On days when you’re racing out of the shower making a beeline to your car with a half-eaten banana in hand for nourishment, the last thing on your mind is moisturizing your extremities—that is, until you step into the office and notice your legs are ashy (plus, there’s something so unsatisfying about gooping on cream over dehydrated skin). This is why body scrubs are pretty much the best in-shower invention ever. Not only do they smell heavenly and awaken your senses, but they also slough off the dead skin that makes you flaky. But they also moisturize while doing all that — leaving you with smooth, supple, and glowing skin, eliminating the need for body lotions or creams.

The key is to use a body scrub with the perfect ratio of scrubbing agents and powerful moisturizing oils that penetrate skin but also keep you hydrated on the surface without overgreasing. Here are five that have perfected the formula so you can run out of your house like a maniac without looking parched.

1. OSEA Malibu Salts of the Earth Body Scrub

This delightful earth-rich scrub is made with a trio of salts—Bolivian rose, Dead Sea, and Himalayan pink—and glides on coarsely (in a good way) to polish off the dulling dead skin cells. Shea butter, which contains loads of essential fatty acids, adds a ton of moisture to skin and acai and babassu oils condition skin for hours and hours. The best part is the oils absorb quickly, which means you won’t be adding a trail of grease all over your car seats, but keeps your skin radiant all day long.

2. Herbivore Coco Rose Body Polish

Coco Rose Body Polish sloughs off the flakes with perfectly sized salts, which paves way for virgin coconut oil to  moisturize skin as deeply as possible. When you’re inside the shower, you feel like you’re walking through a luscious garden thanks to the delightful scent of Moroccan rose. Use it once and your skin instantly feels petal-soft and looks as healthy as ever.

3. Earth Tu Face Dead Sea Salt Scrub

Earth Tu Face uses pure sea salt to exfoliate your body and stimulate circulation of the lymphatic system, which is majorly detoxifying and known to help minimize cellulite. The organic safflower and jojoba oils (the latter is texturally similar to skin’s natural sebum) drench the driest of skin with softening hydration, while bergamot, lemon, and basil oils put you in a good mood. Use this scrub to focus on your knees and elbows, two areas that need the most quenching.

4. SpaRitual Close Your Eyes Sugar Scrub

This scrub consists of certified-organic sugar crystals that feel less gritty than the salt options if that’s what you prefer. Sunflower and safflower oils rush in to provide all-day moisture and leaves your skin with a dewy glow even when it’s been ravaged with heat, sun, and indoor AC.

5. AFRICAN BOTANICS Marula African Muti Mud Body Scrub

This super-purifying scrub is perfect for days you also want to feel extra cleansed on top of balanced, plump-up skin. Fine lava crystals help remove dead skin cells and essential minerals from Africa’s ancient volcanic lava formations improve overall skin texture and tone. Then comes in kaolin and bentonite clays to sweep out the dirt from our skin, while super-moisturizing oils, such as marula, baobab, and avocado, keep your skin hydrated like you’ve been slathering on lotion.

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The post 5 Natural Body Scrubs So Moisturizing You Can Skip the Lotion appeared first on EcoSalon.

Taking a bath is a dip into mental bliss. But a bath isn’t just for the immediate sense of calm and relaxation – it can also be a way to improve your physical health in a very direct way. A detox bath adds more meaning to your warm water soak.

Infused with cleansing ingredients, your bath water will eliminate toxins, pesticides, and heavy metals through your skin, leaving you feeling, looking, and actually being better. Here are three detox bath recipes for a cleansed mind, body, and soul.

1. Salt Detox Bath

Epsom salt draws out toxins from the body and absorbs into the skin to relax tired muscles, relieve pain and cramps, ease muscle and nerve tension, improve circulation, and regulate blood sugar.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Himalayan salt
• 1/4 cup Epsom salt
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 8 to 10 drops of lavender essential oil

Directions

Boil a few cups of water and pour the water into a pitcher. Add in the salts and baking soda. Stir until dissolved. Fill the tub with warm-hot water and pour in the apple cider vinegar, followed by the salt and baking soda hot water mixture and essential oil.

2. Clay Detox Bath

In addition to being full of nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, silica, sodium, copper, iron, and potassium, bentonite clay is able to expel heavy metal toxins from the body. In doing so, it increases immunity and reduces inflammation.

Ingredients

• 2 cups bentonite clay

Directions

Fill the tub with warm-hot water. In a bowl, mix the clay with enough water to create a smooth, wet consistency. Dump the wet clay into the bath and use your body and hands to distribute the clay throughout the bath water.

