New Release: Mint Lip Balm

When you need refreshing lip balm and something that's not too sweet, look no further than my new mint lip balm! Sharp and refreshing, this mint lip balm will wake up your senses!

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Etsy Front Page Feature

Etsy Front Page Feature , originally uploaded by She's Batty.

My Spiced Apple Soap was featured on the Front Page of Etsy today!! :)

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Beehives, Bubbles, and Bows

PRESENTING.....

❉ BEEHIVES, BUBBLES & BOWS ❉

We'll get you ready from head to toe!!!

...If you're into all things retro and pampering, then THIS is the event for you - especially if you're heading downtown to get your groove on retro style after stopping by! We'll get you looking (and smelling!) fabulous just like the Hollywood stars from the golden era!

Drop by the Weezi Studio

between 1 - 7pm on

Sunday August 22nd

to have a truly fabulous and pampering

time with 3 local fun loving crafty gals!

❉ BEEHIVES by Scissor Kitty ❉

Specializing in retro do's, Morgan from Scissor Kitty is ready to back comb you up a beehive or victory rolls! Takes about 1/2 hour. $15 for a beehive and $20 for victory rolls.

www.scissorkitty.com

❉ BUBBLES by Batty's Bath ❉

Batty's eco friendly, skin loving bath & body goodies will be on hand to pamper you and transform you into the glamorous spa goddess you know you can be!

www.battysbath.com

❉ BOWS by Weezi ❉

Weezi's retro inspired designs will have you looking like the glamorous gals of days gone by with a ultra chic modern twist! You're sure to find an outfit that will have you feeling like a real retro bombshell!!

www.weezi.com

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Big "Bad" Chemicals

"Chemical" has become a bad word when you're talking about bath & body lately. Activist groups, fear mongers, and marketing agencies have done a really good job to get everyone shaking in their boots over this word. Often, when you here about a "chemical" or "chemicals" being used in reference to a product the advice is to avoid it before it kills you and your family. You've probably seen or heard this strategy again and again. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for natural, handmade ingredients but I'm fully aware that they have chemicals! (explained below).

There are clearly some chemicals out there that we should steer clear of, but picking products by "all natural" vs. "synthetic" ingredients isn't a hard and fast rule to shop by. Unfortunately, it will never be that simple no matter how much fear mongers would like you to believe this!

A recent campaign on the web has used the "beware of chemicals" scare tactic by stating that the average woman uses more than 515 chemicals on her face daily (and of course implying that this is extremely dangerous). This is a low blow tactic preying on the general publics lack of knowledge about what the real story behind chemicals are.

So what's the real story?

The real story is that when we're talking bath & body products, we're talking chemicals no matter how natural your product is. Did you know that most people put a "chemical" on their skin in the morning before even touching a bar of soap? That chemical is dihydrogen monoxide.... WATER. I guess that counts at the first of the 515 chemicals a women uses on her face daily.. only 514 to go! If you've got a bar of handmade natural soap in your shower, the next chemicals will probably come from that. For example, most oil olive soaps contain several oils that have reacted with lye such as palm oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and of course olive oil. These oils are made up of many triglycerides and their fatty acids, i.e. CHEMICALS. And let's say your soap is a lovely lavender bar, well it's time to add more chemicals to our count because there's 76 different chemicals in lavender.

A handmade natural lavender soap bar is considered all natural by most people but did you know that all natural products contain more chemicals than any other products because they are so complex? It's true! Synthetic ingredients usually only have a handful of compounds in them, because they can be created that way (in a sterile lab environment). Natural ingredients are derived from living organisms (like plants and flowers) and are inherently complex. In fact, parsley is made up of at least 204 different compounds, and many essential oils are composed of hundreds of compounds. I'm pointing this out because simply stating that a product has "chemicals" is actually just stating the obvious - of course they have chemicals!

