NATURAL PRODUCTS

Haiku Review: Weleda Sage Deodorant

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OMG, it’s hot!
Sweaty pits, rarely an ish —
What’s a girl to do?

Yesterday was hot — and it’s still hot out, right?* I don’t know, one day of warmth and for some crazy reason, I think that yet another day of warmth will follow! Nutter!

Anyway: deodorant. Not the sexiest of beauty products, possibly belonging in the health category, but they exist to help you not smell too bad, and therefore your feelings of beauty are not impinged upon.

I went on a kind of purge for a year or so, because I had been addicted to a deodorant that as far as I can tell, in retrospect, basically sealed up all the pores in my pits. There was an impressive absence of pong, but I think it was probably worse for me than smoking 40 cigarettes a day and washing them down with a fifth of Jack.

So, I gave up deodorant! It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I used to be very self-conscious about body odor: then I started horseriding and since I was smelling like a whole bunch of other smells, my own stink was the least of it. I did find I was doing laundry much more often, but that seemed to be an okay compromise for my health and wellbeing. Except for all the water! All the water in all the washes!

Now that I don’t have my own washing machine in my flat, though, it’s not as easy for me to just bung a load of laundry in, and so I figured I better find myself a deodorant that wasn’t composed entirely of aluminum.

Enter Weleda Sage Deodorant. The Swiss brand are all natural, and I have to say, I have mainly found their packaging — heavy glass containers for most of their lotions and potions — to be unwieldy in the extreme. The deodorant is no different, but I am happy to announce I am over the prejudice against glass because of the refreshing product it contains.

{Seriously, though, not terribly portable.}

It is free of aluminum salts; that’s all I needed to know. It spritzes like a perfume, due to the lack of aerosol, which is a little freaky the first few times you use it, and then fun and refreshing once you become accustomed.

The refreshing-ness lasts for about half your day, which may be enough for you. Depends for me, now: if I’m heading out into public later in the day, then that’s fine. It’s not robust enough to use for the horseriding, but in fairness, what is. Trying to deodorize for that is a bit like throwing a deck chair off the Titantic.

{The power of Google has shown me that there is a 30ml version of this. Still in a glass bottle, but smaller. Well, okay then.}

So: saving water, saving my pits. Noice one!

***

Weleda Sage Deodorant: €11.50/£8.50/$13 for 100mls

*My phone says it is not very hot out anymore. It is only kind of warm.

Irish for Youth: Preserve Your Looks with Peat

/ brightandbeautyfull / 1 Comment

If there’s one thing about which I can wax lyrical, it’s the smell of burning peat. Out of all the places I have lived here, I’ve only enjoyed an open fireplace once, but I loved, loved, loved burning peat briquettes, and once, even got actual hand-harvested peat straight from a friend’s bog allotment. Or whatever it was called. There’s a special name for it, and I can’t remember.

What is peat, you ask? {Heathen!} It’s a really, really old by-product of decomposed vegetable matter. Which doesn’t sound very appealing, but trust me, once somebody digs it up — it’s mud, basically, but really complex and rich mud — and dries it out, it fires up like a dream, it smells delicious and homey, and it is one of the most relaxing fires to sit before, musing and dreaming.

Now, a company called Ógra {which is… Irish for youth} have brought out a skincare line that speaks to peat’s other amazing properties, that of preservation and healing.

Founded by Bill Kenny, the peat comes straight from the heart of Ireland in  Co Offaly, and has been incorporated across a range that includes all the usual suspects of cleanser, toner, moisturiser, eye, and body cream. For me, though, I am all about cracking into the face mask: not only because of the opportunity to take a scary picture, but also because being able to sit back and relax and let all the peaty benefits sink into my skin over a period of time — well, how relaxing does that sound? Plus, look! It’s a body mask as well! I think I am going to go run a bath…

Before peat is dried out for use in our hearths, the stuff is bursting with essential oils, fatty acids and lipods, all of which help the skin retain moisture, which in turn makes the skin look bloomin’ youthful.

And of course, we all know about the preservative qualities of peat, don’t we?

I don’t plan on keeping this on that long.

And since I need my glasses to type, I’ll catch you up on my opinion later.

Ógra 100% Peat Face and Body Mask, €30.00 (50mls).

The online store can be found here.