macnorton

To help myself acclimate to my new vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, I started look at all natural health care products. I saw Burt's Bees when I was in Stop & Shop...my bro uses their cap stick all the time. So I went ahead and bought the body wash and body lotion. I figured since I have super sensitive skin, taking out all the crap that a lot of these products have, might do me some good.

I am curious to know if any Otter use any of the products and if it works for sensitive skin. Also any recommendations would be welcomed.

al_bundy

they got bought out by one of the mega conglomerates not too long ago which is why you probably saw it at stop and shop

i bought the shaving cream at Target a month ago and it was pretty good. i usually buy something that is 100% plant based and needed shaving cream that day and it was the best thing Target had.

i used to get really bad rashes in the fall years ago and when i switched to all plant based products they magically went away

macnorton

Interesting....my skin tends to break out when I shave with a blade using the Gillette products, maybe I need to move to plant based products.

al_bundy

i use the Fusion razors and like them

what i do is first wash my face with regular soap and then shave. i usually buy one of the plant based soaps at Whole Foods Market for $5 or so.

Chrisedge

I use the "Beeswax Lip Balm"

macnorton

That is what little bro uses...he loves the stuff...even though he calls the guy on the label a "tree hugging hippie".

drmoze

Heck, I've seen a rack of Burt's Bees products by the checkout counters at Best Buy! (seriously)

tbird2340

Just curious.. What made you decide to become veg/vegan?

macnorton

It was a combination of things actually.

I saw Super Size Me and I had cut at fast food entirely at that point. So it got me thinking, I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with, what if I just cut it out all together?

As it turns out it proved to be much more difficult that I imagined, so I gave up after about 6 weeks.

Jump forward 4 years and my health is starting to slip a bit. I go to the doc and I am roughly 50 LBS overweight. Aside from being overweight, everything else was normal (although the BP is high, but I have a history of that). I decided I would see a nutritionist and start this again.

I also have some major ethical concerns about meat....I have seen videos of slaughterhouses and it actually made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe I was putting that stuff into my body. And as an animal lover, it really made me think about things. Now granted I haven't cut meat out 100% (I am at about 80%, I still have lunch meat), but I am off to a good start.

Now on the other side of things, I started to become concerned about my footprint on the earth and if the products I used were either tested on animals or made from. I only own two things that are leather (my coat and my belt)...so I have been very good on that front. I pretty much wear almost all cotton (I don't wear wool at all).

And recently I found out that a lot of the health care products I use are tested on animals, I didn't know about that. Again more video I saw (and no this was not from PETA, since I feel they are a terrorist organization disguised as a non-violent protest group) on the web about how these products are tested and it made me sick. So I again I went with alternatives, and Burt's Bees came up.

I have been vegetarian for about 2 weeks now and I have got to say, I feel a lot lighter on my feet, my energy is up and I feel much better. There are a lot of misconceptions about the lifestyle too...contrary to what my dad may say, the food is actually very good...better than some of the stuff I used to eat. Do I miss things, without a doubt. But being able to feel better is worth giving up what I had been doing before. I don't want to get preachy, but it was one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.

My new goal now is to get rid of the gas guzzler (I have a Jeep right now) and try to get more energy efficient appliances for my house or install solar panels. Trying to reduce my footprint. Sorry for the ramble there.

tbird2340

Don't be sorry.. Sounds like you are passionate about it which is good. Thanks for sharing.

starman9000

I thought bee based products (honey, wax) were a no-no for vegans.

Mrs. Danger

I don't see honey being non-vegan, but wax, maybe.

kvrdave

I soak it in meat. Pretty good lip balm then.

Dr Mabuse

She started 'Burt's Bees' in her kitchen sink.

That stuff has been all the rage in NM for years.

starman9000

http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm


Note, I don't really care.

kvrdave

Vegas are such pussies. That's why I don't use anything organic. They are all murderers in my book.

Salt, anyone?

LurkerDan

some vegans definitely view honey as a no-no.

As for their lip balm, be aware that it has no SPF.

ike0000

Don't feel bad about wearing wool. Sheep are neither slaughtered or hurt when they are sheared. Its actually needed and helps them or else they would overheat and their wool would become matted, etc. Unless you are against the whole idea of humans raising animals for their products, in which case Berts Bees should be out also.

Dr Mabuse

This doesn't make any sense at all...

What the hell does Vegas have to do with organic and salt? Murder sure, but Organic and salt?

I'm going to go ahead and say I think Vegas rocks.

damn_skippy

He said vegan

The Cow

Gonna have to go with a big no on that one.

covenant

all the more for me...kthxbye!

macnorton

Your welcome.

You know the thing of it is, when you start to adopt this lifestyle you really start to notice things. For instance, in the supermarket, almost every "diet" meal has some form of meat in it. It is like a second meat aisle.

Second, there are a lot of commercials for meat products on TV. I started to note how often one comes up and the frequency is about 1 ad every other commercial break (which is roughly about once every 8-12 mins). Same with health care products (most of which test on animals...not to be preachy but it is true). You rarely (if it all) see anything for alternative lifestyles. It is really amazing when you start to take notice.

Third, many products claim to be all natural, and they are anything but. There is no governing body that regulates this. However some standards have been introduced as of May 1st (according to the Burt's Bees website). If you want to put the all natural seal on your product and actually have some validity behind it, you need to be 95% of naturally occurring products (IE coming from the environment). That one was an eye opener.

And here was something I have made a conscience effort for sometime (I started about 2002)...that is the amount of paper I use. I work in an office and I there is a lot of paper generated all the time. Frankly put, we use way to much. I have been looking for ways to cut it down, but it has proved difficult. However outside of the office, I am able to cut down. All but three bills I get are paperless, so that cut down drastically. The amount of junk mail I get is high, but I have cut that down to by contacting the company(s) and telling them they can email me. Also, I try to use recycled paper when possible as well. I do print out plenty, but I really try to keep it to a minimum at all possible.

Lastly, there is a ton of information on the web about the subject. Like everything else though, some sites are preachy and some are lacking in credibility, but any educated person can tell the difference. I am not saying everyone needs to change....in a perfect world everything would work out right. It isn't for some people, but make sure you educated yourself about it.

aktick

Thanks for the laugh, starman. Stop bee slavery! I'm not going to take the time to read all that drivel, but does anybody know if they consider keeping bees solely for pollinating purposes bad? Because that would be the ultimate irony...a vast majority of organic fruits and vegetables are very reliant upon bees for pollinating, and vegans would starve to death without the help of bees.

And macnorton - Just FYI, but most lunch meat comes from those slaughterhouses you've seen in the videos. If you really wanted to make that point (being against such slaughterhouses), you should buy organic, pasture raised beef. Slice it up for your lunch or whatever.

macnorton

Actually I don't wear it for comfort reasons...my vegan friends liked that I didn't, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

I have a problem when humans are raising animals in non-ethical ways. If wool is done in a humane way, I have no problem. But I have read some horror stories about it.