The John Masters organic hair and skin care products are of the class that other natural brands look up to and that very few seem to find complaint with. Quite simply it is a fantastic range of products and everyone (and I mean EVERYONE!) at So Organic loves it.




Like so many in the natural personal product industry, John Masters the man behind the brand, developed an interest in organics when learning of the risks posed by the harsh chemicals found in conventional products.

Starting his career as a successful hair stylist in the 70s John had been interested in organics in his personal life before he took on his role in changing the toxic environment of the salon. Eventually deciding he would no longer put up with using conventional synthetic products John started to make his own. He, like so many others now, saw the benefits of using natural ingredients have for the body and the environment.

John began by creating products with ingredients like olive oil and lemon juice in his kitchen. He started by using only ammonia-free herbal and clay-based dyes. Now he has herbalists, aromatherapists and skin care specialists working to formulate his first-class organic products. No more inhaling or handling of harsh chemicals in the salon or at home. The John Masters clean-air salon in New York is 100% wind powered and does not do perms, manicures and certain colours due to the chemicals required to make them work.

In 2004 John Masters received the Soil Association Award for Best Organic Product Line in Europe. In 2007 the skincare line won five out of eleven categories in the organic beauty sector in the Shape Cosmetic Awards. In October 2008 the John Masters Organics Sweet Orange and Vanilla Hair Gel won ‘Best Styling Gel' in the Beauty with a Conscience Awards.

So Organic and John Masters would like to give you a free John Masters gift with any purchase within the range in the month of February.

All organic ingredients John Masters' purchase are certified organic by EcoCert, Quality Assurance International, California Certified Organic Farmers, or Organic Crop Improvement Association and are all recognized by the National Organic Program for the USDA. John Masters products contain no SLS, parabens, GMOs, petro-chemicals, artificial colors, fragrances or fillers. The products are not tested on animals and all ingredients must be harvested in an eco-friendly manner plus bio-degradable and fair trade where possible.

Here's the man himself explaining his hope for the de-chemicalizing of hair and beauty salons the world over.

Remarkable are the stationery company that make plastic cups into pencils. We think this is pretty amazing. After all, not every stationery company out there's so clever to design bright, quality and eco-friendly products. The man behind the idea to recycle car tyres into note pads is Edward Douglas Millerin and began, as most good ideas do, by experimenting with ways to turn everyday throw away materials into something useful. What resulted was a collection of fun and functional products that had a long second - reincarnated - life.

The brand's philosophy ‘is to create recycled items that are well-designed, great quality and a joy to own.' Remarkable have a strong green credentials. As part of their environmental policy they endeavour ‘to develop technology and provide products that will be sensitive to the earth's finite resources and environment through the use of recycled and sustainable materials.' This month we launch the new look Remarkable range. There are even a few new products to discover and play with!

Whilst investigating this truly remarkable brand we came across the secret recipe for creating recycled plastic cup pencil...

Ingredients:

• Recycled plastic cups (1 per pencil)


• Graphite (enough to fill the middle bit)


• 1 x pencil-making machine


• water-bath (cooling tank)


• Tim (he makes them)


• Secret ingredient (makes plastic behave like wood)


• Sharpening machine

Collect as many plastic cups as possible and stop them from going to landfill.
Wash off all the tea and coffee off and shred them into tiny pieces.
Preheat pencil machine to 180oC (30 mins)
Mix some of the plastic cups into the graphite and pour into the pencil machine.
Take the rest of the plastic cup material and pour into the other side of the pencil machine. Watch closely while all the material is melted (technical term: extruded) and brought together to create one long pencil (this is another secret bit). Ensure there is always a continuous length of pencil leaving the machine.
Allow the pencil to cool and harden as it passes through the water-bath (cooling tank)
Cut long pencil into smaller standard pencil size lengths.
Sharpen and leave until ready for printing.
(Easy job Tim, the machine seems to do it all for you.)

Please note we are not entirely sure if this recipe was a distraction from the real secret processes and would not advise adults try this at home.

This month's free gift when you spend over £50 at So Organic is a Remarkable suprise. You may get a recycled ruler and pencil or a car tyre notebook. Very nice indeedy.

