Make your own green body products
Most modern bathroom cabinets are crammed with supermarket products that we use for personal hygiene and to spoil ourselves a bit–such as toothpaste, soaps, bath salts and body scrub. These are items that appear on our shopping lists every month.
Yet the majority of these products contain ingredients that are potentially harmful–not only to the environment but also to our health.
“Isn’t it ironic that the basic products we use to cleanse and beautify ourselves could be detrimental to our health?” asks Leani van Zyl, a green activist and nature lover from Pringle Bay on the southwestern Cape coast. As a vegetarian, Leani started scouring the labels of household cleaning products for animal-derived ingredients years ago. After some research she realised just how many harmful substances are hidden in the most basic products under the sink. Then she shifted her focus to the products in her bathroom cabinet and came to the same shocking conclusion.
“It was a revelation. We have an intimate relationship with body products, yet the majority of them contain animal and insect products, a host of petroleum-derived ingredients, as well as chemicals and preservatives that are Greek to us. My golden rule: if you don’t know how to pronounce an ingredient, you shouldn’t trust it!”
Leani does not maintain that the large companies that manufacture these products necessarily intend to cause harm to our health or the environment, but she says we should be realistic. “The main goal of manufacturing these products is to make money. And when profit is the first priority, issues such as health, the environment and sustainability naturally come second. It is the responsibility of the consumer to read the fine print.”
About two years ago, Leani decided to take control by making her own body products whenever possible. Her starting point was the most basic element of the personal hygiene routine we all follow: toothpaste.
“Fluoride has been used as an active ingredient in toothpaste for years. Recently, more and more recognised studies suggest it is
