Earth Friendly Dishmate Washing Up Liquid Eco Product Review

Nigel’s Eco Store offered me an alternative to Ecover when it came to environmentally-friendly washing up - Nigel’s Eco Store Earth Friendly Dishmate Washing Up Liquid.

For reasons only known to our landlord, our dishwasher is incredibly difficult to open so it sits there doing nothing looking smug as I scrub the dishes. But I actually don’t mind washing up and have been using Ecover for years so am used to not having many bubbles, and this Dishmate follows suit. I’ve been using the natural grapefruit ‘flavour’ (made from essential oils) but couldn’t smell it really apart from when sticking the bottle up my nose, which I don’t recommend by the way. But smell isn’t something needed when cleaning dishes.

It’s said only 1.5ml of the ‘ultra concentrated’ liquid is needed (500 bowls per bottle!) for a bowl of washing up but unless you measure it out a small squirt is cool enough. It’s a bit more like traditional washing up liquid in that it’s quiet thick and it’s in a similar bottle. And it’s also tricky to squeeze out with one of those pull out tops. The reason I haven’t taken a picture of my own bottle is that I dropped it attempting a big squeeze. To be fair it survived the fall, albeit with a bash on the shoulder.

Earth Friendly Dishmate has a raft of environmental claims, including: neutral PH value, contain no petrochemicals, ammonia, caustic soda, chlorine, phosphates or formaldehyde, are vegan and GM free, formaldehyde free, safe to use with a septic tank and the bottles can be recycled. Presumably ‘where facilities exist’.

But how does it clean? And the answer is perfectly well. It doesn’t offer any fantastic results that amazed me, it did just the job it was asked and did it well. I’ve been using it a while now and it seems to be lasting a long time so am really happy with it. If they could just sort out the opening thingy so I don’t have to squeeze it so much, I’ll be pleased as punch.

A 1.5 litre bottle costs £3.40 from Nigel’s Eco Store and is available in grapefruit, pear and almond. The ingredients are: water, naturally derived coconut oil surfactants (not sodium laurel sulphate), salt and essential oil.

Green World Bags Product Review

Green World Bags make reusable bags that are shaped like US paper grocery bags.

However they’re made from sturdier material (durable, non-woven materials, with reinforced straps and a sturdy liner), that will withstand more than a year of weekly usage and they hold the equivalent of 2-3 plastic bags. This translates to an annual reduction of approximately 700 plastic bags for the average family

Run by sisters Trina Koller and Trudy Balestreri in my new home town of San Diego, Green World Bags set out to make great looking bags that are practical and long lasting. They have a variety of fantastic silk-screen printed designs that make them much more interesting that other bags, but not more expensive.

When they finally wear out, they can be recycled. A four pack only costs $19.95 (or $7.50 each) from Green World Bags.

Shea Butter Eco Product Review

Ethical Babe sent me some lovely Shea Butter made by Akamuti to review. Described as a ‘the most delicious treat for skin’ I couldn’t resist giving it a go myself, although I suspect it may be for babies and ladies. Naturally rich in Vitamins A, E & F, it is said to help treat skin problems such as eczema, sunburn, itching, insect bites & skin blemishes.

The first thing I noticed was how thick it was, for some reason I expected it to be like butter. It also contains a natural substance called ahhahsh which is similar to latex and explains the smell - a bit like rubber bands. The smell starts off quite strong as you apply it but after a while goes away. It takes a bit of effort to apply as it is thick but it rubs into the skin quite nicely and you’re not left with any oily residue or anything.

I used it on an area of dry skin and it worked wonderfully, felt better than moisturiser for some reason and although it doesn’t last forever, seemed to last longer than conventional moisturiser, I liked it a lot. I haven’t tried it on my lips (I’m a bit like Larry David in that manner, once you start to moisturise there’s no going back and you have to do it all the time) but I’m told it’s great for chapped lips. I’m looking forward to using it after doing a bit of DIY and my hands are hurting.

Virgin Shea Butter is organically grown and fairly traded from Togo, West Africa. It costs £4.95 from Ethical Babe which was founded in 2006 by Claudia and Claire. They have lots of great stuff for adults and babies - have you seen the poncho bathrobe?

Bulldog Natural Grooming Moisturiser Product Review

In doing a thorough product review of Bulldog Natural Grooming Moisturiser involves a lot of washing of my face. I’m not one to moisturise all the time for no reason but after washing my face I always need to so twice a day I’d come to squeeze the tub onto my hand and rub it in. And what a joy it was.

It took me a little while over the testing period to work out why it was a joy and I realised it was down to two things. Firstly, the smell. Now the list of ingredients is quite long (I’ll come to that) but I think it’ll be down to the eight essential oils, green tea extract (which is an anti-oxidant) and mabe the green algae (which I’m told is to help with skin hydration). It really does smell nice, almost medicinal.

The packaging says:

“No parabens, no sodium laureth sulfate, no artificial colours and not synthetic fragrances.”

But as I said the list of the ingredients is huge. And confusing – do you know what ethylhexyl palmitate is? Well actually I sort of do, it’s an emulsifier and I know this because at www.meetthebulldog.com it tells me what that is and all the other ingredients which is very handy. There a downloadable pdf which also tells me it’s derived form vegetable/palm and that: “Emulsifiers modify the interface between water and oils, allowing tiny blobs of oils and waxes (micelles) to float freely in water (or vice versa) without merging together and separating out.” It’s also not tested on animals and no ingredients come from animal sources.

But how does it actually work as a moisturiser? Traditionally I tend to use a cheap moisturiser, not actually because I’m cheap but because I fine more expensive products too thick and as I have a slight beard, I found it wouldn’t rub into my skin/beard properly and I’d end up looking like Santa Claus. So I approached the thick, white substance out of this bottle with some trepidation.

I shouldn’t have worried really, although the consistency seems the same as other brands I’ve used I found it was absorbed into the skin very nicely both on areas with hair and without. There was no white or oily residue. I enjoyed using it as much as one can.

Bulldog are a small company based in London. Currently it’s just available in the UK through Sainsbury’s stores, and online through the Life Goggles Reviews and Shop page. Read Joel’s review of Bulldog’s shave gel here.

Bulldog Natural Grooming Shave Gel Product Review

I try to shave as little as possible, but as I don’t want a beard (unlike Adam), and my wife complains, it means “as little as possible” is almost every day. I tend to think shave gels and creams are pretty much alike, some are cheap and some expensive but they all do the same job. Then we were sent some Bulldog Natural Grooming Shave Gel.

It didn’t change my world massively, but I was impressed. For example, as I was testing it for the first time, this is the conversation I had with my wife:

“Something smells good!?”
Me: “It’s me!”
“No, seriously, something smells new and different.”
Me: “I know, it’s ME!”

She was right to a degree, it wasn’t really me but the shave gel. Made with seven essential oils, paraban free with Aloe Vera (apparently for cooling and softening), Jojoba (a natural moisturiser) and Konjac Mannan (for, er, “slip”), there are a full list of ingredients plus a downloadable explanation to what each ingredient is, on the Bulldog website. The gel had an almost menthol flavour and tingled on my lips, and as I had a cold at the time, actually helped me :).

Besides the product itself, I like the humour on the packaging, for example the back states “Unless you’re a geography teacher or a communist revolutionary [or Adam] you’ll have to shave sometime”. Besides that, there’s not much left to say. it’s nice to use a decent shave gel that has been naturally sourced. My face was fine afterwards, no more ugly than usual so I guess it works well.

Bulldog are a small company based in London. Currently their products are just available in the UK and through our new Life Goggles Reviews and Shop page.