Blog
Natural Habits That Heal Dry Skin.
2010.01.26 posted by Jessica Iclisoy
Daily cleansing and moisturizing is an essential part of caring for your skin and your child’s. But for those who suffer from extremely dry skin or eczema, a relaxing bath or a soothing warm shower can turn into a dry and itchy affair.
Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is a common skin condition marked by itching, redness and scaly patches. It is very common in babies, usually appearing on the face, chest, back, arms or legs during the first 6 months and can last throughout childhood. Unfortunately, many children will outgrow eczema only to have it reappear in adulthood. The condition can be difficult to deal with, but you may be surprised at how many treatment options you have. And by making just a few simple lifestyle changes, you can get back on the path to baby soft skin.
Check your water: Bathing in chlorinated tap water strips the skin of its natural oils and can cause itching and scaling—not what you want when you’re already battling dry skin. Using a shower filter to remove chlorine can be helpful in preventing further irritation.
Beat the heat: Keep your thermostat on the cool side, which will save energy as well as your skin; high indoor heat saps moisture from the air. And lower the temperature of your bath water as eczema has a tendency to flare up as the temperature rises.
Choose gentle cleansers: Harsh cleansers strip skin of its natural oils, leaving it unprotected from the elements and more susceptible to irritants and dryness. Instead suds up with a non-sulfate cleanser, preferably one made with without allergy triggering synthetic fragrances.
Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize: When your child steps out of the shower or tub, don’t towel off those magical moisturizing water droplets! Trap them next to the skin with lotion, a super rich cream, or hi-oleic vegetable oil.
Watch what you eat: Since eczema is caused by a reaction in the immune system, certain foods—especially tropical fruits such as mangos and pineapples—can cause flair-ups. Check with your doctor or dermatologist first and then try an elimination diet to pinpoint the culprit.
Know the secret ingredient: Calendula! This wonder flower is helpful in treating a whole host of skin issues, including eczema, rosacea, sunburn and just plain old dry skin. Try growing the easy annual flower in your garden and using the flowers to make a homemade tea for the bath. Here’s how: Put 5 or 6 flower tops in a muslin tea bag and drop into a tea cup; fill the cup with hot water and let steep for 20 minutes. Then simply pour the tea into a temperate bath.
Mother Nature: 1, Hydrocortisone: 0!
All My Best,
Jessica
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Ways to care for your baby’s skin if they have extremely dry skin or eczema.
2010.01.14 posted by Jessica Iclisoy
First
Stop all skin care product use and go back to the basics.
Always patch test any new product; wait 24 hours and observe the area looking for any change before using.
Keep it Simple
I recommend going fragrance free for a while. Cleanse with our Super Sensitive, no fragrance, shampoo & bodywash (now also available in a 19 oz bottle!) head-to-toe. Follow with California Baby Super Sensitive, no fragrance, Everyday Lotion to soothe and moisturize.
Bring ‘Em On!
Choose between either beloved California Baby “magic cream” moisturizers:
• Calendula Cream (now also available in a 4 oz jar!)
• Botanical Moisturizing Cream.
Mist = No Rubbing = No Irritation
For a very gentle moisturizing alternative, mist our Soothing & Healing Spray all over the body. The thin layer of emollients will air dry avoiding the need to rub already irritated skin. To cool hot skin, put the bottle in the fridge for about 10 minutes to chill and then spray.
All my best,
Jessica
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7 Simple Tips for Healthy Holidays.
2009.12.15 posted by Healthy Child Healthy World
Sometimes the stress from holidays can result in big headaches. But, a lot of other things about the holidays can impact your health as well. Follow these simple steps to make this year's holidays your healthiest ever.
1. Indulge in the only the best food by going organic. Special occasions call for scrumptious goodies. But indulging doesn't have to mean sacrificing your family's health. This year, strive for very special holiday meals made of the freshest organic foods. Today, you can find organic ingredients for every type of celebratory food, from free-range turkey to a mouth-watering apple pie. Look for the USDA Organic seal to be sure that you are buying foods produced without synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, genetic engineering, irradiation and petroleum- or sewage sludge-based fertilizers.
