pretty sheerly I still look like I’ve been drinking berry Kool-aid. I think you’re supposed to apply it very sheerly — when I applied it thickly it went on very unevenly. I think this would look fantastic on anyone who can wear vibrant pink lip glosses, but I’m not one of them, so I’m taking a star off for that (to be fair, most people can wear much more vibrant colors than I can — I’m pretty darn pale — so this may work for you). I’m also taking off another star because it does not prevent skin cancer and comes in one of those annoying tiny jar things (I much prefer lip gloss in a tube).

Aubrey Organics lip glosses (which come in petal pink, red, mocha, and clear) received an overall rating of 4.1/5 stars on MakeupAlley — a lot of people seem to really like them — many people also really seem to (unlike me) like the color range.

(Aubrey Organics products are vegetarian, organic, and 100%-cruelty-free.)

Aubrey Organics Petal Pink Lip Gloss (4g) is available for $6.95 from the Aubrey Organics Online Store, Whole Foods, and most natural grocery stores/drugstores.

INGREDIENTS:
Essential Fatty Acid Base, Sunflower Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Jojoba Butter, Jojoba Wax, PABA, African Butter, Vitamin E and Peppermint. To this moisturizing base, one or more of the following natural colors are added: Century Herb, Cinnamon, Walnut Oil (browns); Beet Extract (reds); Carrot Oil, Annatto, Bixane Herb (yellows).

Um, this gel really didn’t work for me. It didn’t overload my hair or make it stiff or producty-feeling, but it didn’t hold it in place either. It seemed a lot like straight aloe vera gel to me — maybe it provided slightly more hold than that, but not much. It did make my hair a little more silky and less fly-away/frizzy, but not enough to make me keep it — and I’m afraid it made my hair a little more limp than usual as well, which I really didn’t like. My hair needs a little more hold, basically, and I get much, much better results with Paul Mitchell super clean spray. Though I would like to find a cruelty-free gel that provides hold and doesn’t make my hair look greasy or limp. (Just in case you wonder about this sort of thing, Aubrey Organics is the trifecta — animal-testing-free, vegan, and organic.)

Aubrey Organics B5 Design Gel (8 oz) is available for $10.98 from the Aubrey Organics online store, or Whole Foods/your local natural store.

INGREDIENTS: Deionized Water, Organic Aloe Vera, Panthenol (Vitamin B-5), Organic Gum Arabic, Tragacanth Gum, Organic Rosa Mosqueta® Rose Hip Seed Oil, Inositol, Sulfur-Containing Amino Acids (Methionine and Cysteine), Horse Chestnut Extract, Horsetail Extract, Coltsfoot Extract, Nettle Extract, Linoleic Acid (Vitamin F), Biotin, Aubrey’s Preservative (Citrus Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C and E), Organic Balsam Oil, Organic Orange Oil.

Tags : Aubrey Organics, gel, hair, organic, vegan

I ran out of my cruel Crest toothpaste a week ago (finally!), and was all set to buy a new cruelty-free toothpaste, but then I found a tube of Tom’s of Maine wintermint sensitive toothpaste I bought a while ago but forgot about in my medicine cabinet. (Tom’s of Maine is cruelty-free, but it is owned by Colgate-Palmolive, which is not, so it’s debatable whether it’s really cruelty-free or not.)

Anyway, I like the toothpaste a lot, though I think I prefer Eco-Dent toothpowder, because buying it doesn’t profit Colgate-Palmolive in any way, and Eco-Dent is much more economical — it has no glycerine or water in it, you’re just paying for very concentrated active ingredients. The Tom’s of Maine toothpaste is nice though because it has 5% potassium nitrate, so it’s good for sensitive teeth. It also doesn’t contain any artificial sweeteners or preservatives, colors, or flavors, and it is vegan, and has one organic component. It comes in “wintermint” or “black currant” flavors — I picked the wintermint, which I thought had a nice minty flavor/fragrance. It’s a paste, though it doesn’t have the same consistency as Crest paste — it’s a little softer. It comes in an aluminum tube, which I like, because it’s far prettier than a plastic tube (though it does become misshapen when you’re low on toothpaste, unlike a plastic tube), and you can squeeze all of the toothpaste out of it, which you can’t do with a plastic tube. It’s also not as white as Crest toothpaste — it’s a grayish-white. I don’t mind that actually, though it took a little getting used to — I figure it’s not filled with chemicals that keep it gleamingly white the way Crest is.

