Nature’s original detoxifier, Charcoal, has been used for centuries to draw out toxins and impurities. Amongst Natural Healers and Traditional Medicine, it is known as the “Black Diamond”. Its many uses include; purifying water, absorbing moisture and odours in the air, it even has the almost “magical” property of being able to shield electromagnetic waves! This has nothing to do with magic and everything to do with SCIENCE.
Activated Charcoal requires heating a carbon rich material, such as Bamboo, to extremely high temperatures. This strips the Bamboo of any molecular matter and frees up those bonding sites. The process creates more holes within each molecule therefore increasing the surface area of the Bamboo and producing an exponential increase in absorption. Charcoal’s unique ability to draw out AND absorb these impurities comes from the ‘chemical reactions’ that occur during this heating/activation.
Charcoal’s porous texture produces negative ions that in turn seek out positively charged ions such as poisons, toxins and impurities, allowing the pollutants to be easily and efficiently absorbed. Yet another of the by-products of Activated Charcoal is Carbon Black. Now, electromagnetic waves usually travel through or bounce off substances, but the chemistry of Carbon Black allows it to absorb the energy within the waves’ atoms therefore enabling it to absorb electromagnetic waves.
So there you have it. The “Magic” of the Black Diamond!
5 Top tips for reducing your baby and child’s clothing consumption.
You don’t have to be a hippy to care about the planet and just because you’re a mum doesn’t mean your bubs tiny footprint needs to leave behind a huge carbon footprint for them to grow up into. You can help the planet from just considering what clothing your buying for your bub.
Ask yourself these questions when buying clothing for your children.
1. Is it made from good quality fabrics like bamboo that can last as hand me downs to future children or can be passed on?
2. How many wears will they get out of it before it’s too small? Could you buy a size or two bigger to get the most wears out of it?
3. Will it match with other items in the wardrobe? This also helps for more clothing combinations which = less waste
How many items in your baby or child really able to wear in a week? Do you need heaps and heaps of options? Or are you better with practical items you wear and leave out the rest? How can you adjust your buying habits?
It’s best to have a capsule wardrobe. For example, for a little girl in summer – 3 pairs of shorts, two skirts, five tops that match with all bottoms for best combinations, three pairs of shoes (sneakers, sandals, dress shoes), and for winter you could add pants, tights and jumpers. Having a capsule wardrobe can reduce the need for excessive clothing consumption and save you money every season.
4. Do you have a friend with a child younger or older than yours? Could you share the clothes or receive hand-me-downs? This same concept applies to all things really, consider your kid’s toys and many other baby accessories.
5. Don’t forget to on-sell your items or keep them in storage for the next child.
We would love to hear any other tips you might have for reducing your child’s clothing consumption in the comments. Want to start being better on the environment? Explores some of our bamboo baby products!
A huge thanks to Angela Mulvay for contributing her thoughts here!
Most people don’t realise that they can change the world by just changing the clothes you wear. So, what is ‘Sustainable fashion’ you may ask? Sustainable fashion also called eco fashion is a combination thing like fair work conditions, to the dyes you use in clothes, to the fabric the item is made out of and where it’s made (carbon footprint).
These products are classed as sustainable because they use less water to produce eco-fabrics like bamboo and hemp etc. Reducing pesticides being used and by getting items made in sustainable fashion factories where the pay rate and working environment is clean and fair can make all the difference.
By simply buying or changing to using sustainable fabrics, for example, bamboo. You are not only reducing your carbon footprint immensely, but you can take a step into reducing your wardrobe waste. Feel better about the clothing your wearing because you’re making a difference in the world.
Here are some tips for a future living with sustainable fashion.
1. Donate any unwanted clothing to charity so it can be re-used and doesn’t end up in a landfill.
2. Reduce your wardrobe waste by creating a capsule wardrobe and only buying things that you will wear. A capsule wardrobe is formed by just buying tops and bottoms that go with other items in your wardrobe, creating less waste and more wardrobe outfit combinations. According to whowhatwear.com.au, It is estimated that on average people only wear 20% of their wardrobes.
3. By just changing your wardrobe items to basic bamboo underwear, bamboo clothing, you can reduce your carbon footprint dramatically. Sticking to only the required basics and doing them in bamboo will reduce the need to produce cotton or other synthetic clothing products that have a significantly negative impact on the environment.
According to many studies, bamboo is an amazingly sustainable fabric, because bamboo uses no pesticides to grow it, it is classed as a weed because it produces so quickly. It is naturally anti-bacterial, hypoallergenic and anti-static. Most non-sustainable products that claim to be ‘anti’ something use pesticides or chemicals to get it that way. But not bamboo, it is naturally an eco-product without trying too hard. Amazing. Consider reusable bamboo nappies for your babies and your positive impact on the environment will continue to improve!
