Five hair gels

Style your hair with a natural hair gel.

Aesop Wild Lime Hair Polish 200ml $19.90 – Not technically a gel, but it’s described as ‘gel-like’, so close enough.

Giovanni L.A. Style Hair Gel 200ml $27.99 – A strong hold gel.

John Masters Organics Sweet Orange & Silk Protein Styling Gel 236ml AUD$32.50 – This can be ordered from http://www.ikigai.com.au/.

MOP Foam Forming Gel with Light Hold 200ml $37 – A gel in foam form.

Aveda Brilliant™ Retexturing Gel 25ml $19 and 150ml $56 - with certified organic aloe, calendula and camomile.

Product reviews: Products from Ikigai

I previously mentioned Ikigai, a great online organic skincare boutique. The people at Ikigai sent me some products to review. Here is what I got:

- Pangea Organics Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub (full size)
- Two 10ml sachets of John Masters Organics Lavender & Avocado Intensive Conditioner
- Two 10ml sachets of John Masters Organics Honey & Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor
- Two 10ml sachets of John Masters Organics Citrus & Neroli Detangler

I have heard good things about Pangea and John Masters products, so it was great to be able to try these products out. Here are the reviews:


Pangea Organics Egyptian Geranium with Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub

Packaging: A squeezy recyclable plastic tube with a flip-top cap in a cardboard box embedded with seeds – You can plant the box!
Price: AUD$39.95
Size: 110ml
Suitable for: All skin types
Available at: Ikigai website
Pros: Gentle, smells nice, generous size, plantable box!
Cons: None

Verdict: I have been using this weekly, and it is nice and gentle, but also effective. It leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth, and it smells good too. I think it is very cool that the box can be planted. I haven’t done this; I’ll have to get onto it. When it is planted, medicinal herbs will grow (the same herbs which are used in the product). Nice!


Note: The reviews for the haircare products give details of the price and packaging of the full size products; I tried the sample sachets.


John Masters Organics Lavender & Avocado Intensive Conditioner

Packaging: A squeezy recyclable plastic tube with a flip-top cap
Price: AUD$40.50
Size: 207ml
Suitable for: Dry hair
Available at: Ikigai website
Pros: Moisturising, non-greasy
Cons: None

Verdict: I have dry hair which tends to get frizzy, so this was really good for my hair. It says to leave it in for 1 – 5 minutes, and I left it in for about 2, which worked well.


John Masters Organics Honey & Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor

Packaging: A squeezy recyclable plastic tube with a flip-top cap
Price: AUD$51.60
Size: 118ml
Suitable for: Very dry, damaged or colour-treated hair
Available at: Ikigai website
Pros: Very moisturising, nice smell
Cons: None

Verdict: My hair is not colour-treated, but it is pretty dry, so using this helped give it some much-needed moisture. It is supposed to be left in for 2 – 4 minutes, and I usually left it in for around 2 minutes.

John Masters Organics Citrus & Neroli Detangler

Packaging: A recyclable plastic bottle
Price: AUD$29.99
Size: 236ml
Suitable for: Dry or fine hair
Pros: Very thick and moisturising, amazing smell
Cons: None

Verdict: The instructions say that this is to be left in for 1 – 3 minutes, but also that it makes an excellent leave-in conditioner. I used it as a leave-in conditioner. It is very thick, adds a lot of moisture to the hair, and smells very yummy!


Thanks to the people at Ikigai for sending me these great products! They came at just the right time, because I was almost out of face scrub, and my hair had been getting very dry, so using the John Masters products helped with that.

Pet products

So, I’ve written about products for men, babies, kids, 'tweens, and teens, as well as women, obviously (including pregnant women), but what about the four-legged members of your family? If you want to use something natural to wash your pet with, try Aesop Animal, $32.50 for 500ml. It has a picture of a dog on the bottle, but I guess you could use it to wash your cat. Yes, yes, I know cats wash themselves, but what if you have a long-haired cat that’s going to be in a cat show? It’s common practice to give the cat a bath the night before the show. This is not easy to do. Yes, I speak from experience!

Anyway...another option for washing your dog is John Masters Dogpoo(Doggy Shampoo). Buy it from Ikigai, the cool website I mentioned the other day. It’s $36.60 (in Australian dollars) for 473ml. Or try Ecostore Dog and Puppy Shampoo, $10.95 for 250ml.