2. Watch out for those brightly colored foods and candy! Holiday treats like candy canes and other goodies can be hard to resist. But many of our favorite sweet treats are full of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives, some of which have questionable safety records. Saccharin, for example, is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Serve your child a well-balanced diet of whole foods and let your child indulge in moderate amounts of candy and other holiday treats. Read "Limit Your Child's Intake of Food Additives" for a list of potentially dangerous food additives that should definitely be avoided.
3. To perfume the air with a holiday fragrance, simmer spices such as cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. Special scents create a festive holiday mood. However, scented candles, incense, air fresheners and other fragrance products are filled with chemical cocktails that can pollute indoor air, causing headaches, fatigue and other symptoms. Scented candles tend to produce more black soot than nonscented candles. And some candles-particularly those made in foreign countries-are made with stiff, metal wicks, which often contain lead. When lit, these candles release lead dust. Both soot and lead can be inhaled or ingested by small children, which may lead to health problems. Soot contains suspected carcinogens and lead causes brain damage. Learn more about non-toxic holiday aromas.
4. Raid your kitchen pantry to make your house sparkle for holiday guests. Cleaning your house in preparation for guests is one holiday tradition no one cherishes. To make it less unpleasant to all concerned, use mild, nontoxic cleaners. Most cleaning can be accomplished with a few nontoxic items from your kitchen pantry such as baking soda, washing soda and vinegar (to name a few). These ingredients can even be used to polish the silver! Learn more Recipes for Safer Cleaners.
5. Be aware that holiday lights may contain lead. In many electronic products, wires and cords are coated with PVC plastic, which is where the lead is found. Lead is used in PVC wires and cords to make it more flexible and reduce the risk of fire. Lead is also used in many PVC products to stabilize the color. The amount of lead in the lights and other consumer products may vary considerably and it is not clear if the amount of lead that is released poses a risk to human health. Some tests show that lead could come off in the hands. It's best not to let children handle the lights. The adult that does handle them should wash his or her hands immediately afterwards.
6. Retire that old, plastic tree. Plastic Christmas trees may appear to make environmental sense, because they can be used for many years. And about 20 million households put up a tree that is 9 years old or older. But old Christmas trees, which are made of PVC, are a potential health threat to children. PVC has been dubbed the most toxic plastic. One reason is that PVC contains significant amounts of lead as a stabilizer. In 2002, Foundation E.A.R.T.H. discovered that as these plastic trees age, they release lead dust, which collects on tree branches and the floor beneath the tree. Most of the plastic trees come from China and they exceed U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommendations for lead levels in consumer products. Lead is an extremely toxic heavy metal capable of producing long-term behavioral and brain damage, even at low doses. To be extra safe, don't let your children touch or handle a plastic tree or crawl underneath it. Don't keep presents underneath it either, as they will collect any lead dust that falls. Better yet, purchase a fresh, organic tree this year - it's a renewable resource that can be recycled!
7. This holiday season, burn a safer fire. As you cozy up to the fireplace this winter, remember that particles and gases from fires can make breathing difficult, especially for asthmatics. Make sure you ventilate well. Dry wood burns hotter and cleaner than "green" wood and hardwoods are better than coniferous trees, or evergreens. (That includes your Christmas tree, which is better off recycled.) For more tips, see How To Build a Safer Fire. Note: Fires also emit carcinogens, so keep fires to a minimum.
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Concentrated Products—like California Baby washes—need a little know-how.
2009.12.03 posted by Jessica Iclisoy
I recently bought a High Efficiency (HE) front load washer and dryer made by Miele. The first time I used the washer, it overflowed with bubbles. Why? Not only was I using the too much laundry detergent, I was also using the wrong kind. Most laundry detergents are formulated to bubble—and bubble a lot. We, as consumers, have been trained to use large quantities of product. The combo of pouring in our detergent and seeing the bubbles gives us a feeling of accomplishment and we feel confident that the product is working. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Most detergents and personal care products contain up to 95% water! Why would companies do that? Because water is cheap and consumers want low prices—“give the customer what they want” is their motto. But it’s not so good for the environment.
