A New Shampoo- made with soap nuts!

The soap company, Pectolite LLC has been working hard on their latest invention:  A truly coconut-free shampoo with no weird chemicals.  

It is called Coconut-Free Probiotic Shampoo and yes, it lathers!  Pectolite sent me a free sample and I have been trying it on and off for a week and want to share my opinion.  

My first response when using this in the shower is "OOPS I think I got it in my eyes!"  This shampoo really stings and I think I am really an in-shower eye-rubber.  So I don't suggest using it on kids. 

When I consciously worked hard to NOT get it in my eyes, the next time, it was okay.

I have medium-length fine hair and it did have a decent lather.  Not like bubble bath or anything, but better than other coconut free shampoos I have tried.  It smells like plain yogurt or kefir.  Not a bad smell, and it washes out so my hair just smelled plain afterward.

The shampoo did a remarkable job at getting my scalp clean and my hair was very clean afterward.  I am not sure this could be an every day shampoo because it felt like it did strip my hair more than usual.  I felt like I needed to use some conditioner with it.  

I highly suggest trying it for yourself. Here are the ingredients: 

INGREDIENTS: Artesian Spring Water, Wildcrafted Soap Nut (Sapindus saponaria), Makrut Lime (Citrus Hystrix), Elephant Apple (Dillenia indica), Wildcrafted Indian-Laurel Leaf (Calophyllum inophyllum), Wildcrafted Amla Fruit (Phyllanthus Emblica), Pineapple (Ananas comosus), Probiotics (Lactobacillus casei, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

It also has a warning that people who are sensitive to latex might have sensitivities to soap nuts.  

Test it out and let Pectolite know what you think!

PS:  If you are already planning on buying some soaps, etc: 

Use the promo code 1211LIVE  if you purchase $60+  to get $5 off your shampoo order. 10 oz full size is $22 or 2 oz sampler is $5. So essentially, you can use it to get a free sample until January 31, 2020. 

Coconut free children's toothpaste- yay!

A huge thanks to Dan, who found coconut-free toothpaste for kids at a UK company called Green People.  Dan said:

"We found your blog online, and it has been helpful in dealing with my daughter’s coconut allergy.  I thought you might like to know that we found this company in the UK who has toothpaste that is SLS free and uses glycerin that is coconut free.  https://www.greenpeople.co.uk/shop/by-product/natural-toothpaste  We are going to be buying this for my daughter who has a coconut allergy.  Up until now, the toothpaste options have not been great for kids, and it has been difficult to get my daughter to brush meaningfully as a result.  They have at least 2 kids flavors and several adult flavors."

 emailed the company and they confirmed that the glycerin in the toothpaste is not derived from coconut.  Here are the details they sent on their products:

We use different grades and sources of glycerin in our products. In most cases the organic glycerin we use comes from nuts of the Karanja tree which grows in India.

However, some of the plant extracts we use in some products (e.g. Green Tea, Rosemary leaf, Marshmallow root, etc) are bought as ready-made hydro-glyceride extracts. The glycerin used in these extracts is also organic, but could come from any number of different oils, including palm, coconut oil or palm Kernal.

All glycerin in our Toothpastes are derived from Karanja oil and can confirm none of the toothpastes contain any ingredients derived from coconut.