Don't be one of the many consumers who have had the wool pulled over their eyes by assuming that "chemical" is a bad word. Of course TOXIC chemicals are bad, that's a whole other issue, and unfortunately I've found that many people associate ALL chemicals with TOXIC chemicals which is a huge mistake. Even worse is that activist groups have taken this association and ran with it in their campaign for the SCA.

What this has to do with SCA & My opposition to it....

The Story of Cosmetics video (clearly supporting the SCA and the fear mongering behind it) has proposed that we live our lives based on the precautionary principle.

As defined by Wikipedia, “The precautionary principle states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action”.

I'm sure you've already realize the connection... get fear mongers to scare people enough and they will create a law to back up their bogus claims. Simply take the public's general idea about chemicals (that I reviewed above) and I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. Can you imagine using the precautionary principle and testing all the 240 chemicals found in rosemary? It could not be done.... and really doesn't NEED to be done. Natural ingredients like lavender and rosemary have been used safely in bath & body products for centuries - why would anyone want to make it harder to create natural products? I can hazard a pretty good guess and I'm sure you know why too.

In fact, if we all lived by the precautionary principle, we'd never leave the house let alone drive cars, fly in airplanes, cross the street, or even take a bath!! In my opinion, fife is way too short to jump on the fear mongering band wagon!

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New Release: Gift Bags - Gift Giving for Him

When it's time to spoil a special guy in your life, a pampering gift bag from Batty's Bath makes the perfect gift! These gift bags are now available in the online shop to make all your gift giving super easy!

Each bag is packed full of skin-loving and totally pampering goodies! No bag is ever the same, and it's the goodies you get will be a surprise every time!

Each bag contains $30 worth of Batty's Bath products. The products are packaged in a reusable, eco-friendly, cloth drawstrings bag! When you receive the gift bag it will be ready for gift giving - no more wrapping paper required!

Head over to the online shop on Etsy to snag a gift bag for you or something you love :)

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Batty on site today in Putnam at the Hidden Cafe

Batty on site in putnam at the hidden cafe, originally uploaded by She's Batty.

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Batty's Bath is Now at Weezi!!

Batty's Bath is so happy to announce the partnership of Weezi Studio and Batty's Bath that was formed August 2010. Stop by this funky retro inspired fashion shop to check out Weezi's creations and a selection of Batty's Bath products.

LOCATION

2nd floor at 204 Albert St. in London, ON. (map)

HOURS

Sunday: Noon - 4:00pm

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 11:30-6:00pm

Wednesday: 12:00-6:00pm

(Closed Mondays)

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Ingredients to Stand By

In the Batty's Bath studio the first thing you'll notice is the wonderful smells wafting out. In fact, you'll notice this before you've even entered our house! Our neighbors recently told my fiance that they love going out to the car in the morning because the studio window faces their drive-way and they can always smell wonderful soapy scents coming from our place! I've gotten used to the blend of scents and don't notice it much until we leave for a few days and come back. After we got back from my brother's wedding I realized that our place really does smell like a "soap or candle shop" like everyone says it does! Behind those scents are wonderful, high quality ingredients such as essential oils, shea butter, coconut oil, palm oil, caster oil, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, jojoba beads, apricot shells, brown sugar, soy butter, olive oil, and more! Keep watching the blog as I'll be featuring these skin loving ingredients! Or click the "ingredients" link under the blog topics heading on the sidebar.

Today I'll start by featuring essential oils.

An essential oil is a liquid that is generally distilled (most frequently by steam or water) from the leaves, stems, flowers, bark, roots, or other elements of a plant. Essential oils, contrary to the use of the word "oil" are not really oily-feeling at all. Most essential oils are clear, but some oils such as patchouli, orange and lemongrass are amber or yellow in color.

Essential oils contain the true essence of the plant it was derived from. Essential oils are highly concentrated and a little goes a long way. The chemical composition and aroma of essential oils can provide valuable psychological and physical therapeutic benefits. These benefits are usually achieved through methods including inhalation and application of the diluted oil to the skin.