3. Hydrogen Peroxide Detox Bath

Hydrogen peroxide is a natural antiseptic and thus a great way to clean wounds and prevent infections.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide

Directions

Pour the hydrogen peroxide into a bath full of water. Soak and enjoy!

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The post 3 Detox Bath Recipes: Take a Dip in Salt, Clay, and Peroxide for Better Health appeared first on EcoSalon.

 

I know what I want for Mother’s Day: a bath. Actually, not just a bath, but a bath experience at home and some me time to really enjoy it. Know any other moms who could use this? Check out these Mother’s Day gift ideas for the spa and tub loving mom (read: every mom).

Ritual bathing has been around for thousands of years and rightly so.  There is something so incredibly luxurious about slipping into a body of water.  Soaking in warm water actually triggers the dilation of blood vessels allowing muscles to relax and release tension.  The other component of the ritual bath is more enigmatic; a cleansing of energy and spirit. It is a way to release stress and encourage some quiet relaxation in order to be fresh for a new experience.

This Mother’s Day why not give mom a gift of time to herself by preparing a bath ritual for her? Here are our top picks for Mother’s Day gift ideas truly embody the art and ritual of relaxation.

Begin with the environment.

Make sure the bathroom is clean and free of clutter. Make it sparkle. She will find that a gift in and of itself!

Set the mood

Light some candles – I first discovered Big Dipper Wax works candles at Whole Foods.  They are made of 100 percent beeswax, which has a lovely sweet honey smell on it’s own. Big Dipper Candles also come in ten blends that are created with pure essential oils. Aromatherapy candles can set the mood whether mom needs to relax (lavender) or energize (lemongrass and grapefruit). I always travel with one of Big Dipper’s candles in a convenient tin, the ylang ylang and tangerine combo is my favorite.

 Prepare the skin

Before getting into the bath, have mom take a warm shower and thoroughly exfoliate the skin. Clairvoyant Beauty’s Blue green Algae Body Polish contains a super-moisturizing blend of shea and cocoa butters, almond and avocado oils, as well as sea salt to gently smooth skin while delivering essential moisture. (Encourage mom to spend a little extra time on elbows ankles and knees). I love that the founder’s grandmother was the inspiration for this line!

Fill the tub, and have mom pick one of the 5 herbal bath formulas from Kneipp, Revive 5 Herbal Bath Collection that best suits her needs. These highly concentrated oils combine with the soothing powers of water to create a spa like atmosphere. Choose to awaken vitality with rosemary, and for deep sleep use valerian and hops; may chang and lemon creates an uplifting experience; juniper is great to sooth muscles; and almond blossom softens the skin. Each bottle contains enough for 1-2 baths.

Set a glass of cold water with lemon near the tub so mom can sip while she soaks.

And don’t forget to leave a clean towel with a bottle of Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil, for mom to use after her bath.  I used this light sweet almond oil blend throughout my pregnancy and still love it after my bath (ten years later).

Now turn off the phone, close the door, and let mom enjoy.

Find Fatima on Twitter @fatimaolive and on Pinterest

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top image: dennis wong

The post The Ritual of Water: Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for a Luxurious, Relaxing Home Spa appeared first on EcoSalon.

Consider this a token of the ritual of bathing, a refreshing alternative to grimy shower gel.

Soap-on-a-rope producers Senteurs d’Orient are based in Lebanon, where the soap making business has been going strong for some 6,000 years. Before Dove and mesh sponges cornered the market, taking a bath was considered a luxurious and leisurely privilege, a sentiment that the Senteurs d’Orient soaps recall.

Made from pure vegetable oils, ultra-moisturizing shea butter and hand-picked flowers and blossoms, they’re completely natural and toxic-free (unlike so many of our other cosmetics).

Available for purchase at Prince Charles’ eco-luxury shop at the royal Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire or on the company’s website for about $10.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

The post Lustables: Soap On a Rope appeared first on EcoSalon.

Raspberry Fields forever! So say peddlers of fashion accessories for Spring 2010. We say, how about some juicy finds for your crib?

Wee Jubilee from Mod Green Pod serves up a cotton damask weave free of toxic pigments. Buy it by the  $39.75 a yard, or get it already made into a pillow from the new green department at Lotus Bleu.

The LEED waterless urinal in stainless steel with 90% recycled materials makes going kind of fun. From Neo-Metro.

That round table never felt so hot! The Botanica Table Centerpiece in fuchsia from Eco Centric is crafted of 100% wool felt and is free of dyes. The piece is designed by award-winning visionary UK designer, Selina Rose, using cutting-edge technology (biodegradable , too!).

Eye catching ikat lumbar love in pretty peony, from Uzbec Alive, $28.

