Ever wonder what all those seals on health store shampoos and lotions really mean? In honour of national organic week, I offer up a guide to five organic bodycare seals. And news flash, some changes have just hit the USDA organic seal. This one’s long considered tops for bodycare since, unlike other seals, it’s only… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

In honour of the end of summer (did I just say that?), I’m reviewing the vessels that carry the very key to life on earth. Yep, I’m talking water canisters. Ever since purportedly leach-free polycarbonate plastics found in old Nalgene bottles were caught seeping estrogen-mimicking BPA, then Sigg finally came clean about the BPA in… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I don’t have to hang around the cast of True Blood to be told I’ve got really tasty blood. Mosquitoes, sand fleas, you  name it, they devour me. I’ve tried a lot of natural bug repellents over the years and was looking forward to sharing some of my faves with you, but then I’d have… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

As a label hunter, I find toxins in all sorts of weird places (lube, douches, just to name a few), but there’s nothing more outrageous than pollutants in products designed for use by children. Case in point: what the hell are propyl paraben doing in diaper creams like Li’l Goat’s and Aveeno Baby when these… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Clearly I hit a soft spot. Or a stinky spot. Either way, over 100 people responded my latest Facebook poll on which natural deodorants people loved or hated. Julia summed it up nicely: “I’ve tried a few and hated them all.” That seemed to be a popular consensus. Trust me, I’ve tried probably 35+ brands… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Testing a bar of soap is one thing. Rub, rinse, you’re done. Testing sunscreen, on the other hand, is a much more weirdly communal affair. I usually accost friends and family of all skin tones and hairiness levels to rub various thick white creams into a good dozen quadrants on their bodies. But for the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’ve got to confess, I love shower gel. I’ve always found bar soaps really, really drying, no matter how moisturizing the promise. But I’ve been trying to wean myself off gels because of the unnecessary plastic bottles they come in and the much longer list of ingredients generally required to make it. Back in the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

After a lunch time talk I gave at Edmonton’s city hall last month, one woman approached me and asked me if I could spend more time talking about the difference between green/eco-friendly and natural. The terms, she said, were too often used interchangeably, and she’s right. We tend to flip back and forth between the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever feel like you’ve got a lot to get off your chest? I did this week so I wrote about hormone disrupting chemicals, not once, but twice (three times if you count this blog). First, in my column covering a conference on hormone disruptors, talking about what the feds are or aren’t doing to protect… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ecoholic TV: Dry Skin SOS from Adria Vasil on Vimeo. Ecoholic TV is back! Yep, we’re here with more Ecoholic Health Corner and this time I run to my old friend and naturopath Alexandra (aka Alex) Triendl for some extra help tackling winter’s dry skin curse. Got eczema? Psoriasis? Or just plain dry skin? Tune… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’ve been anywhere near a mall or retail store of any kind lately, you know the holiday gift buying season is upon us and quickly escalating in frenzy-factor. My family isn’t big into holiday gift swapping (you should have seen the eye-rolling I got from my siblings when I suggested we at least make each… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ecoholic Health Corner – Cold & Flu from adria vasil on Vimeo. Feeling crummy and trying to cure what ails you? Check out the latest Ecoholic TV for the scoop on why you should bypass Buckley’s and make a beeline for more sustainable  options. My old pal and naturopathic doctor Alex Triendl shares some her… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Some guys could probably survive on a bar of Irish Spring alone. In truth the average man uses six personal care products a day (think shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, aftershave), which ads up to a whopping 80 chems every morning. That number spikes for the growing posse of styly metrosexuals, Queer Eye for the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Hand me a top hat and cane and I’ll sing about palm as a supercalafragalistic  plant-based petrochemical replacement. Gee willikers, you can add it to everything from lip balm to bathroom cleaner – amazing! But the song and dance come to a screeching halt when you start probing palm’s rainforest record. You know how headlines… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a little suspicious of my plates. The scrapes and scratches on these Kengington Market imports have me wondering whether they’re leaching something dodgy. And yet, I never bothered to buy a lead test until two readers contacted me recently wondering about their ceramics. Then I got to reading. Here’s what Health Canada has to… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

You’re busy, I’m busy, we’re all busy. Which is why it’s kind of nice when a company saves us all a little time and donates to a charity in our names. You know, like a shampoo giving $1 to the breast cancer. What could be wrong with that? If you’ve seen the film Pink Ribbons,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever been traumatized by a hair cut? Maybe a bowl cut left you in tears or you decided, two minutes too late that, no, a pixie cut doesn’t really suit your face. Salon trauma gets physical too, think burning scalp and a searing rash. (For your sake, don’t go googling medical pictures of chemical burns… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

No doubt you’ve heard your parents stories about oils and sun tans: “Back in my day, Joanny, people would slather themselves in baby oil to brown up our body’s like  a Sunday roast.” Hey, I ain’t judgin.’ I remember buying a bottle of drugstore ‘coconut oil’ (SPF 4 it promised) to crisp up my 20-something… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’ve got a bit of a kink. No, I’m not talking about the kind of local-lovin’ happening at the Lusty Locavore workshop at Come as You Are next week (I’ll be blogging about that later). I’m talkin’ about a kink I know a lot of you openly share with me: our heart-on for all thing’s local! I get… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’ve never been a big sunscreen lover. Correction: I was a sunscreen preacher forcing it on friend and foe until I went backpacking in Brazil at 18 and started, in vein, trying to blend in with the Ipanemans. Of course, now that my face is starting to show the wear and tear that comes with… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

  Brand-makers are pretty clever. They’re catching on to the fact that when they say natural we want to know just how natural they are. Enter Neutrogena Naturals. This skincare line popping up on drugstore shelves actually has a guide on the back telling you where their, say, glycol distearate comes from. Well, sort of.… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