Green is not only a beautiful color, I think it's a beautiful way to live.

One of the numerous reasons I became involved with skinfood was how it helped take me yet another deeply satisfying step in living 'green'. When I began the journey to green back in the early 90's, it was pretty overwhelming. The more I read, the more I researched, the more freaked out I got. It seemed everything around me - car, house, clothing, food, health care and beauty products were all toxic. My world seemed to be made up of nothing but harmful chemicals and totally non-eco-friendly things; frightening amounts of earth and health destroying stuff. I thought, "How do I do this?" It seemed as difficult as climbing Mt. Everest in a sundress and flip-flops.

I spent a lot of time beating myself up for all the 'bad' choices I had made. Beat myself up some more for living pretty obliviously to the impact I was making through those choices. And I beat myself up for not being able to completely change my life all in one felled swoop. Okay, kinda' ridiculous and self-defeating. I had to change that attitude and start patting myself on the back for opening my eyes to the problem, and for making that first single step forward in the right direction ... awareness.

To make what seemed like an insurmountable task to accomplish something I could do without breaking down and hiding in a dark closet, I took it apart, breaking it into bite-sized pieces. Sort of like a 12-Step program for a recovering drug addict. I was hooked on things that were bad for me, bad for the environment. I had to shift a lifetime of non-eco-friendly living into living the 'green' life.

My second step was figuring out what was the easiest to change. It wasn't like I could just sell my car, throw out all my clothes, dump all my cleaning and/or beauty products in the trash, and run off to live in a yurt in a commune. I started with the practice of replacing whatever I ran out of with something eco-friendly. Out of toothpaste? Made homemade with baking soda, sea salt and peppermint oil. Out of Mr. Clean? Made homemade cleaner with white vinegar, oils of sage, lemon and lavender. Need another pair of jeans or another sweater? Shop second-hand stores. You get the picture.

One very important part of this process was giving myself the freedom to make changes at a pace that was comfortable. Rome, after all, wasn't built in a day. As time rolled on, it got easier and I made bigger changes. I canceled my cable service (saving myself $70 bucks a month in the process!) and found I had more time to paint, to read, to just go for a walk. I stopped buying new books and made use of my library card. I stopped buying all that pre-packaged, processed, imitation food at the grocery store and started cooking again. Saved myself a lot more money there, too!

During all this time I never stopped learning more and more about what it means to truly live green. I found hundreds of websites with huge amounts of information, great ideas and suggestions, and realized how deeply committed I felt about changing my life and improving my eco-foot print. I realized simply changing me and my lifestyle automatically changed the effect I had on the planet ... even if seemed like a tiny drop in the bucket toward building a greener world for everyone to live in.

Then, several years ago, I discovered my friend Peggy made something called skinfood. Hmmm. Got a little sample of it and Hole-E-Smokes! I couldn't believe how incredibly the stuff worked! Cleared up my chapped lips, which I used to battle with constantly, in just a couple of days. Healed a nasty cut I got from slicing tomatoes in about three days - and no scar! Which was truly impressive because I tend to scar very easily. Immediately stopped the bleeding on a shaving cut on my ankle - and again, completely healed it in about two days. Got a little crazy and started using it as a hand moisturizer after doing dishes and low-and-behold, no more dry, itchy hands! My hang-nail problem went away, as well as my fingernails stopped splitting in layers just like Hungary Jack biscuits - a life-long problem! I was amazed, impressed, and completely hooked!

After using it for a while I had an epiphany ... all those other products I had used - Chap Stick, Neosporin, hand lotions, nail creams, styptic stick for razor cuts ....... I wasn't using them anymore! All those products I knew were full of toxins, and run by companies with horrifying business practices, had been totally and completely replaced. And it went even further. It became my new facial moisturizer that also cleared up those occasional break-outs! It softened up the heels on my feet! I used it after shaving and no more dry, itchy legs! If I got a little too much on my hands, no problem! I just rubbed into the ends of my hair and it conditioned those crazy, dry ends!

I figured it up one day and discovered that in about two months time, with one single product, I had replaced ten other products. And the product that replaced them was, without doubt, safe, effective, and eco-friendly. Wow. Just ... Wow!

For me, skinfood is a product I can trust. I can feel good about recommending it to others. It helped make a tremendous difference in not only a long list of personal health/beauty care concerns, but personal concerns about impacting my little place in the delicate eco-system that is our world. I'd say that's more than a small step in living green ... it's an awesomely big leap!

Now you tell me, how could I NOT be on board with a product like that?

Namaste, y'all ...

Carol