Helllooo friends! So lately Emily has been writing these natural living posts, but I figured I’d pop in to talk a bit about our current favorite toddler products. I keep promising myself (and you guys too) that I would update my list of favorite vegan and natural products— but time, it keeps slipping. And with a current minor double dainty wrist injury (more on that some other time)— you can imagine everything is taking double (and triple) the amount of time. But anyway— I keep side-tracking lately— SO I have a few natural living posts of my own planned (some hair, some random, but all personal day to day things— that I’m planning to get to in the next few weeks. For now though, I figured I’d talk a little bit about my (and our) favorite day to day natural/vegan toddler products.
Really, the natural product options are endless these days. There’s no reason not to choose natural, organic, and/or cruelty-free options for your kiddos (and yourself) as often as you can. This is just a smallish round up of what we’re currently using— we hope you’ll like some of them (who knows maybe you already use and love them)— either way, we hope you get out there and try some natural, safe, and cruelty-free products. It feels nice– physically and emotionally, ya know? 🙂 These are some of our favorites:
Sunscreen: I get asked this a lot. My typical go to has been Alba— lately I’ve been trying out Block Island. Emily votes for Badger. I haven’t tried Badger, but I actually have heard really great reviews on it. I think pretty much all my natural go to mama’s have voted Badger. Admittedly, we don’t use a lot of sunscreen– even here in south florida. Our best sun protection? Limiting high sun time. But if we know were going to be outside during high sun time, we lather up.
Body Wash: I typically recommend California Baby— mainly because you can find it at most everywhere— natural co-op stores and your run of the mill everything store. Like, Target probably carries it. The price tag can be a bit off putting, but I swear one bottle lasted us an entire year, if not long (and yes, she bathes regularly). But really, theres a lot of options out there. We plan on probably maybe discussing our favorite natural soaps later. God knows I’ve tried a million (for fun).
Shampoo: So uh, neither one of us actually use shampoo on our own kids. I accidentally asked Emily to draw this— I actually use the conditioner version of this—- as well as a conditioner to wash with. I’m sure the shampoo works great– I’ve actually loved all the Poofy products (diva number: 1640) I’ve tried, but haven’t tried the actual shampoo since we don’t use it. So yeah, the leave in conditioner (diva number: 1640) is where its at. Great for tangles great for whatever. Emily uses baking soda on Lily (they’re both doing no-poo, like I tried a while ago).
Toothpaste: Toothpaste weirds me out— I mean the neon colors and sparkles? yuck. And I won’t get into the fluoride no fluoride debate— use what you think is best. But I think we can agree that having the organic and natural option for something your kid is going to be putting in their months— and probably swallowing is a good idea. For kids there’s a fruit punch or cherry option (diva number: 1640). Our non organic pick up in the store option is Jason’s. Emily chooses Tom’s.
Oh and lotion, Both Em and I hands down agree: coconut oil.
List
shampoo (diva number: 1640)
leave-in conditioner (diva number: 1640)
And as always, if you have favorites you love in your home, please feel free to leave them in the comments. We love discovering new products– and I’m sure others will too 🙂
Alright, friends— I’m off to answer emails and give my grandma wrists a break. Happy wednesday, everyone!
Illustrations by Emily De Nicolais exclusively for ohdeardrea. To see more of Emily’s work, click HERE
12 Comments
Yes! I'm so glad you said coconut oil for lotion! I recommend that to everyone. We have a 4 year old and we use The Natural Dentist toothpaste naturaldentist.com
-Molly
apolloandluna.com
Thanks for the Poofy shout-out Drea! I love the illustrations Emily did! I'd love to offer the first 5 people who want to order Poofy items, free shipping within the U.S. Just contact me via my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/poofykim to place your order! Tell me Drea sent you 🙂
I've been using Acure Organics shampoo and conditioner in argan oil and I LOVE it, some organic/vegan shampoos leave my hair really greasy but not this one
Always love your natural living posts. I've purchased several of your recommended products, so thanks for sharing.
I've been trying to find more natural products to start using in our home – I'll check these out! Thanks! 🙂
Toothpaste also freaks me out. The crazy chemicals…no thank you. I use a toothpaste called on guard it's made by doTERRA. I'm off to stalk your blog and see what you give to your little one for milk. We are currently needing to transition from nursing to sippy cup. I'm thinking almond. We are lactose free.
http://www.mydoterra.com/stephaniewolfe/
The sunscreen issue gets me every time.
I had heard SO MANY amazing things about the Badger products but then got blistered burnt on my first time using it. And I'm a chronic re-applier! It was so bad, it almost seemed like the sunscreen was intensifying the sun's rays or something. Even my husband was freaked out.
So I'm wondering if the people who say they like it, are actually going out in the sun when they use it or if they just happen to be sitting in the shade when they have it on, thus not getting burnt?
I've also tried other organic/natural brands and I always burn even when I reapply every 20 minutes. The Badger incident was by far the worst burn I ever had though. But when I use conventional brands like Coppertone or Hawaiian Tropics, I don't burn at all and rarely need to reapply even.
Wow thats crazy! Maybe you're allergic to an ingredient in it? The people who have recommended it to me are all outdoorsy people spending lots of hours outdoors. I know the other day Marlowe had some weird reaction to the bug spray I put on her— that I put on her ALL THE TIME– and she's never ever had a reaction to it before– but we think it was because she was in contact with another new chlorine chemical (swimming) directly before– but on that one day she was burning from it. And it hasn't happened since. But I don't know, with sunscreen everyones skin is SO different. I started using Alba when Marlowe was born And Emily has used Badger on Lily since she was born– both of us through many hours of direct sun south florida beach days, no problems– with maybe one reapplication (if anyway). So I'd say that def sounds like your skin reacting to something in that specific product– but I don't know, I'm not an expert. Just sharing what works for us! Sorry about your burn!
So you wash with conditioner and then rinse with conditioner? Huh?
sorry! I was trying to keep typing down– which in the end always makes me type more, haha. So for Marlowe, I don't use shampoo. I was her hair with conditioner only. On days that I don't wash/wet her hair, I just use the spray on leave-in conditioner and brush out the tangles.
this is interesting, i have to try it…so, what is the conditioner you use?
Sorry, just re-read the post 🙂