Saturday, May 15, 2010

Fair Trade beauty

We are coming to the end of Fair Trade Fortnight. There are a number of brands which make natural beauty products using Fair Trade ingredients. Trade Aid has a range of Fair Trade soaps, made in the Palam Rural Centre in southern India using sustainably sourced palm oil. They cost $3, and are available in ten scents (Cinnamon, Clove, Coconut, Cucumber, Green Apple, Honey, Jasmine, Neem, Rose, and Sandalwood).

Lush uses Fair Trade cocoa butter from Northern Ghana and Fair Trade shea butter from the Ivory Coast. Dr Bronner’s products are certified Fair Trade by IMO, and use the following fair trade organic ingredients: olive oil from Palestine, coconut oil from Sri Lanka, sustainable palm oil from Ghana, and hemp oil from North America. The Body Shop uses a number of community trade ingredients: organic virgin coconut oil from Samoa, marula oil from Namibia, cocoa butter from Ghana, and aloe vera from Guatemala. They also use hand crafted accessories from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Note: I know that some of the ingredients used in products from Lush and The Body Shop are not all that natural. However, there are some of their products that do contain all or mostly all natural ingredients, such as Lush’s Les Cacas Henna Hair Dyes and Therapy Massage Bar, and The Body Shop’s Natures Minerals makeup range and Sugaring Hair Removal Wax, and it is products such as these that I mention on this blog.

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