Mean Green Mommas

Diapers...Diapers...Diapers...
We use so many, those of us with babies anyway. With my first baby I used cloth diapers for about the first year and alternated with seventh generation diapers. I could write pages about how I loved my cloth dipes and why I don’t use them now, but this article isn’t about cloth diapers, so let me get to the point of writing about Seventh Generation.

So four years ago I had my first baby and chose Seventh Generation as my disposable diapers. The first few weeks I used Pampers swaddlers because they are oh so soft for the teeny tiny stage, and I think the Seventh Generation dipes were too big for my skinny baby. I chose Seventh Generation for several reasons. 1) They are chlorine free. Chlorine is a harsh and toxic chemical that makes diapers white. Well who needs white diapers? They are only going to get dirty again. Also, chlorine produces dioxins which are linked to many serious diseases, first and foremost, cancer. I figured I don’t need to add more dioxins to this world, our water and our environment, and I certainly don’t need these chemicals near my baby’s skin. 2) They are fragrance free. Some people might like the fragrance that are in most diapers, but I can’t stand it. Artificial fragrance in products can contain pthalates, another harmful chemical. Not only is the fragrance just another potentially harmful chemical, I think they make the diaper smell worse. When a child pees in a regular diaper versus a seventh generation diaper, I can smell the regular diaper from across the room. I truly can’t stand the artificial scent of diapers whether they are clean or dirty ones. 3) They are latex free.
These are not the greenest diapers on the planet, however they are accessible and affordable. I will be trying other “green” diapers in the future and blogging about them soon.
So do they work? I love my seventh generation diapers. I love that they don’t stink and that they are fragrance and chlorine free. I also think they work very well. I barely have a poop blowout and they do occasionally leak, but that is usually because of my negligence in forgetting to change the diaper. I don’t think I have any more problems than I would have with any other diaper. Also, my babies rarely, if ever get diaper rash, however I don’t know if the diaper has anything to do with it. Of course there are improvements that could probably be made. The tape is kind of bulky and the diapers themselves run a bit small. All in all though, I do really like them.
People who see my diapers assume I go to great lengths or costs to get them. You can now get Seventh Generation diapers at Babies R Us, but I prefer to get them at Amazon.com. I use their subscribe and save program, which I find very user friendly, convenient, and cost effective. I priced out Pampers Cruisers versus Seventh Generation on Amazon.com. I priced according to size 3, since that is what I am using right now. Pampers are not eligible for subscribe and save. A box of 160 diapers is $41.99 or $0.26 per diaper. A box of 140 Seventh Generation diapers via subscribe and save is $39.94 or $.29 a diaper. So I pay 3 cents more than a leading brand. Additionally, I can change or cancel or postpone my subscribe and save order at any time, and Amazon sends me an email before they send anything out to me. Like I said, I find it very user friendly.

So, where to next? Huggies just came out with a natural diaper. I ordered a free sample on their website. I will let you know what I think after I get them. There is also a new very “green” diaper out there by Nature Baby Care. I plan on trying them soon as well.

Wow, it’s been a long time since my last blog. I do apologize, but we had a death in the family which kinda threw a wrench into my world a little bit. But now I’m back and so anxious to talk about great green products!

Well, the mystery has been solved. . . sort of. As you know, I stopped using California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo & Bodywash with No Fragrance as well as Seventh Generation Free & Clear Laundry Detergent for my daughter because she had developed a rash, but I wasn’t sure which product was the culprit. Well, after the rash cleared, I reintroduced the California Baby (CB) product, and much to my surprise, the rash came back. Seventh Generation isn’t totally off the hook because when this rash clears up, I’m going to go back to using their laundry detergent to see how she reacts to that as well, but I’m guessing there won’t be any reaction. I’m going to write to CB and let them know of my daughter’s reaction to see what they have to say about it. As I've said in a previous post, I did like the product and think that CB is a great company. My fellow blogger, MommaVerde, along with other friends of mine have used CB products with no problems at all. It just seems weird to me that my daughter would react to a body wash with no fragrance that is specifically designed for super sensitive skin but yet be fine with a more toxic product like Baby Magic. I’ll let you know CB's response.

Now, onto Seventh Generation (SG). I must say that the claims SG makes about their company on their website are very impressive. They claim that they are committed to becoming the world's most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally-responsible products for a healthy home. They say that they were one of this country’s first self-declared “socially responsible” companies. Although, there are no specifics on how they do that. They get their name from the Great Law of the Iroquois. "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." And SG donates 10% of their pre-tax profits to charitable organizations.

Now for my observations: They do list all of the ingredients on the label along with what each ingredient does, even though, as they state on their website, there are no regulations requiring that. One of my concerns is the second ingredient, Sodium Laureth Sulfate. There are a lot of differing views regarding this chemical. Some talk about it as if it’s the worst thing in the world, while others think it’s totally safe. The Skin Deep Website gives it a rating of 4 out of 10 for toxicity which would be considered a moderate hazard. I’m not concerned with using it on my clothes as much as I’m concerned about it going into our water supply. This is a subject that I’ll have to look more into.