Tom’s of Maine describes the sensitive toothpaste as a toothpaste that has been formulated to help soothe the pain of sensitive teeth using potassium nitrate, a naturally occurring, clinically proven active ingredient. “We also use the natural ingredient glycyrrhizin (frm purified licorice root) to create a patent-pending natural foaming experience for ingredient dispersal without SLS. Glycyrrhizin needs no additional processing and is gentle on gums. We’ve also added xylitol (from birch trees or corn), gentle glycerin, and organic aloe for their soothing properties, and delicious natural flavor oils that leave your mouth feeling clean and fresh.” “It builds increasing protection against the painful sensitivity of teeth to cold, heat, acids, sweets, or contact.” It has a score of 4.3/5 on MakeupAlley.

Tom’s of Maine Sensitive Toothpaste (3.5 oz) is available for $4.99 from Drugstore.com (or any natural drugstore, and Longs, I think, as well).

Ingredients:

Natural Sensitive Care SLS-Free Toothpaste, Wintermint

Natural Sensitive Care SLS-Free Toothpaste, Black Currant

Tags : 4/5 stars, dental, Tom's of Maine, toothpaste

I meant to write about this long ago — Deni, a commenter on my Clover Milk post (Hi Deni!), pointed out that Cornucopia.org has a lot of information on the details of various organic and faux-organic dairy farms — so if you’re concerned about buying milk, you can read up on the details at Cornucopia.org (Pearl — you’ve used Cornucopia.org, right? Has it been useful?). Cornucopia’s goal is to “fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy, and economic development,” its “goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives.” It runs the Organic Integrity Project, which acts as a “corporate watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit.” Cornucopia.org also “actively resists regulatory rollbacks and the weakening of organic standards to protect and maintain consumer confidence in the organic food label.” Cornucopia has some really fascinating information on how certain “bad” organic farms have managed to obey the letter of the law but not the spirit by producing goods that conform to the restrictions the USDA organic labeling requires, but have found loopholes that make any real organic-devotee horrified. One thing these so-called organic farms do is sell their calves after they are first born to normal “bad” farms that over-antibioticize, use reproductive hormones, feed the cattle non-vegetarian-probably- containing-ground-up- cattle-bits-that- will-give-you- mad-cow-disease food for the first two years of their lives, and then buy the calves back when they are two years old and start producing milk. So Cornucopia really provides a valuable service by bringing these practices to light. (Disclaimer: I do think being a vegan is the absolutely best way to be cruelty-free — no dairy farm I’ve heard of is perfectly cruelty-free — read the comments in the Clover post to learn about various complaints people make about dairy farms — but if you’d like to buy milk from cows that lead better, more humane lives than most commercially farmed cows, Cornucopia.org and the American Humane Association will point you in the right direction.)

I think this is very useful if used in conjunction with the American Humane Association’s “free-farmed” list — you can look up dairy farms on the free-farmed list to make sure you’re buying products that are nicer to the farm animals than most farms, and then you can look up the details on Cornucopia.org. For example, Cornucopia.org has given Clover-Stornetta, the AHA certified free farmed farm that’s stocked at my local grocery stores, a rating of 4/5 — and a detailed scorecard:

Clover-Stornetta Scorecard:

Farm Name: Clover Stornetta

Rating: 4/5

Products: Fluid milk products

Market Area: California

Web site: http://www.cloverstornetta.com

Four family-operated farms, ranging in size from 150 to 380 cows, modest in scale by California standards, ship to Clover Stornetta Farms. Half of this milk is supplied by members of the Humboldt Cooperative Creamery in Northern California, a farmer-owned cooperative that has been a leader in defending organic integrity. Clover Stornetta writes

“Clover Stornetta Farms and its mascot Clo the Cow have been prominent figures in Sonoma County for over three decades. In 2000, Clover Stornetta Farms became the first dairy in the United States awarded with the American Humane Association’s Free Farmed label for humanely produced dairy products. This means that Clover cows are free from unnecessary distress, fear, pain, injury, discomfort, hunger, or thirst. Clover is the only dairy in California to be awarded with this certification.”

