Get clean, save the rainforest. That’s the message eco personal-care company Save Your World’s sending out. Buy any shampoo, lotion, soap, or other pampering product — all paraben-free, vegan, and made with fair trade ingredients — and you’ll save at least one acre of the Guyana rainforest in South America.
Yep — unlike the vague promises of companies that say they’ll send “a percentage of the profits” to an eco-org, Save Your World’s promise is concrete and transparent. Basically, each product Save Your World sells sends between 15 cents to $4.50 (depending on the price of the product) to enviro nonprofit Conservation International, which uses the money to pay annual lease fees to keep the rainforest from logging companies. Incredibly, it only costs 15 cents to preserve an acre for a year!
And also incredibly, the eco-friendly products do their job! I especially liked the shampoos, which worked refreshingly well, especially compared to some of the disastrous results I got from other eco hair products. The shampoos cleansed, the conditioners detangled and moisturized, and the body wash lathered up nicely.
Even better, Save the World products all get a “low hazard” score of 1 or 2 — except the lotions, which get a “moderate risk” 3 — from Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic safety database, Skin Deep.
My one qualm had to do with some of the natural fragrances, which some might find too strong — or too funky. The “oasis fruit” scented stuff smells very much like Tang, for one! And the “rainforest” scented conditioner and shower gel had a strangely sweet, medicinal scent (though oddly, the shampoo did not). I also found that the lotions seemed thinnish and took a while to absorb — though once absorbed, my skin felt v. well moisturized.
What I really, really liked are the exfoliating bars — soap with a little scrubby grain to them — and am planning to make a permanent switch to them (sorry Dr. Bronner’s!). Save Your World products are conveniently available at Whole Foods and The Vitamin Shoppe — as well as online.
[crossposted on BlogHer]
I’ve had the same bad luck with eco-friendly shampoo/conditioner. This is great news, I’m definitely going to try it out!
Comment by Lisa — August 18, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
I’ve tried all of the products and had great results. I’m especially fond of the “Pure Mist” lotion. It has a very light scent. The bar soap is cool the way they use ground up yerba mate as the exfoliate. These folks seem to have it right with their products and conservation mission. I would encourage everyone to give it a shot.
Comment by Jason — August 19, 2008 @ 11:00 am
I just ordered their shampoo and conditioner and i can’t wait to try. The best part is I just saved two acres of rainforest, can you beat that? I’ve never heard of this company before, they should do a national campaign to get the word out.
Comment by Janet — August 19, 2008 @ 12:37 pm
Jason — Thanks for the additional reviews :) I’ll give pure mist a try, since I really don’t like too much fragrance.
Lisa and Janet — Hope the products work for you too!
Comment by Siel — August 21, 2008 @ 10:23 am
I would love to try the exfoliating bars.
Thanks for the review.
Comment by Kira — October 8, 2008 @ 2:14 pm