11 Essential Oils Your Medicine Cabinet Needs
Ten essential oils for everyday use - from the kitchen to the bedroom.
natural cosmetics
A natural tea sunscreen you can make at home
Now that the sun is out in full force, and you’ve tried this recipe for sugar wax, it’s time to up the ante and make a paraban-free, organic, and skin-nourishing sunscreen.
The Scents of a Middle Eastern Woman – Ayala Moriel
Family circumstance and curiosity led boutique perfumer Ayala Moriel from the city of Tel Aviv to the other end of the world on the west coast of Canada. After landing in Vancouver in her early 20s, her sense for Middle Eastern scents helped her create a unique line of natural perfumes for women and men. […]
Are Brazilian Blowouts Putting Kinks in Health?
More popular in the US than the Middle East, the Brazilian Blowout craze (with its chemicals) did make the headlines in Dubai. I’ve never understood the desire to chemically straighten one’s hair, perhaps because my wavy locks can go either way, and natural tricks for my hair type work just fine. Even so, many curly-haired […]
Thyme Is A Natural Acne Remedy
New research has found that thyme, the main ingredient in Zaa’tar, could be more effective in treating acne than prescription creams In Palestine no breakfast is complete without a small plate of oil and Zaa’tar, a special herb mix of thyme, sesame seeds and salt. New research has now found that herbal preparations of thyme […]
Bahrain’s Green Bar Offers Naturally Extravagant Fragrances
Green Bar makes local, natural beauty products in an industry pumped with chemicals and toxic preservatives. It’s tough enough being a woman without having to worry about nasty preservatives in cosmetics, or the loads of other bad things pumped into beauty products. The natural world is filled with plants and flowers that have been used […]
Dead Sea Herbs Offers Organic and Biblically Inspired Cosmetics
Dead Sea Herbs resurrects ancient Hebrew medicine practices to keep your skin beautiful. Sometimes, with our abundance of tools and technological devices that make modern living easier, we forget that somehow people got along just fine without them a few generations ago. It may be hard to imagine how our parents ever went to school […]
Henna – A Natural New Hair Hue for Summer
Who would have thought that nature could provide such vivid hues? Here you see the strength of “redbeard” henna. Since the dawn of time, people have been finding ways to improve, change and diversify their appearance for cultural and personal reasons. These methods of beautifying yourself are just as diverse as they are natural and […]
Summer Help When Hair + Humidity = Frizz
The humidity of the Middle East can result in a six month stretch of “bad hair day”. But help is on the way, naturally. Image via Perfecto Insecto When I think of summer, one of the first ideas that pops into my head is the beach, followed very closely by the thought “Oh no, but […]
RECIPE: Soothing, Sensual Rosewater
The fragrance of roses is a Middle Eastern favorite for pastries and delights. This old-fashioned recipe shows how to make it yourself. Photo by Marlis1 via Flickr. In the Middle East, rose water scents pastries like Ma’amoul cookies, puddings, and clothes. It comes in tiny glass bottles if it’s concentrated, and in larger plastic bottles […]
Environmental Triggers of Arthritis Include Lipstick and Hairspray
There are environmental triggers (hairspray! lipstick!) of common autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, a TAU researcher reports. Our immediate environment interacts with our genetic programming and can determine if we will succumb to an autoimmune disease, says rheumatologist Prof. Michael Ehrenfeld of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine, who is seeking to unravel those mysteries. […]
Ecomum Scratches Her Head From…Lice!
The kid’s got head lice, again? Ecomum offers her natural tips. Oh the joys of back to school, done with all the holidays (for now), found bliss in returning to a routine and actually drinking my tea while it’s still hot. Then being a mum and thinking this is just too good to be true […]
Dr. Bronner's: Soapy Sustainable Development in Israel/Palestine
For years I have been using Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. I like the tingly peppermint smell, how clean it makes my skin feel, and the fact that the ingredient list is short and organic. Last weekend, at the annual Washington DC Green Festival, I learned that not only is Dr. B’s good for my body […]
EcoMum Goes Back To The Beginning With Pregnancy
For most people the first steps to a more organic, greener lifestyle is often when we start to think about children. We start to look at our diets and lifestyles from a different persepective. What is healthy to eat, drink and do. This is when most poeple take the step to buy organic food but […]
Ingestible Sunscreen by LycoRed's Based on Tomatoes So You Don't Become One
Lycored has been in the natural food coloring business for some time and realized the amazing anti-oxidant properties found in tomatoes could be used in the cosmetics business. The company has recently developed an alternative sunscreen that you ingest. This is good news for bleaching corals, transexualizing fish, and for our health — it is […]
9 ways to keep baby safe from harmful skin care products
In previous stories we covered baby food and nursery furniture. Next on the list are those beautifully packaged and very enticing creams, soaps, lotions and wipes, which us as new moms are bombarded with and sometimes feel that our children will not survive without. Baby toiletries are one of our biggest pet hates, they are a waste […]
Feel Better with Herbs of Kedem and Ancient Hebrew Medicine
Ancient historians have described the export of ointments from the Judean Desert throughout the Roman empire and beyond, at least until the 2nd century BCE. Now the modern company, Herbs of Kedem, has revived the historical use of these herbs for medicinal uses. Amazed by their extraordinary success, researchers at Rambam hospital in Haifa have […]