Ownership structure: 80/100 points, “Partnership-farmer ties”

Milk Supply : 90/100 points, “50% Own patrons/Humboldt”

Disclosure of Information for Verification: 100 /100 points, “Extensive disclosure”

Certifier farms : 80/100 points, “CCOF and QAI”

Certifier processing: 90/100 points, “QCS”

Cows on pasture time/acreage provided : 80/100 points, “Legitimate pasture in challenging climate”

Health and longevity of cows : 100 /100 points, “Low cull rate”

Replacement animals only from organic farms : 100 /100 points, “Closed herds”

Antibiotics used on young cattle : 100 /100 points, “Never”

Reproductive hormones used : 50/100 points, “Not to our knowledge”

Farm support oversight : 90/100 points, “All dairies and visited regularly by staff”

Outside dairy ingredients purchased : 80/100 points, “Humboldt preferred powder vendor”

TOTAL SCORE: 1040 /1200 points, Overall ranking: 4/5 — “excellent”

As you can see, Clover missed one star (and scored 1040 out of 1200 possible points), which bumped it down from “outstanding” to “excellent,” because it lost a few points in several categories — it is a family business with close ties/partnerships with farmers, but not a farmer-owned-cooperative or owned-and-operated by a resident farm family, its milk supply is only 50% from its own dairies, not 100% from a single family farm, it is certified by CCOF and QAI, which Cornucopia only ranks as 80/100 possible points, its certifier processing is QCS, which Cornucopia only ranks as 90/100 possible points, its cows aren’t in pastures all the time — Cornucopia has some complicated algorithm so it gives Clover 80/100 possible points for pasturage — it scored 50/100 points for hormone usage (I’m a little confused by this — “not to our knowledge” must not be adequately keeping reproductive hormones out?), it has a staff that visits the dairies regularly, but the staff does not live on the dairy farm, and Clover does purchase outside ingredients from Humboldt dairies (though Humboldt is highly rated by Cornucopia standards). However, Clover scored full 100/100 points in several categories — extensive disclosure of information for verification to Cornucopia, a low cull rate (yes! I care about this one a lot), closed herds (I like this one too!), and never using antibiotics in young cattle (probably good).

While I like the organic information Cornucopia provides, I’m really concerned with animal welfare. This means that I’m especially happy that Clover has a low cull rate, which means the herds are pretty healthy, closed herds, which means Clover doesn’t sell the cows at birth to “bad” farms and buy them back when they are two years old and ready to produce milk, and I’m mildly pleased that Clover doesn’t use reproductive hormones and overuse antibiotics because reproductive hormones sound unpleasant and overusing antibiotics leads to staph infections. However, I’m not so pleased that Clover only scored 80/100 points on the pasture. I’d prefer to buy from a dairy that scores 100 points for pasture. (Though that’s really problematic because I haven’t seen any other milk products around here that are both on the AHA free farmed list and scores 100/100 points. If you live in the Bay Area — are any of the five or four star dairy products available at a store near you? If so, which ones?)

Here’s the exact scale Cornucopia uses to determine the scores:

1. Market Area

• public
• private

2. Ownership Structure

• 100 Farmstead dairy (owned and operated by resident farm family)
• 90 Farmer-owned cooperative
• 80 Family-owned business with close ties/partnership with farmers
• 70 Corporate/investor owned with deep roots/ties with farmers
• 65 Stonyfield: unique governance policy with Hirshberg family
• 60 Investor-owned corporation
• 50 Investor-owned corporation with questionable track record
• 25 Any ownership with history as a “bad actor”
• 0 No answer