Thankfully, we now all get it…that what is good for the environment is good for us, and more importantly, our children. America is going green by leaps and bounds. For example, sales of solar panels are up almost 3 fold, according to EIA, the official energy statistics of the US government. And suppliers of household cleaning, laundry and personal care are getting the message about producing concentrated versions of their products.
California Baby is doing our part!
Our shampoos and bubble baths are very concentrated. This means that you are getting more cleaning power (solids, not water) in each bottle and you can wash more with less. California Baby is once again on the pioneering eco-trail and putting more of the good stuff in each bottle—when other companies are cutting corners. California Baby doesn’t believe in cutting corners. We never have, never will. Instead, we believe in eco-value by offering concentrated washes, bubble baths, creams and lotions. The gentleness or effectiveness hasn’t changed, you just need to use less. That’s powerful.
Tips!
Concentrated products may take a little getting used, but once you get the hang of it, you will appreciate the time, water, product, and ultimately money you are saving your pocket book—and mama earth.
- Wash your hair only once, but let it sit while washing the body, allowing the product to do its job of washing away dirt and oil. Ideally about 30 seconds (wash your body while you let our shampoo sit in your hair)
- Use a puff or natural sea sponge. The best investment you will make! This will help to dramatically reduce the amount of product you need—just one squirt or pump does the job for your whole body.
- Pump bottles: just a half to one pump is usually all you need to wash head-to-toe. California Baby pumps lock in the ‘up’ position (click left, click right), and the pumps sold for the 8.5 oz sizes lock in the down position ... just a quick click helps put a temporary stop to enthusiastic little hands.
You will find that your concentrated California Baby products should last you longer. I confess it took me a while to get used to. I would pump 3-4 times just to wash my hair! What was I thinking? I guess I just wasn’t hip to eco-concentrates. Now I am—and I love it. Hope you do too.
All my best,
Jessica
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Hand Sanitizers
2009.10.21 posted by Jessica Iclisoy
While researching hand washes (check out our Wash-Up! products) I found Triclosan and alcohol in everything. Also many of the hand sanitizers that market themselves as ‘No Alcohol’ contain ingredients such as Benzalkonium Chloride, which is rated as a high hazard by environmental and safety groups such as the EWG.
I prefer and love essential oils as a safe and healthy alternative to chemicals and alcohol, and California Baby’s foundation was built on the concept of aromatherapy. I have turned to essential oils over and over to keep my family healthy.
And, it turns out, vigorous hand washing with warm water and a cleanser for at least 20 seconds is all that we need to kill germs and stay healthy. Of course, soap and water aren’t always available, and mom and kids are always on the go, but I also know from years of researching ingredients and living a natural/organic lifestyle that the very high percentage of alcohol based hand sanitizers is not health promoting, to the contrary, I feel it is unhealthy—especially for babies and kids. Their small bodies cannot handle the toxic load of the high percentage of alcohol contained in and multiplied by the constant use of a hand sanitizer throughout the day, week, year… (Organic sourced alcohol doesn’t make it any safer.)
A trusted industry insider has noted, “alcohol is one of the only consistent trans-dermal materials known. Children have been documented to become legally intoxicated as a result of topical application of alcohol to reduce fever.”
The link below is a story about what a few families have been through when their kids either accidently drank the ubiquitous hand sanitizer solution or were affected by absorption.
I continue to research and develop a safe non-alcohol based hand sanitizer. In the meantime, my suggestion is to wash hands frequently with a non sulfate cleanser (stay away from synthetic fragrances), use hand sanitizers sparingly, and only when you feel there are cooties about—and be sure to supervise your kids when they use a hand sanitizer and keep it out of their reach.
www.snopes.com
All my best,
Jessica