The label says that the detergent is non-toxic, biodegradable, and hypo-allergenic. I looked into these claims a little deeper on a website called A Little Greener. It says that the “non-toxic” claim implies that a product, substance, or chemical will not cause adverse health effect, either immediate or over the long-term. However, there are no specific standards for the “non-toxic” claim. Also, on Consumer Reports Greener Choices site, it states that there are no standards for the terms hypoallergenic or biodegradable either. Hypoallergenic implies that a product will be less likely to cause allergic reactions, but there is no federal standard or definition of this term. Biodegradable does have some guidelines but no specific standards. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), biodegradable should mean that a product is degradable when exposed to air, moisture, bacteria or other organisms and that the materials will break down and return to nature within a reasonably short time after customary disposal. That sounds good, but just because a product is biodegradable, doesn’t mean that it’s good for the environment. Chemicals can be biodegradable but still harmful.

On the plus side, the detergent is formulated for standard and HE machines. It’s free of dyes, fragrances and masking agents. It’s formulated to work well in cold water to save energy. It’s not tested on animals and there are no animal ingredients. And the bottle contains a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled plastic. As far as getting my clothes clean, this detergent has done its job. If you like your laundry to smell fragrant, this detergent is not for you. There is no smell whatsoever.

I’m a little torn over this product. I like using it, and it seems like SG is a company that’s looking out for the environment, but I don’t want to be naïve, they exist to make money. I don’t like the fact that there is Sodium Laureth Sulfate in the product, but I’m willing to trust that SG is doing their best. I will say that I’m not done searching for a better product if there is one.

Until next time!

Hello everyone, this is MamaVerde finally checking in to let you know a little about myself and what I will be blogging about in the near future. Like Mean Green Momma said, I am also fed up with the government’s lax standards for what goes into our skincare products. I am also annoyed by products claiming to be natural when they really aren’t. I would love to share the great news that due to some good products out there, it is becoming easier to go green everyday and to take care of your health, earth, and family.

I have done a lot of personal research over the past few years on various products and the chemicals they contain. It is crazy what ingredients are allowed in the skincare products we use everyday and most people don’t even know they can be harmful. I mean it wouldn’t be on the shelf if it could cause cancer or other problems. Or would it? Thankfully more natural alternatives are popping up everyday and many products are much easier to find in stores than in the past. Unfortunately a lot of products use words like natural and organic very liberally and they aren’t really as natural as they claim. I hope to share with you some of the information I have found on products out there as well as my opinions on these products, so that going green and healthy can be a little bit easier for you.

Being a mom of two young boys, I go through a lot of diapers. Seventh generation diapers are what I presently use, so I will be starting my product reviews with them. I plan on trying a couple of other diapers as well. And don’t worry if you don’t have kids in diapers, I will also soon report on sodium lauryl sulfate shampoos too. Assuming you have hair, it should be of interest to you. After that, well, you will just have to wait and see.

Happy Earth Week! Back in the 90’s I thought Earth Day was corny (in my defense, I was a teenager so EVERYTHING was corny!) But now I appreciate it as a day to remember to take care of the earth as best we can. My contribution to the cause is this blog. I’ve been researching California Baby (CB) and I’d like to share my findings with you.

I’d like to announce the addition of my blogging partner, MommaVerde (MV)! MV and I have been friends for about 10 years – I can’t believe how time flies! Whenever we get together we usually end up talking about organic food and products as most moms do, so now we’ll be blogging about it together. I’ll let her tell you more about herself in upcoming blogs.

My experiment is in full effect. Unfortunately, it’s taking longer then I thought for my daughter’s rash to fully go away. In the meantime, MV has some great information to share and I’m going to be researching the two companies I’d mentioned before, California Baby and Seventh Generation.

Have a great weekend!

Hello world! This is Mean Green Momma coming to you live from my computer in Any Town, USA. I'm starting this blog because I am sick and tired of the government and their lax standards when it comes to the things we use in our homes and put in our bodies. It’s almost as if they want everyone to die of cancer (but that’s a different blog). So anyway, I thought that maybe there is something I can do about it. I’ve tried over the past few years to convert to products in my home that are beneficial, i.e. cleaning products. But I often find myself in the middle of a grocery isle staring blankly at the hundreds of products claiming to be “all natural” or “eco-friendly” having no idea if the claims are really true. I mean, I don’t want to pay an extra $3 for a product that is no better then the cheaper version next to it. Sooooo, that brings me to why I’m here. I plan to look into these products in-depth, try them out, and report my findings to you. This way, I have a blog to hold me accountable – that is, if anyone actually reads it.

So I’m going to start with where I’m at in my life right now. For a few weeks, I’ve been noticing that my daughter has a little bumpy rash on her body. I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I noticed it getting really bad around her elbow area. She started scratching it all the time. I think I’ve narrowed the problem down to either her body wash or the new detergent I’ve been using. This is kind of disturbing to me because these products are both “green” products so I really want to find out which one is the culprit.

The body wash I’ve been using for her is California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo & Bodywash with No Fragrance. I found this brand on http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/. I highly recommend this website to find out the hazard level of products we use on our bodies. This body wash had a hazard level of 1 out of 10 so I figured it would be a good choice. I have no complaints about the product itself, I just have to figure out if it’s what’s been irritating my daughter’s skin.

The laundry detergent I’ve been using is Seventh Generation Free & Clear. It’s a “natural” laundry detergent but we’ll see about that.

My plan as of now is to go back to the old faithfuls I used when she was a little baby. I bought Dreft and Baby Magic because I know that she’s never had reactions to either of these. Once the rash has cleared I’ll reintroduce the other products one at a time to see which one is causing her rash. Stay tuned for my next blog where I’ll unveil my findings on California Baby and Seventh Generation.