3. Milk Supply

• 100 Farmstead dairy
• 95 Farmstead dairy, buys additional milk from neighbors
• 90 Cooperative/small corporation/multiple farms (from own patrons)
• 85 50% or more from own patrons plus a highly rated supplier
• 70 Purchases some outside milk from highly rated suppliers
• 60 Purchases subcontracted out without direct control
• 50 Purchases some percentage of milk from “open market”
• 0–30 Purchases some percentage of milk from confinement dairies (points depend on percentage)
• 0 No answer

4. Disclosure/Farm Contact Information for Verification

• 100 Full disclosure
• 0–90 Partial disclosure (points depend on number of questions fully answered)

5/6. Farm Certifier
Ratings (0–100) for certifiers are based on the history and integrity of the certifying organization and its history
of approving certification of farms that are suspected of creating/exploiting loopholes in the current regulations.

• CCOF California Certified Organic Farmers
• COFA California Organic Farmers Association
• GOA Global Organic Alliance
• ICO Indiana Certified Organic
• IDALS Iowa Dept of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
• Integrity Integrity Certified International
• MOSA Midwest Organic Service Association
• NOFA-VT Northeast Organic Farming Association–Vermont
• OC One Cert
• OEFFA Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association
• OTCO Oregon Tilth
• PCO Pennsylvania Certified Organic
• QAI Quality Assurance International
• Stellar Stellar Certification Services (Demeter)
• VOF Vermont Organic Farmers

7. Pasture Provided
Rating 0–100 is based on the following criteria:

• Policies requiring pasture in addition to USDA regulations
• Enforcement/oversight
• Amount of acreage available per cow on the firm’s largest farms
• Average days cows are on pasture per year
• Permissible exemptions

8. Cull rate
Rating is based on the health and longevity of a farm’s cattle, taking into account the farm’s slaughter rate/cull rate.

• 100 Annual cull rate under 10%
• 90 Annual cull rate under 30%
• 50 Limited information supplied

9. Management History of Replacement Animals (Calves and Heifers)

• 100 Closed herd (no purchases of outside animals)
• 95 Organic cows purchased for growth only—not replacement
• 90 All replacement animals managed organically from last third of gestation
• 75 Organic cows purchased based on commercial availability
• 50 Conventional animals purchased
• 10 Calves sold at birth, conventional cattle bought for replacements
• 5 Calves shifted off to contractors who raise them with conventional feed/drugs for first year of life,then shift them back to organic production
• 0 No answer

10.Antibiotic Use on Young Cattle

• 100 All antibiotic use prohibited
• 75 Not regulated by firm (default to USDA standards)
• 50 Antibiotic use allowed during first year of life
• 25 Commercial replacement cattle purchased (antibiotic use unknown)
• 5 Calves are sold, to take advantage of loophole, and managed conventionally for first year of life
• 0 No answer

11. Hormone Usage
It should be noted that hormones for increasing milk production (genetically engineered bovine growth hormone—BGH or rBST—are prohibited in organic dairy production. Some farms choose to use therapeutic ormones during reproduction (oxytocin).

• 100 No hormones used on farm
• 50 Hormones used therapeutically
• 0 No answer

12. Farm Support/Oversight/Supervision
Characteristically, farmstead producers are with their cows every day and personally supervise the production of he dairy products. In the words of one such farmer, “We live here.” Some organizations have a dedicated field staff, or the owner visits with the organic farmers regularly.

• 100 Farmstead dairies (owner farms/lives on-site)
• 90 Cooperative/corporation that sets standards and has a staff that visits farms regularly
• 75 Depends on third party for supervision
• 5 No direct supervision/no personal relationship with farm
• 0 No answer

13. Procurement of Outside Ingredients

• 100 100% of dairy products come from within the organization (full control)
• 90 Outside purchases are from other highly rated dairy organizations
• 50 Dairy ingredients purchased from a number of different vendors, with less direct control
• 25 Purchases from anonymous suppliers (“open market”)
• 0–25 Purchases ingredients from confinement factory farms(points depend on percentage) or imports
• 0 No answer

Cornucopia describes its rankings as:

• • Five-cow-rated dairy marketers. These “outstanding” farmstead dairies are the top-rated dairy brands in our study. The top seven farms in this category had perfect scores of 1200. Their intimate relationship with their cowsand complete control over their milk and other dairy ingredients, not to mention that 100% of profits go back to the farm family, are what distinguish this group. Farms rated just under 1200 might have less than 100% controlof their milk supply (they might buy from a few neighbors) or the products they manufacture might require other off-farm dairy products, like milk powder. However, they are still very much hands-on manufacturers in comparison to larger commercial entities, and a wonderful way for consumers to directly connect with their food.
  • Four-cow-rated dairy marketers are generally larger commercial manufacturers or marketers of dairy products. They tend to buy milk from many different farmers or wholesale from a milk supplier who manages the relationship with individual farmers. All the “excellent” brands in this category are highly respected and sourcetheir milk from family-scale farms.
  • Three-cow-rated dairy marketers. The two “very good” companies in this segment both deserve specialrecognition and encouragement. Ben & Jerry’s found it impossible, as they desired, to find enough organic milin Vermont to meet their needs. Committed to start offering organic ice cream, they currently buy milk on the open market. HP Hood markets milk under the Stonyfield name and buys all their milk from a wide number ofsources of family-farm milk. The nature of their procurement practices give them much less control over the supervision of their farms. They are working hard to upgrade their direct control over their milk supply and, boththese companies could potentially rise in future rankings..
  • Two-cow-rated dairy marketers. These “good” private-label brands have what appear to be a questionable long-term commitment to organics. Note that this information is based on industry sources and governmentalrecords. No private-label supplier participated in the study.
  • One-cow-rated dairy marketers (PRIVATE-LABEL). These are “substandard” with some or all factory-farm milk or milk from unknown sources. (However, even though rated lower, we consider this milk to be superior to conventional milk). Note that this information is based on industry sources and governmental records. No private-label supplier participated in the study.
  • One-cow-rated dairy marketers (BRAND-NAMES). These are also “substandard” and appear with a one cow ranking either because some or all of their milk come from factory farms and/or because they refused to be open with their customers as to where their milk comes from.

Deni also mentioned that Switzerland and France may only allow pasture-raised cows (I shall have to look into this — I mean, I know Switzerland banned veal crates, pig gestation crates, and chicken battery cages, so it seems likely), so you can eat Swiss and French cheese with less cruelty, and that if you buy cheese with “suggestions of lavender” the cows that ate it probably were in pastures eating lavender, which they probably enjoyed. I actually don’t eat much cheese, but I’m fully determined to only eat cheese from Switzerland and France in the future. (Since I love French cheeses, I don’t think this will be too difficult.) I shall also look for the “suggestions of lavender” because I like to support feeding cows lavender.

Here’s the list of all Cornucopia’s organic farm rankings:

Cornucopia Rankings of Organic Dairies:

5 Cow Rating (Outstanding)

• Animal Farm Orwell, VT Butter Vermont (total score: 1200)
• Evans Farmhouse Creamery Norwich, NY Fluid milk products New York/New Jersey (total score: 1200 )
• Green Hills Harvest Purdin, MO Fluid milk products Iowa, Kansas, Missouri (total score: 1200 )
• Kimberton Hills Phoenixville, PA Fluid milk products (raw) Pennsylvania (total score: 1200 )
• Oak Grove Organics Carthage, IL Fluid milk products (Cheese and butter) Chicago/W. Illinois (total score: 1200 )
• Organic Pastures Dairy Company Fresno, CA Fluid milk products (raw) California or sold as pet food (total score: 1200 )
• Radiance Dairy Fairfield, IA Fluid milk products Fairfield, Iowa (total score: 1200 )
• Butterworks Farm Westfield, VT Yogurt East Coast (total score: 1190 )
• Crystal Ball Farms Osceola, WI Fluid milk products Minnesota/Wisconsin (total score: 1190 )
• Seven Stars Phoenixville, PA Yogurt East Coast / Midwest (total score: 1190 )
• Hails Family Farm Wyalusing, PA Cow and goat milk, cheese, yogurt, kefir East Coast (total score: 1185 )
• Cedar Summit Dairy New Prague, MN Fluid milk/yogurt/ice cream Minnesota (total score: 1180 )
• Hawthorne Valley Farm Ghent, NY Yogurt, cheese, raw milk sales on the farm East Coast (total score: 1180 )
• PastureLand Dodge Center, MN Cheese, butter (seasonal production) Midwest (total score: 1170 )
• Traders Point Farms Zionsville, IN Fluid milk/yogurt Indiana/Illinois (total score: 1170 )
• Strafford Organic Creamery Strafford , VT Fluid milk products E. New Hampshire (total score: 1165 )
• Butternut Farms Gilbersville, NY Cheese Nationwide (total score: 1155 )
• Castle Rock Farms Osseo, WI Fluid milk products Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois (total score: 1150 )
• St. John’s Organic Farm Emmett, ID Fluid milk products (not homogenized) Idaho (total score: 1150)

