Recently, I’ve been having this issue with my body odor and hair loss — my apologies if this is TMI ? I’m REALLY self-conscious about my body odor, and that’s the reason why you might see me slightly hunched whenever I’m in the crowd (which resulted with bad posture.)
I tried some brands, and it usually went pretty great for the first couple of months then womp-womp the next. Then, I saw some IG ads about deodorant creams. These products usually presented as organic, environmentally-friendly, aluminum-free, sustainable product.
I personally have lukewarm feelings about organic and sustainable lifestyle. Please don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the idea (although I feel organic products tend to be really expensive ?) but I don’t think I’m a good suit for the lifestyle. It takes commitment for that, and I feel that I’m way too “sinful” (???? I can’t find the proper word for it) to have organic and sustainable lifestyle (I’m still using plastic bags and cotton pads and tissue paper I’M SO SORRY.)
ANYWAY. So there’s this organic and sustainable lifestyle-store nearby my place: The Hive. They have been around in my area for quite some time, but last Tuesday would be the very first time I entered the store.
You can see lots of jars and bottles there. They sell things in bulk and you can ask the store staff to weigh the products and package it for you — and it’s encouraged for you to bring your own containers for the product. Other than environmentally-friendly products (yep, metal straws and lunchboxes are there,) they also sell food stuffs such as peanuts, legumes, lentils, and even flour. I think they also sell eco-friendly honey and chocolates? I need to check later on.
I’m actually pretty hyped to see almonds on the store. The pre-packaged almonds that usually widely available on minimarkets are the ones with flavors. I’m actually okay with that, but I found myself the salt and the sugar are bit too much (since I changed my eating pattern, I found my tolerance to sugar and salt changed too. More on that on another blog post.) So to find something still “raw”/unseasoned is pretty nifty. I can add the seasonings based on my preferences.
I chatted with the store staff about deodorant and soap bar products. I’ve been curious about soap bars (watching TikTok videos of soap bar makers cutting their soap starting to rub off on you) and so far, I never had any success with comercially-available soap bar. It’s always too dry and makes my skin itchy.
The store staff suggested me to use their organic product; they mentioned that some of the ingredients are coming from Europe but the products are produced locally in Malaysia. Now this, is actually one of my concerns about these organic eco-friendly products. How actually eco-friendly are they? Some brands are boasting how their ingredients are coming from other countries while the country that they are located might have the ingredients available.
But I’m trying to take this with grain of salt. In some cases, it’s cheaper — and more eco-friendly! — for us to import products/ingredients than trying to produce it locally.
(I think I better stop now before it starts another debate.)
So the store staff suggested me this product.
The deodorant cream is not an anti-perspirant, so you can still see sweat. But honestly, for me, that’s normal. I mean, hey, perspiration. We humans need to get rid of excess water and toxins out from our body, not forgetting the fact that it’s our body’s way to cool down our temperature. That’s the whole point of perspiration.
But so far, I’m pretty impressed! My body odor going super weird when I got stressed, and with my line of work, stress is daily-basis. I’ve tried it for 2 days and I’m so happy with the result. The deodorant’s scent is bit peppermint and herbal-y.
Speaking about stress, I also bought this because I’m a sucker for well-being products.
“Concentration and serenity.” Might need to light the candle when I started to go (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻ during my day.
I also finally caved in — if you know me, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. I’m sold at everything. EVERYTHING — to the shampoo bar.
(The soap is already cut in half. I cut it to make it lasts longer.)
The soap’s name is ‘The Mane Event’ by Kindersoaps. I should admit, one of the reasons why I wanted to try shampoo bar is because of Milanonna.
First time I tried it, my hair feels… Weird. It feels bit sticky/waxy, and I thought it might be because my hair is cleaned differently; and it seems I’m on the right track: Shampoo bars and the transition period.
I’m on my second wash, though, so I still can’t tell the whole differences — but so far, I’ve been liking it. The shampoo bar can be used for body and face too, so being a cheapo, I’m like, “HELL YES.” It didn’t sting the eyes too much either.
What I can see the stark difference, though, is when I use it for my face. It looks really clean, and I don’t feel the dryness/the skin being pulled-feel after my shower.
I’m not sure if this will be my entrance to organic, eco-friendly sustainable lifestyle, but if it did, I’m glad that I try some. It’s still a long way, but I hope we can start somewhere. I personally really like the idea of bringing your own shopping bag for grocery shopping and I’ve been doing that for quite some time (shout out to my sister for introducing me to the habit.)