Wellness Wednesday - Affordable, good-for-you, christmas gifts!

Did you know that conventional beauty products are not only terribly bad for you, but also for the environment? Have a look below to get an idea of what toxins you are putting into your system every time you use all of those beauty products that you think you need.

And these aren't all of them...

Pretty scary stuff if you ask me. The mistake that people make is thinking that, if it sits on top of your skin, it's ok. The thing is, your skin is like a big sponge. If a product contains any water, (which they pretty much all do) your body is going to absorb it. Underneath your skin lies a huge network of capillaries and that is how all of those toxins enter your bloodstream and start travelling around your body. Is it any wonder people are getting sick? Your body has any number of chemicals circulating through it at any given time. Take a look above and tell me you don't wear at least ONE of those. Most of you will probably have used 9 of them before you step out of your front door in the morning. Read this post to find out how much damage you are doing to your body.

With christmas getting more and more expensive every year, budget gifts are definitely in order. Prices keep going up and it's probably going to get worse with the e-tolls starting up this week. If you can stick to good value for money, natural, environmentally friendly gifts, even better!

Onto some shameless punting;) For those who aren't in the know, I make my own brand of body butters, soaps and lip balms. All of them are natural, biodegradable and good for you. They contain no preservatives or any other nasties shown in the image above.

I started making these products for myself because I use body butter by the gallon! My skin is literally a big, thirsty sponge and I go through about 300ml of cream in a week. I can't survive without cream. I just feel to uncomfortable. If you've priced natural, preservative free, good-for-you body butter at all you'll know that I was spending at least R350-R400 a month just on body butter! Organic IS expensive when it comes to body butter! I needed to make a plan...

So I started experimenting with my own. The first few tubs were a disaster. It's tricky to make an emulsification. ie. mixing oil and water. Many, many times I ended up with a tub of goop covered by a layer of water. I eventually got it right though and then I spent some time perfecting the recipe so that I was happy with the quality of it. I also had to make sure that GLM was happy with it because her skin isn't as dry as mine and she was complaining about all the oil on her clothing because her body wasn't absorbing it fast enough (which I don't blame her for at all!)

I gave a few away as gifts to my family and friends and, all of a sudden, I was getting orders and I was having to juggle the hours in my day to make sure I had enough time to make all my products:) It was wonderful. Now I have a nice little sideline business making all of these things and I love it because I know that I am putting something GOOD into the environment and I am helping people avoid a few nasty toxins in their lives. I know that sounds bizarre, but it floats my boat;)

So! If you are interested in ordering any Mellow Health products, please drop me an email: mellowhealth@melanielowe.co.za and place your order.

500ml body butter (vanilla, lemongrass, lavender, ylang ylang, rooibos and honey): R70
Soap bars (vanilla, lemongrass, lavender, ylang ylang, rooibos and honey): R10 per soap
Lip Balm (honey vanilla, vanilla, mint, rooibos and honey, choc-mint, chocolate) : R35

All of my products contain the following ingredients ONLY: Water, beeswax, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, vitamin E oil, calendula herb, rooibos herb, essential oils.

Mellow Health also offers the following products to those in Johannesburg:

1litre cow's milk yogurt: R22
1litre goat's milk yogurt: R25
500ml raw apple cider vinegar: R15
500ml raw, fermented salsa: R45
500ml fermented veggies of your choice: R45
500ml sauerkraut: R45
500ml Cow's milk kefir: R20
500ml Goat's milk kefir: R25

Please bear in mind that making real food from scratch takes time so place your orders a week ahead of the date you want them to ensure that you get them in time!

That's it. You may think some of them will make strange gifts. In my opinion, giving anyone anything that is going to be extremely beneficial to their health, is a great gift and it shows consideration and thought:)