Consumer Review: Organic Aluminum Free Deodorant Part 1

In the last decade debate has raged over the use of parabens and aluminum in body care products and the association of these two with breast cancer and alzheimer's disease. This National Cancer Institute review of relevant research studies is "inconclusive", but their is enough uncertainty that my inclination to switch to more natural options led me to try aluminum free deodorants. Here are the three types that I have used so far. I tested each of these for at least a month, even when I did not like the results, so as not to be biased in making my conclusions. Caveats: I do not have sensitive skin and I have previously always used scented deodorants - Dove or Secret.

1. Tom's Deodorant -- This is the best of the 3 for me. I like the lavender scent. I know that some people find it irritating. It is worth noting that Tom's also sells an antiperspirant, but that one contains Aluminum. These 3 are all just deodorants. They do not keep your armpits dry. I like this one because it covers the body odor and also smells nice. It seems to last longer than the other 2 - meeting its promised "24 hours of odor protection".  It is reasonably priced and is not too hard to find. I got mine at Target for about 5$.

 2. Thai Crystal Deodorant Stone -- I  wanted to try the crystal deodorant because it is supposed to be long lasting and all the reviews on Amazon were great. I heard that the salt layer has to build up and that it is best to put it on right out of the shower so the moisture helps it stick better and not get gritty. I tried all these things, but I still felt like it was not covering the body odors enough. I did not expect it to keep my armpits dry and it didn't. I felt like I was not wearing any deodorant.  The crystal does last a long time, but I had to order it on Amazon for about $7.50  It seems like a good option for people with very sensitive skin, allergies, and sensitivities to odors.

3. Trader Joe's Unscented with Cotton -- this was my least favorite of the 3 options. I really wanted to like it, but it did not prevent wetness and did not seem to prevent body odor. It was easy to find at the local TJ's and not too expensive - about 6$. 

Sew Special: Cloth Napkins

About a year ago, I found this fabric and put it in my Etsy shop. I mentioned that if it did not sell then I would like to make cloth napkins out of it.  My lovely friend remembered and asked me about it while she was visiting. They just went home about a week ago and this week I received these in a package! All serged and ready for use. Don't they look amazing?

 I am in love with cloth napkins -- they are so cheerful and colorful. They are reusable (a favorite trait of mine) and kind to trees and the environment.  My mom monogrammed a "T" on the 8 brown napkins that I had last year -- those are going to be our "company napkins" now that we have 50 more. We use them quickly with all these silly little eaters, probably about 6-8 a day.

Cloth napkins for every day

Home Schooling Summary for the Last Week

 Our friends' flight was delayed due to the weather and we disregarded the extreme cold in favor of as many exciting adventures as we could fit in.

We tried out the new Carousel at the National Zoo. It was 3 dollars a ride, but there were plenty of cool animals to choose from and big sister A had a great time.  After his bad experience at the county fair this summer, brother M did not ride and just wanted to "pet" the giraffe character.

Little brother S can't wait to be old enough to ride the Carousel too.

With the cold temperatures, there were very few other people at the zoo -- in other words plenty of time at each window. We had a good visit with the gorillas in the Ape House. They all (including the baby) came up to the glass to see us.

At twilight we saw and heard the wolves howling. It was the first time I have heard them in person. We also had an amazing encounter at the observation glass with a sea lion.  She was following the kids' mittens as they ran their hands along the glass! including loop de loops and everything. They had a wonderful time.

 We had a class scheduled at the Nature Center on the day that it was only 10 degrees. I thought it would be cancelled, but schools were open and so the class was open too.

We were the only visitors to the nature center that day and got special treatment. We saw the bald eagle flying over the misty water. Our guide showed us two special cold weather experiments.  She heated water and then threw it off the observation deck outside. It was so cold that the water changed from boiling directly to a huge cloud of ice crystals. Then our guide blew bubbles outside and set them on the metal trash can. We watched as they FROZE! from the bottom up. Then the kids popped them and they SHATTERED like glass.

