Background: Washing our hair is arguably the aspect of personal care that we are least likely to go totally homemade and environmentally friendly on. Perhaps this is vanity, or perhaps there just hasn’t ever really been a good enough alternative available. This is a shame, as shampoos are one of the worst culprits when it comes […]
Category: Change
Spotless turns FIVE – and how to clean copper effortlessly
It was five years ago today that Spotless was born, and as I thought about that today it made me happy to think that I am building a legacy of tried and tested tips, encouragement, reflections and useful information that I hope and believe will help make the world a better place than it otherwise […]
Why change is hard
Human behaviour is notoriously difficult to change. Once we have settled on a way of doing things, we stick to it doggedly, even in the face of doom. At the same time, the opposite is true. We race ahead happily on the coat tails of our rapidly developing technologies, embracing innovation at every turn and […]
Easy, homemade, edible glue
It’s amazing how kids love to stick things together, and how many craft projects just wouldn’t be possible without glue. Glue can be, and is, made out a wide range of materials including cassein (milk protein) and animal hides. But for the most part nowadays, if you have glue around the house, called anything like […]
Breast cancer and personal care
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, which might be more usefully renamed Breast Cancer Prevention month. Most of us are aware of breast cancer. Now let’s increase our understanding of how to avoid it, and foster some habits that might help us reduce this scourge. Several ingredients contained in almost all “ordinary” personal care and […]
Toothsome Toothpaste – why try it?
I’ve been working on some new toothpastes, and I realised I had so much to say about them that I needed to devote a whole post to the topic! I use the Spotless toothpaste as my base recipe. I wrote quite a bit about the benefits of the main ingredients of that recipe when I […]
The dirt on soap, part 1
The history of soap is long and fascinating. Soap has been made and used for thousands of years in various forms and by various people and much has been written about them all. However, it was really only from the 1800s onwards, as people began to understand the link between cleanliness and health, that the […]
Rooibos: Solar tea
I’ve been using a lot of (and writing a lot about) Rooibos tea lately – at nappy changes, for rinsing my hair, on my skin, not to mention to drink. So I thought I’d share with you a very simple spotless way of making it (or any tea). It isn’t instant, but you can do […]
The aisles
Every now and then, out of morbid curiosity, I take a wander down the two aisles I otherwise avoid in the supermarket: you guessed it, household cleaning and personal care. In both, I am overwhelmed by a couple of impressions. First, and especially in the cleaning aisle, is the air, laden with artificial fragrances that […]
The 10/10/10 video
In my previous (and first) post I talked about how we’d timed the launch of spotless to coincide with, and be a part of, the 10/10/10 Global Work Party. Here is a link to the video that 350.org has put together about the day and its message. It’s only one minute; do watch it. Thanks […]