4 Cow Rating (Excellent)

• Organic Choice Prescott, WI Wholesale milk, cheese Nationwide (total score: 1135 )
• Organic Valley (CROPP) La Farge, WI Full line dairy Nationwide (total score: 1135 )
• This Land is Your Land Wilmington, DE Fluid Milk Products,goat cheese and yogurt Nationwide (total score: 1130 )
• Wisconsin Organics Thorp, WI Fluid, cheese, butter Midwest, plus (total score: 1130 )
• Cedar Grove Cheese Plain, WI Cheese Nationwide (total score: 1125 )
• Amish Country Farms Totowa, NJ Fluid milk products Nationwide (total score: 1100 )
• Julie’s (Oregon Ice Cream) Eugene, OR Ice cream Nationwide (total score: 1100 )
• Nancy’s (Springfield Creamery) Eugene, OR Yogurt/sour cream, cream & cottage cheese Nationwide (total score: 1095 )
• Sibby Farm Westby, WI Ice cream Midwest (total score: 1095 )
• Natural by Nature West Grove, PA Fluid, whip cream East Coast, whipped cream nationwide (total score: 1085 )
• Humboldt Creamery Fortuna, CA Ice cream, powder Nationwide (total score: 1075 )
• Organic Creamery (DCI Cheese) Sun Prairie, WI Cheese Nationwide (total score: 1075 )
• Whole Foods Markets (365 organic) Austin, TX Fluid milk products Nationwide (total score: 1070 )
• Farmers All Natural Creamery Wellman, IA Fluid milk products, cheese Midwest, Atlanta (total score: 1045 )
• Helios Sauk Centre, MN Kefir Nationwide (total score: 1045 )
• Lifeway Morton Grove, IL Kiefir Nationwide (total score: 1045)
• Clover Storenetta Petaluma, CA Fluid milk products California (total score: 1040)
• Naturally Iowa Clarinda, IA Milk, ice cream Midwest (total score: 1035)
• Stonyfield (yogurt) Londonderry, NH Yogurt Nationwide (total score: 1035)
• Wallaby Yogurt Napa, CA Yogurt, ice cream Nationwide (total score: 1025)
• Straus Family Creamery Marshall, CA Full line dairy, ice cream, yogurt California (total score: 1010)
• Scenic Central Milk Prod. Co-op Prairie Du Sac, WI Wholesale milk Nationwide (total score: 1005)
• Natural Choice Oxnard, CA Ice cream Nationwide (total score: 965)

3 Cow Rating (Very Good)

• Stonyfield (milk) HOOD Boston, MA Fluid milk products Eastern half US (total score: 845)
• Ben and Jerry’s South Burlingon, VT Ice cream Nationwide (total score: 560)

2 Cow Rating PRIVATE-LABEL (good, but questionable long-term commitment to organics) Note: information based on ”industry sources” no private-label supplier participated in the study

• Harris Teeter Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Heavenly Organics, Inc Sweetened condensed milk Nationwide (total score: 0)
• HyVee Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Kroger (Naturally Prefered) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Stop & Shop (Natures Promise) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Wakefern/Shoprite Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)