Sleep walk on the wild side with leaf motif Midsummer wallpaper by green and groovy company, Graham & Brown.

Flor’s Feeling Groovy pink rugs prove it’s hip to be square. Cozy underfoot and made of good stuff.

Hollywood Regency glam comes in pairs, like these hotties from Gustavo Olivieri Antiques at 1stdibs. The circa ’50s set was custom designed by Lewis Mittman Co. for the Weissman family of New York City in French style.

Main Image: Etsy

The post Spring’s Sweet Color Accent: Raspberry appeared first on EcoSalon.

Okay, take the green glove test in your house. Are you still using a laundry list of surface cleaners with harsh chemicals? Are you lifting carpet stains with products that give off ugly fumes? We told you about the good stuff that’s out there, but maybe you forgot when you scrubbed those dishes with conventional soap from the factory. But it is time to say no to convention and get your green on, even if you hate housework as much as we do.

As long as you are stuck with the dreaded chore, here is a refresher on green cleaning products that will make you feel so darn good about responsible mopping and dusting, you will whistle while you work!

Spot-On Eco Carpet

Did you blunder with your color choice and select a neutral beige instead of graphite grey or chocolate? We can dig it. It’s just a drag to be a slave to that carpet, insisting visitors remove their shoes, yelling at loved ones for trekking muddy boots along the stairs up to their rooms. If you are able to go the DIY carpet cleaning route and avoid professionals who charge a lot and use chemicals to lift the stains, review our post on the natural way to rinse a rug.

9 Great Eco Cleaners

You’re walking down the aisle, perusing the products, taking in the odors, confused about what to buy. Why not make a list with these great cleaning solutions, from Planet Ultra Dishwashing Liquid for squeaky green plates to Sun & Earth Concentrated Laundry Detergent for non-irritating socks? Brighten your abode with ingredients like coconut and vegetable oils.

Adding Greener Laundry Products to the Fold

The wash and fold has always been fairly routine, but staging a laundry space that is up to green standards will make this job healthier for you and the planet. Among the best apparatus in this room – natural drying racks that allow you to cut down on the electric appliances by hang drying your garments when possible. Reusable bags also help the schlepping of clothes from hamper to machine and back to the drawers. Other scoops for the natural laundry maven can be found by perusing this post on eco laundry supplies and tips.

Easy Eco-Friendly Bathroom Cleaning

Scrubbing toilets makes us feel flushed but using chlorine-free, biodegradable cleaners is number one when performing this dreaded task. Shower surfaces, too, need a gentle touch to remove grime and even old soap residue. Where to find plant-based ingredients on the grocery shelves? Look no further.

10 Myths About Dry Cleaning

The labels say “dry clean only,” but we have found there are some garments that can be delicately handled at home. How do you know how to separate the fragile sweater and tough trousers? Learn about the myths of dry cleaning from the green soldiers who have braved hand washing and found it can clean even better than many of those pricey dry cleaning companies.

Here are some additional posts to make the most out of winter cleaning, from polishing metals for upcoming parties to keeping a ship-shape kitchen for everyday cooking and dining.

Non-toxic Tips for Cleaning Household Metal

Top 10 chemical-Free Cleaning Tips; How to Reinvent Spring Cleaning

Orange Knockout

Flying Saucers Did My Laundry

Main Image: Kimberly Robyn

The post The Green Glove Test: EcoSalon’s Round Up of Healthy House Cleaning appeared first on EcoSalon.

I remember remodeling my master bath and thinking – wow, I need to hang some new towels on the bars over the tub to accent this very personalized home spa of mine. Where were you, Amy, when I needed you and those coral damask print terries?

Well, you’re here now, and that’s all that really matters, you prolific Midwestern designer you. As striking and exotic as her new organic bedding, Amy Butler’s new gorgeous green towels are super soft to the touch, absorbent when wrapped around your goddess bod, and so chic, they will bring life to both the old grungy tiled bath as well as the mod redux.

As a designer, I’m drawn to her color combos, the blending of soothing blues and greens, reds and violets, oranges and aquas. The fact they are spun of healthy eco fibers is just icing on the cake. By the way, do you love eating cake in the bath as much as I do? Coconut? Get out of here!

As Butler puts it: “The bold and vibrant colors will brighten up any bathroom space even in the wee hours of the morning when waking up is so hard to do. These joyful designs will lift your spirits and get you going!”

Leave a comment and win your own! You will get yourself two of my favorites, the turquoise and the orange when we randomly pick a winner. It’s terry nice.

For official rules click here.

The post Amy Butler Exotic Organic Towel Giveaway appeared first on EcoSalon.