 The nature center class was about one of our favorite books, The Mitten, by Jan Brett. They had a great craft for us to go with it. She had made white felt mittens and printed animal clip art from the story for the kids to color and put in their mittens as she read the story.

The Mitten -- Jan Brett clip art craft

Wednesday we went to a free kids concert at the local shopping center and hear Peter McCory's one man band. It was a lot of fun, even though the kids were too shy to participate much.

Saturday was our first day of ice skating lessons. The lessons are "Parent & Tot" so Daddy went out on the ice with them as they learned how to fall safely, get up, walk and bend down if they felt wobbly. Each lesson includes a free practice session during the week.

Needless to say, the formal schooling was limited. On Friday we did spelling and math. I thought this picture teaching kids about graphing was pretty fun and so did big sister A once she got the hang of it.

Teaching young kids math and graphing

Recommended Reading: The Best Book on Chicken Keeping

We are planning to get our chicks (finally!) in March. I have been studying up on taking care of the chickens and housing the chickens etc. So far I like Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens the best.

There are a lot of fun anecdotal guides to raising chickens online, but Storey's Guide gets into the nitty gritty of caring for the birds and gives technical information about feed ratios and coop space. On the negative side, like most technical books, it makes it seem as though your chickens will die if you do not follow these very specific directions. I understand from talking to my fellow chicken keepers that chickens are more flexible than this guide makes them seem. I still highly recommend this book to anyone else interested in raising chickens as a guide to best practices.

Sew Special: Quiet Book with Fabric Pictures

One last Christmas craft to show off -- Baby S's Quiet Book.  I got the idea for this from my favorite blogger, Amanda Soule's book: The Creative Family.

I ordered this fabric paper and it worked great.  I also used fusible web to stick all the fabric pics to the page before sewing around them, although that is not really necessary.  Each person in the family told me something to write in baby S's book and I printed those on the fabric pages along side the pictures.

Christmas Vacation: Not homeschooling this week

Some of our favorite people are visiting us from Utah this week. We have been chatting, crafting, and playing with them as much as we can while they are here.  We spent New Year's Eve thrifting and eating food from our favorite Taiwanese bakery and restaurant.

Little brother M is so excited about his new/thrifted Thomas the Train shirt.

We enjoyed about 4 inches of new snow Saturday morning. It was perfect timing with daddy at home.

Little brother M seemed to realize that he was missing out on some fun, but it was his nap time.

Sew Special: Christmas Crafties

December was full of Christmas crafting. The kiddos helped as much as they could.  

1. Buttons in my hair!  We made covered button hair ties. These were super easy and fun. I ordered my supplies from here -- and there are tutorials for this all over the internet. 

2. Tree trimmings - We printed tiny (2"x 2") photos to make ornaments for the grandparents this year

3. More Last Minute Knitted Gifts - I received this book as an early Christmas present and put it to work immediately making scarves for friends and loved ones in cold places.

4. Porcelain Painting -- monogrammed mugs.  The kids loved doing these. I am a fan as well. So easy! and DISHWASHER safe! I bought white mugs from the thrift store. We drew the outlines in pen, erasing and redrawing them until we liked what we had and then traced over it with this porcelain marker. We let them dry for 24 hours and then popped them in the oven for 30 minutes or so. I think I need some more marker colors...

 5. Ties for the boys - - I started making ties at the request of my best friend. I did not have a very good pattern and it took some experimenting to get them right. As a result I had a bunch light blue little boys and men sized ties by the time I was done. These may inspire matching family Easter outfits or something.

6. More matching - for some reason everything is better when your cousin has a matching one. Big sister A chose the fabric and notions for these matching skirts.

7. Christmas quilt of the three trees story-- this is actually an oldie, made about 8-9 years ago, but when I planned it then this is what I hoped it would be used for.  I snuck in and took this picture unbeknownst to them.

8. The kiddos Christmas artwork -- paper plate snowmen.