Is Your Teen Shaving?

Is your teen starting to shave? Whether it is a he is trying to attack the first bits of an appearing mustache or whether it is she is making an attempt to hack away at the hair on her legs you might want to consider what it is that they are putting on their skin. Is it a green product?
You can never be old to start thinking green when it comes to personal grooming products. This is because green shaving products are not only good for your health – they are also good for the environment. They also tend to be less abrasive on the skin and they do not caused raised red razor bumps (razor burn) or rashes like some products.
I think it is important to teach my kids to be ecologically correct about the kinds of shaving products they use This is s because most of the leading brands of shaving creams contain triethanolamine (TEA) or diethanolamine (DEA). Both of these chemicals act as an emulsifier, preservative and foaming agent.
Although these chemicals give you a good lathering up when you shave they also can give a human being a liver or kidney tumor. These chemicals can also irritate the skin of some human beings. This is why so many people are choosing shaving creams and soaps with natural ingredients over the evil TEA or DEA additives. It also stands to reason that when you shave that you are allowing more toxins to seep into your skin than usual.
When you first use these natural shaving creams you might find yourself missing some of the lather. When you first put them on your face it is more like shaving with a gel or a lotion. You will get used to that. Also what these products lack in foam they make up for with a gorgeous aroma therapeutic scent.
A good company making natural shaving creams is Kiss My Face. These are creams in a tube and they smell nice and come in very hip scents like patchouli. My kids certainly like that. Kiss My Face also makes really attractive sandalwood and lime scented shaving creams as well.
An example of a natural shaving cream is wild soap bars. These are old fashioned soap bars made from olive oil and herbs like sassafras. They guarantee an old fashioned organic shave. However they are meant more for the man in your house.
Another old and reputable company that makes shaving soap bars is the D.R. Harris and Company out of London. It has manufactured organic lavender scented products for the royal family for centuries. If your kid is not accident prone you can even teach him how to shave the old fashioned way with a brush, a dish of soap and a straight razor. It seems that everything that is old fashioned is usually quite chemical free and 'green' in nature in the first place.

Parenting Tips
, , , , , , , , ,

Getting Your Kids To Compost

Given the state of global warming and everything else it is probably a good idea to get your kids compositing.

It is actually quite easy to get them to understand how the whole process work.  It is also a way of gently explaining the natural process of life, death and decay to them. 

The best thing is to describe it as Nature's own recycling system. Just say it is magic and you are turning garbage into dirt if your kids are really. It gets complicated when you want to explain to a kid that that you can't put all kinds of garbage in the compost. Show them that weeds, leaves, grass clipping and vegetable peels are the most suitable by keeping a compost container right on the kitchen counter. Get them in the habit early of throwing their banana peels, orange rinds and bread crusts in there. 

If your child has trouble understanding this use the example of how when leaves drop from a tree, they decay into dirt over time, without any help from anyone Explain that everything that has once lived will eventually turn back into your dirt. Part of your kid's guide to composting should be to explain this natural process and how decomposition begins with thousands of microorganisms.  Try not to scare him or her if she I really little. 

If you know anything about composting you know that these microorganisms feast on anything and generate heat in the process. As the temperature inside the decaying pile of matter rises, fungi, bacteria and insects also help with the decomposition process. Kids can directly assist with this process by helping to turn or stir the compost pile with a stick or a garden fork. This helps add oxygen to the pile in the form of air, which heats the pile up even more.  This heat is absolutely necessary to help kill bacteria.  The more thoroughly and evenly your child distributes air through the pile the sooner you will great fertilizer for your garden. This is really good exercise for a fat kid. 

The sign that the pile has cooled down and that it is clean of bacteria is when you start seeing earthworms in the humus.  This is the cue to start feeding the humus  (the fertilizer) to new plants. Most compost piles rest on bare ground, but you can build the pile on a raised platform of loosely spaced boards. This allows air to be drawn up from the bottom so that it circulates through the compost and allows it to develop the essential soil bacteria more quickly.  If you have a child that is old enough it can help you build this type of open-air composter. 

One of the main reasons to guide your child through the process of composting is to teach them how to be an ethically minded responsible citizen. This is especially important in the decades to come when gardening locally might be a matter of survival thanks to the effects of global warming. 

Parenting Tips
, , , , , , , ,