Integrity vs. Performance

When shopping for home and body products, I continually struggle to find products that possess both integrity and the ability to perform.

A couple of examples where I find it challenging to satisfy both desires:

1. Toothpaste
I'm sorry. Tom's of Maine just doesn't work that well. Plus, I get self-concious about my teeth getting yellow, and I don't trust anything natural to be able to whiten as well as the synthetic stuff.

2. Deodorant
Again Tom, I"m sorry. Your deodorant just doesn't work that well. I've tried a few other natural deodorants, and they are pretty similar. I admit it. I really, really like anti-perspirant, enough that so that even when I think about the parabens and the cancer forming under my armpits, I'm still happy that I'm not sweating. If someone could invent a powerful natural antiperspirant that doesn't stain my clothes, I'd be first in line to buy it.

3. Styling products (gel, hair spray, mousse, etc)
The synthetic hold of drugstore / salon hair products is hard to beat. I've tried a few natural hair products, and they were all super sticky on my hands and sort of crunchy. I've been using Aveda products, but I don't think of those as natural. I think of those as smelling very nice through the help of SOME natural ingredients.

4. Eye Cream
I have dark circles under my eyes, and I see the wrinkles and crows feet looming around my eyes. I recently purchased a drug store eye cream with retinol and oh my gosh, it makes such a difference. For the first time, I started to understand the appeal of botox. Is there anything natural out there that would caffeinate my skin cells with the same effect? Unlikely.

5. Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Nasty grimy brown toilet rim, I spray you with Ecover toilet bowl cleaner, and you smell better but you don't look any better. Do I need to use bleach? Are you going to make me?

6. Shower tile/grout cleaner
For day to day, I think it's fine to use natural cleaning products on your tub and tile, but when you move out of an apartment, things need to sparkle and they need to be white. I think of Lois Gibb's children dying as I use Dow Scrubbing bubbles and I feel bad, very very bad. Will anything natural out there kill mildew and mold?

Products I have no problem with

1. Dish soap.
Ecover rocks my socks off. I heard that it took years to develop their formula. The suds, the smell, the price, I'm in domestic Whole Foods bliss.

2. Body Soap
My skin doesn't react that much to different soaps. It doesn't take much to de-stink me. I generally pick bar soap. It lasts long, and you can often buy it without a wrapper or handmade from your local farmer's market.

3. Recycled paper towels.
They do the same sopping as their virgin counterparts. I don't need the bounty strength for most jobs. I know rags are better, but emergency spills and super nasty cleaning jobs (like the trash can) are perfect for the natural paper towels.

I do my best to "vote with my dollar," but sometimes I break down when the conventional stuff just-works-better. There is a really great salon article written by a woman who had to resort to lots of DIY stuff because her husband decided to take a lower paying job. The article "I am a Radical Homemaker Failure," discusses things topics like baking your own bread or reusing containers. All of this nice when you have the ability to make the choice, but at the end of the day, she was tired and if she had the choice, she would have taken the fat 401K and the disposables.

Ideals vs. Budget

I suffered a consumer dilemma today at Whole Foods buying trash bags. I want to buy more environmentally sound trash bags. The Seventh Generation 55% recycled plastic trash bags were $5.49 for 30 trash bags. The compostable trash bags were $5.99 for 12! I want to buy the compostable ones. This burned me inside, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't pay $6 for only 12 trash bags. I bought the Seventh Generation bags, knowing that they were still made of virgin plastic, but needing some compromise between my ideals and my budget.

The other day I had similar dilemma buying eggs. I ran to the organic food grocery store near my house for eggs, and outside the cooler where the eggs are kept, a chart was taped to the freezer door. The chart detailed the treatment of the chickens at all of the places the eggs came from. I checked out the chart noting that only three of the available dozen or so brands of eggs could state that they didn't snip the beaks off their birds. I scanned the cooler for the three brands that left the chicken beaks intact. $8.50 for a dozen eggs! I stewed over this fact. I wanted to buy them, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $8.50 on a dozen eggs when I struggle so hard for my money. What to do? I compromised and purchased organic fed eggs for $4.50.

I see the internal battle with myself to choose the small organic products that I desire and admire vs my ability to financially stomach big organic. One step at a time I hope.

Leaving with more than a pack of gum . . .

I bought this bag, the Alabaster Crackle Bag, today with my Anthropologie gift cards. I had two stacked up, and it made buying something bigger than a candle easier to qualify. I've had these gift cards burning holes in my wallet for awhile now. Anthropologie is like going to the supermarket of frilly girly clothes. You have everything to choose from, and sometimes you only leave with a pack of gum, if that.

I figured who doesn't need a white handbag? The leather is weathered so it has that crackled white leather appearance. I'm down for anything that looks old.

Shopping their online store, and comparing it to the items in store was eye-opening. So many of the items I admired online were seriously lackluster in person like this purse, the linked spectrum purse,



and this bag,

the essential washed hobo. I had seen the Alabaster Crackle Bag online and was unimpressed. The crackled quality of the leather didn't really come through online, but it was so much cooler in person.

Also, I tried on this dress, the skywriter dress.



It wasn't much on the hanger, but was really pretty in person. I would have to take a few inches off the bottom. It swept the floor on me, but I'll think about it . . .