Alaffia Liquid African Black Soap

I know that I've already posted about this but I have to do a separate one. I am currently using this as a facial cleanser and love it (I mix in some baking soda to make it exfoliating and to aid in washing off my eye make-up). My husband uses it as shaving cream, but to create more lather he uses a shaving cream brush; he says it works a hundred times better than just slathering it on your face. I like the fact that both he and I can use the same soap, which makes for less products in the bathroom in addition to the good that it does for our skin and the community that makes it. :) 

Alaffia Shea Butter, Everyday Lotion, and Liquid African Black Soap

Alaffia Fair Trade Shea Butter is awesome for dry skin, particularly for hands and feet - and probably everywhere else. I use it every night for my feet and my hands. Despite all the dishes and things I do, my hands manage to stay fairly soft. I say fairly because my fingers are always something I have to work more on. Plus this is also great for massages so if you have someone to massage your feet (or if you want to do it yourself), use some of this and not only will your feet feel better but softer too! It's quite hard when you open it so I scrape some off (about the size of a stack of 2 nickels) and then warm it up by rubbing it between my palms. Then it becomes oily so you can rub it onto your hands and your feet like lotion. The note on the back says something about hair but I'm not sure if that's for everyone. I haven't tried that so let me know if you do!

Another reason why I love this product is because it is fair trade and the company, Alaffia, operates through a co-op of women in Africa who help create these products and improve their lives through the sales of it. If you're curious, look them up. They also sell a whole array of other products. I have tried two of them: everyday lotion and liquid African black soap.

This lotion is so light and smells good without being overpowering. It says it's extra gentle and nontoxic for babies and up, so if I ever have a kid, we will be using this because we will only need one kind for all the people in the household. :)

So, this is some interesting stuff. We tried it as a shampoo but it didn't seem to work well for us. We are now using it as shaving soap and facial cleanser. Works better that way. :)

Bananas for bananas

Okay, I know this is a weird and perhaps not-so-interesting entry to start off with, but I do love Whole Foods' bananas. I usually buy the regular kind versus the organic with a twinge of guilt at times. Of course there are those who say that you don't have to buy organic if you're just peeling off the thick skin. But my when my husband asked me, "What about the farmers who use chemicals to grow these products?" I really had to think. Organic may not just be about the consumer but also the grower. What sort of chemicals are they exposed to while growing these non-organic foods for us? Food for thought.

So, back to the bananas. I like several things about them:

• They're fair trade certified
• They're whole trade guaranteed
• We never get those tiny flies when the bananas have been lying around for days

If you're not sure about the terms fair trade and whole trade, you can google it to find out what the difference is.

So I think I'll have a banana as a snack now. Yum!