Some of the essential oils I use the most are patchouli, lemon, grapefruit, lavender, peppermint, and orange. Read more about them below:

Patchouli Essential Oil
Despite its aroma being an "acquired taste" (so to speak) for some, Patchouli Essential Oil is remarkably versatile. Often associated with the hippies and the 1960s, the fragrance of patchouli is rich, earthy and grounding. It is helpful for most all skin types ranging from dry, cracked skin all the way to helping to regulate oily skin and acne. Those with eczema, psoriasis and dandruff have said that patchouli is especially helpful for them. Emotionally, patchouli is calming and grounding. Spiritually, patchouli has been used alone or in blends during prayer and meditation.

Patchouli Essential Oil can be found in the following Batty's Bath products:

Patchouli Glycerin Soap and Patchouli Facial Moisturizer. Both of these products are made especially for problem skin.

Lemon Essential Oil
Lemon Essential Oil has been historically recognized as a cleanser. It is reputed as being antiseptic, and as having refreshing and cooling properties. Lemon oil can be very beneficial to the circulatory system and aids with blood flow, reducing blood pressure and helping with nosebleeds. It can help bring down fever, helps relieve throat infections, bronchitis, asthma and flu. It boosts the immune system and cleanses the body, improves the functions of the digestive system, and it is helpful with constipation, dyspepsia and cellulite. Lemon oil soothes and relieves headaches and migraines and is helpful for rheumatism and arthritis. It is also used for clearing acne, cleaning greasy skin and hair, as well as removing dead skin cells, easing painful cold sores, mouth ulcers, herpes and insect bites. The therapeutic properties of lemon oil are anti-anemic, antimicrobial, anti-rheumatic, anti-sclerotic, antiseptic, bactericidal, carminative, cicatrisant, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic, febrifuge, haemostatic, hypotensive, insecticidal, rubefacient, tonic and vermifuge.

You can find Lemon Essential Oil in the following Batty's Bath products:

Foot Loving Scrub

Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapefruit Essential Oil is useful for more than just fighting cellulite and boosting your lymphatic system - it positively affects your mood and revives the mind while stimulating the digestive system and clearing up congested oily skin and acne. Grapefruit has a high vitamin C content and is therefore valuable to the immune system. It helps protect against colds and flu, has a very positive effect on obesity and also has diuretic properties, helping to remove excess water from the body and is therefore also great for treating cellulite. It has an uplifting effect on the mood and helps with stress and depression. It is used with great success to combat muscle fatigue and stiffness while stimulating the lymphatic system and thereby clearing the body of toxins. It helps to clear congested oily skin and also assists with acne, while toning the skin and tissues. Grapefruit is used in hair care to promote hair growth.

You can find Grapefruit Essential Oil in the following Batty's Bath products:

Foot Loving Scrub and Grapefruit Essential Oil Deodorant.

Lavender Essential Oil
It is with good reason why lavender oil is one of the most favorite essential oils, as it has wonderful qualities and also smells great. It is a calming, relaxing oil, which combats stress and crisis, while the antiseptic properties helps with cold, flu and other ailments. It is excellent for asthma and migraines. Apart from that it supports female health and on the skin it has a healing effect, while preventing scarring and balancing the skin. It is also very beneficial for problems such as bronchitis, asthma, colds, laryngitis, halitosis, throat infections and whooping cough and helps the digestive system deal with colic, nausea, vomiting and flatulence. Lavender oil relieves pain when used for rheumatism, arthritis, lumbago and muscular aches and pains, especially those associated with sport. On the skin, lavender oil tones and revitalizes and it is useful for all types of skin problems such as abscesses, acne, oily skin, boils, burns, sunburn, wounds, psoriasis, lice, insect bites, stings and also acts as an insect repellent.