1 Cow Rating PRIVATE-LABEL (some or all factory-farm milk or unknown source, but better than conventional) Note: information based on ”industry sources” no private-label supplier participated in the study

• Costco (High Meadows-Aurora) Butter Nationwide (total score: 0)
• Costco (Kirkland Signature) Fluid milk products Nationwide (total score: 0)
• Giant (Natures Promise) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Haggens (Full Circle) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Ingles Markets Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Safeway ( O - Organics) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Topco (Full Circle) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Tops (Natures Promise) Fluid milk products (Unknown region) (total score: 0)
• Trader Joe’s Fluid milk products Nationwide (total score: 0)
• UNFI (Woodstock) Fluid milk products Nationwide (total score: 0)
• Wild Oats Fluid milk products Nationwide (total score: 0)

1 Cow Rating BRAND-NAME (Ethically Challenged) Most produce or purchase factory-farm milk, none were open enough to participate in this study

• Alta Dena (Dean Foods) City of Industry, CA Purchased by Dean Foods. Alta Dena is a brand managed by Dean. West Coast (total score: 0)
• Aurora Organic Dairy Boulder, CO Largest conventional/organic factory-farm operator. Largest Private label manufacturer. Nationwide (total score: 0)
• Back to Nature (Kraft) Glenview, IL Cheese Nationwide (total score: 0)
• Good Heart Organics (Rockview) Downey, CA Fluid milk products California (total score: 0)
• Horizon (Dean Foods) Dallas, TX $11 billion–the nation’s largest conventional & organic milk marketer. Owns 4000 cow “farm”. Nationwide (total score: 0)
• Organic Cow (Dean Foods) Dallas, TX (Northeast) Purchased by Horizon, then Dean Foods. Organic Cow is a brand managed by Dean. East Coast (total score: 0)
• Stremicks (Heritage-Foods) Santa Ana, CA Supplied by factory farm under investigation. Farm paid $300,000 settlement for abusing workers. West Coast (total score: 0)
• Wholesome Valley (Galaxy Foods) Orlando, FL Cheese/processed cheese Nationwide (total score: 0)

Tags : american humane association, clover, cornucopia.org, cruelty free, humane farming, organic

In honor of Ashlie from the fabulous SixExits.com’s writing a beautiful post in honor of Blog Action Day, about why she has become a cruelty-freeist and vegetarian (and she linked to my blog! I’m so honored!), I thought I’d compile a list of organic, cruelty-free cosmetic/household products. I think organic products are environmentally-friendly because they do not encourage the use of pesticides and don’t release any synthetic chemicals into the water supply that may adversely affect wildlife, and cruelty-free products are environmentally-friendly because they do not promote hurting and killing laboratory animals, which I think are an important part of the environment. (I’d love to buy biodynamic, rain forest certified, food alliance certified, forest stewardship council certified, nonGMO certified, bird certified, and biodegradable certified products as well, but I haven’t found that list. Also I suspect it’s a pretty short list. So I’m sticking with just organic. For now.)

Organic, Cruelty-Free Products:

Abra Organics

Avalon Organics

Aubrey Organics

Dr. Bronner’s (sort of organic)

Earth Alive

Earth Dance Soaps

Earth’s Beauty

Goumet Body Treats

Greenridge Herbals

Healthy Times Baby’s Herbal Garden

Heather’s Natural and Organic Cleaning Products

Innersense

Jason

Juice Beauty

Lip-Ink International

Melvita (France)

Mi Amore Skincare

Mountain Ocean

Nature’s Gate

Naturopathica

Organic Health and Beauty

Organix-South

Sea Chi Organics

Shaman Earthly Organics

Simplers Botanical Company

Spring Rain Botanicals

St. John’s Botanicals

Vermont Soapworks

(Have I missed any? If you find any CCIC-approved-cruelty-free, organic brands, please tell me. Or if I am including some that you don’t think are especially organic, or if I should include some that may not be organic but are good for the environment in other ways, please tell me too.)