Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Canadian Organic Products Come to the U.S! Green Beaver Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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There’s a great line of eco-friendly personal care products made by the Canadian company Green Beaver that I’ve been wanting to try for a year, now. Green Beaver is the largest natural, eco-friendly and organic certified product line in Canada. They have finally started to sell their products in the U.S. and so, I was able to get my paws hands on them and try them out!

The whole family has been trying out the Green Beaver Green Apple Toothpaste. It has a very mild taste. So mild, in fact, that I felt challenged in the same way I have with other natural toothpastes…I started to second guess if it was working. After all, it doesn’t foam in your mouth, it doesn’t taste like most other toothpastes, either. And if you accidentally swallow a little, it doesn’t make you gag (I may or may not have done this, just sayin’). How hilariously ironic is it that when something is safer for you than most other products on the market, you start to question if it is a good choice? It’s really just a matter of getting used to something different and realizing that safe doesn’t mean ineffective. Natural products can get your pearly whites to shine, too!

Darah has been lovin’ bath time lately. Green Beaver Jr. Bubble Bath is her very first bubble bath product. She loves it, of course, and the bubbles smell great. Why have we waited so long to get her a bubble bath? Because our child drinks bath water like she is in the Sahara. We’ve tried to get her to stop, but have had no success so far. We knew we had to get something very mild to use, because we were pretty sure she would eat the bubbles in addition to drinking the water. And yeah, we were right.

We’ve also been using the Green Beaver Jr. Shampoo. The scent is awesome yet mild. I love that it has a pump, which makes it easy to dispense (it also makes it easy for a toddler to dispense, so keep it out of reach when not in use!).

Buy it!: Green Beaver products are reasonably priced, with the toothpaste retailing for $4.99 and the bubble bath and shampoo retailing for $9.99 each. Products can be purchased directly from the website!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the same 3 products I reviewed. Woo hoo! The contest will run until August 17th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected via Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Green Beaver has an AMAZING selection of organic and natural products. Select one that isn’t mentioned in this post that you’d really like to try and leave a comment about it here for your first entry.

My answer: I’d like to try the Passion Lip Shimmer!

Additional entries:

1. Sponsor love: Like The Green Beaver Company on Facebook

2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found  on the blog sidebar.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

No ‘Poo Update

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Many of you may recall that a few weeks ago, I announced that I would stop shampooing my hair.

I swear it isn’t as gross as you think!

Tim and I have both been using baking soda and vinegar as alternatives to shampoo and conditioners for a few weeks, and on the whole, we’re quite pleased with the results!

My hair is very dry, and it took about 3 washes with the new stuff before I thought my hair started to look really and truly great. Tim has very oily hair, and it took about 5-6 washes for him to reach the same place. There is a transition, but it is really worth it. And honestly, you hair doesn’t look that gross in the interim…just slightly dirty. You will most likely be much more aware of how it looks than anyone else. If you are going to do this, start out on a Friday, and by the middle of the following week, your hair will look so much better than it ever did with shampoo!

I did use shampoo one time in the past few weeks. We were on a last-minute trip and I just didn’t have a way to easily pack our new accouterments. When I shampooed with the traditional stuff, I won’t lie…it felt great! Baking soda doesn’t suds up at all. So that was nice. But once my hair dried, I could IMMEDIATELY tell a difference…my hair felt much less soft and much frizzier than it was while using baking soda. I’m actually really glad I used shampoo once because it helped me see very clearly just how much better my hair was doing without it!

I don’t have any pictures because my hair mostly just looks like my hair to me, only a bit shinier and easier to work with. I’m not going to tell you that I don’t still have bad hair days, because I do, but the problem now has to do with my hair just feeling TOO thick and full sometimes. There are worse problems to have, don’t you think?

And my hair used to feel dirty after 2 days, but now it feels dirty after 3. That’s a time saver!

So, yeah. I’m all about the “no ‘poo” movement. Some friends have advised that there may come a point where its magic is not as strong, and that will be ok if it happens. I’ll be sure to let you know, though!

Our Favorite Organic Shampoo for Babies: Little Twig

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Bath time is totally where its at in our house. Darah LOVES to take a bath, and she comes by that honest. Tim and I are both bubble bath fanatics (hope I didn’t just embarrass you, dear).

Thanks to the power of moms talking online, I learned about organic shampoo for babies by a company called Little Twig, and they specialize in shampoo for baby and other bath products for tiny tots. Thanks to a great blog win by my little sister Laura, we’ve been using Little Twig unscented baby wash, and it has rocked! It gets her clean as can be, and there’s never been the slightest irritation. I also have had the opportunity to work with little twig, and they sent me the Happy Tangerine baby wash. HEAVEN IN A BOTTLE! The smell is amazing, and Darah seems to like it, too!
organic shampoo for babies Now, I’m going to tell you, when I saw the prices for the products, I thought they were a little bit steep. They are $10 for an 8.5 oz bottle. BUT….the more I use the stuff, the more I realize that the price is actually amazing. The products are completely organic and natural (I recognize everything on their ingredient list). AND let me tell you, a little goes a long way. We are going to be using her bottle of baby wash for several (as in, probably 6) months before we run out. And we bathe Darah every 1-2 days. So $10 for baby wash that will last 6 months and that is not scary for my baby = TOTAL STEAL! They also sell the products in a 17 ounce container (with a pump…super nice) for $14.50, which lowers the cost per ounce quite a bit more!

We also had the opportunity to test out the little twig mineral sunscreen. This stuff goes on smoothly, is water-resistant and is nasty chemical-free! I’ve been very pleased every time I have put it on Darah, though I do wish the SPF was a bit higher than 30.

I also want to point out something really awesome about Little Twig. From their site, “Each month little twig chooses a charitable organization benefiting our environment and children’s issues. little twig donates 15% of the purchases you make every Wednesday to organization we have chosen.” I love it when companies actively give back. You rock, little twig!

Buy it! Overall, I’d have to say that little twig offers an incredible line of delightful and effective products that you can use without worrying about your child’s safety. I highly recommend them! You can buy Little Twig products on Amazon.

Win it!: little twig wants to give one lucky Stuff Parents Need reader a $50 gift certificate to use on their site. You read that right, $50!!! That will take care of your bath and body needs for a long time! The contest will run until September 4th at 7:59pm CST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. You will have 48 hours to respond to your winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.
Mandatory entry: Tell me anything about bath time at your house. Is there a favorite tub toy? Favorite shampoo for baby? How often do your kids take baths? Any relevant comment will do!

Additional entries:
1. “Like” little twig on Facebook
2. Follow little twig on Twitter
3. Follow Stuff Parents Need on Twitter
4. “Like” Stuff Parents Need on Facebook
5. Subscribe to Stuff Parents Need by RSS, email or Google Friend Connect (only one extra entry, even if you subscribe multiple ways)
6. If you are a blogger (posted something within the past 3 months) put my button on your blog and leave a url so that I can find it.

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways (listed on the sidebar of my home page).

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post may contain affiliate links.