Raw Organic are a new brand on the organic skin care block. As their name suggests, their range was created on the philosophy that organic products made from nature's raw ingredients are better for our bodies and better for the planet. And the emphasis: pure ingredients sourced from nature do work. Raw Organic, like So Organic, hold firm on their belief that the beauty products and toiletries we use everyday should be organic for the simple well-founded truth that what is absorbed through the skin matters.

Stephen Ley embarked on this mission of creating an organic, affordable range of skin care products three years ago when he sold his medical supply manufacturing company and met with Dr Nigel Brassington, a leading chemist. The pair worked together to formulate a line of cosmetics and toiletries with the primary focus to make them from certified organic extracts in an ethical fashion.

Made in England, Raw Organic use as many locally grown ingredients as possible. None of their products contain synthetic ingredients, parabens, SLS, synthetic fragrance, colourants, formaldehyde, urea or genetically modified materials. They're also not tested on animals.

The Raw Organic range includes:

• Juniper and Bitter Orange Moisturising Soap


• Honey and Barley Moisturising Liquid Soap


• Apple and Elderflower Refreshing Body Wash


• Bilberry and Juniper Conditioning Shampoo


• Wild Chamomile and Olive Hand and Body Lotion


• Evening Primrose and Chamomile Baby Oil


• Apricot and Rosehip Warm-up Massage Oil


• Spearmint and Eucalyptus Cool-down Massage Oil


• Frankincense and Sandalwood Massage Oil


• Ylang-Ylang and Neroli Relaxing Massage Oil

Madara is an entirely natural and organic range of cosmetics that epitomises beauty - beautifully designed, all natural ingredients, and healthy body. The brand's motto ‘deeper than skin' represents a perception of beauty that more women every day are beginning to encompass. In their words: "A beauty which would not offend meadow flowers... the wisdom and force of nature."

Manufactured in Latvia the range is certified by ECOCERT, the international organic standard. Ingredients include biologically certified flower and herb extracts from the Baltic region. In line with the ECOCERT standards at least 95% of all ingredients within the Madara range are of natural origin and none of their products contain synthetic ingredients.

The organic skin care company recently won a prestigious Design Management Europe Award. It was also included in the WWF Deeper Luxury report which looks at environmental and social performance of a number of world wide brands, including the likes of L'Oreal. They stood out for reasons including the fact they make completely natural flower and herb cosmetics that use ingredients that are locally sourced and use easily recyclable packaging.

Madara's eco-friendly credentials don't stop there. They use only ecological cleaning agents in the production of their products, use energy efficient production equipment and do not carry out experiments on animals.

Hair removal. Most ladies remove hair on at least one part of their body and more men than ever are ridding themselves of it (Back, Cr... you know the rest). Being hairless on some parts of your body can feel quite luxurious, depending on the method you use to remove the hair, that is.When it comes to removing hair the organic way you have a couple of options.

The first and quickest is to shave. Using an organic soap or shaving cream to lather on the skin pre shave and an organic body moisturiser post shave, will mean you will not expose open pores or razor cuts to chemicals found in unnatural products. However, if you're like me you get a little frustrated at the coarser stubble that grows back so quickly or you become lazy (especially in the winter) and end up with old growth forests scattered across your body (if only body hair absorbed CO2!).

There's always laser hair removal and electrolysis but both of these can be painful and very expensive. I prefer to use an organic hot wax. I decided to do it myself after my first and last visit to a London beauty salon. I walked out quite shocked - not because of any unbearable hair ripping pain, but because the cost of a simple bikini wax was not too far off a one way train trip to Paris (the French do have a great alternative to hair removal - not bothering at all!).

I use Moom Organic Hair Removal Kit with Lavender for extra sensitive skin - not because I have particularly sensitive skin, I just love how soft it leaves my skin. This all-natural organic product contains sugar, water, chamomile, lavender and lemon juice only - that's no chemicals, perfumes or artificial substances. This combination of natural ingredients does a lot more than remove hair. The chamomile and lemon in particular act as a natural antiseptic and skin enhancer.

Moom waxing draws on both traditional hot wax techniques and the ancient hair removal concept of sugaring. It's water soluble so washes off the skin and cotton strips easily, plus it isn't unbearably sticky (a big gripe of mine). Ten seconds in the microwave is enough to warm Moom as it's not like conventional hot wax and shouldn't be heated too hot.