4. Sustainable fashion doesn’t just stop at just fabrics, it can be the shoes you wear, to the hat on your head or even the toothbrush in your mouth. Look around your home and decide to make the change, the planet with thank you later. Don’t forget to donate these items where you can to reduce landfill.
We hope these simple tips can help you get started on a better future with sustainable fashion. Let’s help the planet one sock at a time.
Many doctors and health professionals recommend that, for women, wearing underwear is better for you than not wearing any underwear.
We believe that the underwear you choose is essential when you consider that it comes in direct contact with one of the most intimate parts of our body. As women, we need to be aware of how our choice of underwear can affect and increase the risk of infection and bacteria.
For example, when you’re exercising, the “healthiest” panty is made from a moisture-wicking material and gives you full coverage.
Practitioners suggest 30% of women currently suffer from yeast infections such as thrush in the underwear area. 70-75% of women will experience thrush at least once throughout their lifetime. Could this be the result of the underwear we are choosing?
Regarding fabric, some undies are made predominately of synthetics such as polyester, have limited to no breathability and quickly create moisture build up, which can lead yeast infections.
We also need to consider the fit and style. Some underwear designs ride and move around in places that create irritation and run the risk of creating rashes and spreading infections.
The healthiest panty should be made from a moisture-wicking material (a material that pulls the moisture aware from your skin). Many scientists suggest that 60% or more of what we place on our the surface of our skin is absorbed into our bloodstream. If this is the case perhaps we should also be considering the chemical composition of the fabric in our underwear! The more natural, the better!
An ideal choice of underwear is one that is made from a natural or organic material that enables your skin to breathe such as organic bamboo underwear or organic cotton.
Want to learn more? Explore some of these excellent articles on your underwear!
For many of us shopping for clothes and underwear is all about ensuring it looks good, it fits well and it’s at least kind of comfortable. If it’s in our budget then we have a definite winner.
But what if there were more to consider? What if we as consumers had a significant impact on our environment, our community and the health of our own bodies. In fact, we do, each and every purchase decision we make has a significant impact on all of the above. The more things we buy the higher our impact. However, in today’s busy society we often don’t think about our impact and instead we might delegate the responsibility to the government, to the businesses to the community groups or anyone other than ourselves.
Today, just for a moment let’s look at one of these things, what happens to the things we buy when we throw them out. The average consumer produces 1.5+ tonnes of waste per year. In physical terms that’s bedrooms worth of waste, from just one person!
Much of this waste is avoidable and often is plastics, things that actually don’t break down in a landfill, at the very best it will break into smaller pieces which is then transported to other areas like the centre of the ocean where we now have many plastic bag islands, killing off so much of native wildlife, fish and animals.
Are you contributing to the plastic islands in the ocean?
Some plastics are the obverse i.e. glad wrap, plastic wrapping, but have you consider that clothes can be a form of plastic also? Polyesters and other synthetic blended fabric blends are often made of plastic or similar, most of which don’t break down in a landfill. What would your bedroom of waste look like?
The war on waste, what we are responsible for producing, by Greenpeace
With that in mind, we really should be considering what we buy and where we buy it from. What will happen to our products once we throw them out!
This is why we pride ourselves on sourcing products that are biodegradable. We also try preventing packaging wherever possible and simply don’t use plastic bags in any of our sales processes. As consumers, we do have the power to make a positive impact, by simply seeking a little bit of information about what our products are made of, where possible by-products that are plastic free and as naturally derived as you can. This is one of the reasons why we believe bamboo is better.
Want to learn more about where your stuff comes from, where it goes to and what else you should really know?! Watch the story of stuff below or check out their website; The Story of Stuff, there is some really cool stuff to explore on here!
We would like to inspire you by building your awareness.
If you have awareness, you are empowered with a choice. Each and every choice you make has the ability to make a positive difference on our environment, our community and your life!
What if you were to consider and think about the things you buy before you buy them?
Where do they come from? What will you do with them once you’ve finished with them?
At You & Bamboo we try to source and produce products in the most sustainable ways available, we consider everything from the packaging that the product is made of and what will happen to it when it is disposed, will it go into landfill and contribute to the waste issue, or can it be reused, recycled or composted?
You might not realise the impact that a single product choice has… But what if you were to consider your toothbrush.
Over 30 million toothbrushes are used and disposed of by Australians each year, amounting to approximately 1000 tonnes of landfill each year. That’s Equivalent to 567 Sydney Harbour Bridges being buried every year in toothbrushes!
You have a responsibility to yourself, your environment and your local community. Each and every purchase decision you make has an impact on you and your environment.
Be a conscious consumer and buy products that have a better impact on the environment!