Lavender Essential Oil and Lavender Botanics can be found in the following Batty's Bath products:

Natural Lavender Bath Tea, Lavender & Chamomile Shampoo, Lavender & Chamomile Conditioner, and Lavender & Chamomile Body Wash.

Peppermint Essential Oil
Peppermint Essential Oil is excellent for mental fatigue and depression, refreshing the spirit and stimulating mental agility and improving concentration. It helps for apathy, shock, headache, migraine, nervous stress, vertigo and faintness and in general respiratory disorders, as well as dry coughs, sinus congestion, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis and cholera. For the digestive system, peppermint oil is effective for a range of ailments, as it stimulates the gall bladder and the secretion of bile. It is used for colic, cramps, dyspepsia, spastic colon, flatulence and nausea and can relieve pain in cases of toothache, aching feet, rheumatism, neuralgia, muscular pains and painful periods. On the skin, peppermint oil is used to relieve skin irritation and itchiness and also helps to reduce skin redness, where inflammation is present. It is used for dermatitis, acne, ringworm, scabies and pruritus and also relieves itching, sunburn and inflammation of the skin, while at the same time having a cooling action.

You can find Peppermint Essential Oil and Peppermint Botanics in the following Batty's Bath products:

Foot Loving Scrub, Peppermint Essential Oil Glycerin Soap, Natural Peppermint Bath Tea, and Peppermint Essential Oil Deodorant.

Orange Essential Oil
This unpretentious essential oil is used in aromatherapy to create the feeling of happiness and warmth, while calming nervous digestive problems. It deals very well with colds and flu, eliminates toxins and stimulates the lymphatic system, while supporting collagen formation in the skin. It is a sunny and radiant oil, bringing happiness and warmth to the mind and helps people to relax and helps children to sleep at night. When used in a cream or lotion it also assists the lymphatic system, helping to detoxify congested skin and although it is a good general skin tonic, it is great for older more mature skin, dealing with dermatitis, as well as acne and soothing dry irritated skin. The general tonic action seems to stem from the action it has on supporting collagen formation in the skin, which is required for a healthy, young-looking skin.

You can find Orange Essential Oil in the following Batty's Bath products:

Foot Loving Scrub, Sweet Orange Essential Oil Glycerin Soap, and Sweet Orange Essential Oil Deodorant.

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New Release: Mint Chocolate Lip Balm

A brand new lip balm has arrived in the online shop - Mint Chocolate!! This one is super yummy and has been big seller at craft shows! It has the refreshing flavor of mint blended with the sweet delicious flavor of milk chocolate! If you need a way to satisfy your cravings, this just might be it!

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SCA: This bill is based on bad science

Have you probably had a look at my previous posts on my opposition to the SCA. I've talked about the overall problems with the bill as well as the specific labeling requirements.

Today I want to point out that the bill is based on bad science.

I wont go into all the ins and outs of this bad science because it would be far too long of a blog post, so for a more in depth look at the bad science behind the bill, check out this video.

The bottom line is that cosmetics are not killing you. In fact, most handmade and indie sellers are making products with natural ingredients that are good for you and your skin! If fingers need to be pointed at things that are killing us, I'd looking at things that have been proven to have a positive link to cancer such as diet, lack of exercise, obesity, smoking, and excessive drinking. Cosmetics have no conclusive link to causing cancer. Moreover, indie sellers and soap makers are very careful to formulate safe, high quality products. If this bill passes, companies that are formulate low quality, mass produced products will continue to exist, and actually thrive because all the indie sellers will be wiped out by the bill.

Please don't let this happen. None of us want indie sellers to be wiped out - they have families to feed, and showers to fill with skin loving bath & body products! I would be devastated if all that was on the market for bath & body products was what you find at Wal-Mart and I know I'm not alone! It just takes one look at the Bath & Beauty section on Etsy to see that this bill will effect more than just a few people. It will effect indie businesses in every state, province, and city across North America!

If you haven't signed the petition yet, please do so here.

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