Is it possible to find body products that are kind to the environment and kind to you?

In the book I'm currently writing, Cape to Cabernet, Ganiet, my Israeli protagonist, is given a fabulous smelling gift by her grandmother - a jar of priceless frankincense oil from Oman. I too was blessed recently with a beautifully fragrant gift that is just up my alley - a range of all-natural products; a deodorant, a body scrub and a body butter. They are produced by hand by Rona Mirimi of Verte Natural Body Products. Rona is also an Israeli woman and my daughter bought her products for me as a celebration of the fact that I am so. nearly. finished . Cape to Cabernet.

Although I wouldn't class myself as a health fanatic or a rampant 'greenie' I do believe that the area we neglect the most when it comes to de-toxing, is our skin. We tend to focus more on what we're eating (ingesting). I don't know about you but I really didn't think about what I was putting on my skin when I first started de-toxing my life. My motivation was my grandchildren. I didn't want there to be any poisonous or lethal products in my home in case one of my grandchildren came in contact with it when visiting; so I slowly got rid of products like Jik and Handy-Andy and replaced them with vinegar, lemon oil and bicarb.

It was only later, when I started self-medicating with essential oils, that I discovered how incredibly quickly the skin absorbs almost anything you put on it. You might have heard that parabens and other chemicals found in skin care products are bad if ingested, but they can't penetrate the skin. This is simply not true. You only have to think about nicotine and birth control patches to realise that.

According to an article written by Deborah Burnes in HuffPost "in 2005, the Environmental Working Group published a combination of two studies that found toxic chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies. They screened for more than 400 chemicals and an astounding 287 toxins were detected". Many of these, like mercury, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins were most likely absorbed through the mothers' skin into the blood stream.

Some of this absorption just can't be helped. It happens as you go through life. But you certainly can avoid putting poisons on your skin deliberately. Deborah says that her Top Ten ingredients to be avoided are:

1. Parabens
2. Formaldehyde
3. 1,4-dioxane
4. Phthalates
5. Diethanolomine ((DEA), Triethanolomine (TEA) and monoethanolamine (MEA)
6. Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulphate
7. Propylene Glycol
8. PVP
9. Nanoparticles
10. Fragrance

The scary thing is, these ingredients are found in most commercially produced skin-care products, sometimes in disguise. There are two ways to go about avoiding the Terrible Ten: examine every label before purchasing or switch to products that you know are natural and free of the Terrible Ten.

Can I be honest for a moment? I'm not going to stop using Amarige in summer and Hypnotic Poison in winter. But I've eliminated pretty much every other toxin from my beauty routine. And that brings me back to my DIVINE smelling gift. I tested each one yesterday and here are the results:

1.  Verte Body Scrub. It contains only salt, jojoba oil, rosemary and grapefruit, rosemary and juniper berry essential oils. It smells so heavenly, its unbelievable. After using my skin felt smooth and soft.

2. Verte Body Butter. It contains only olive oil, calendula, shea butter, mango butter, vitamin E and sandalwood,patchouli and orange essential oils. As a former hippie, I was in seventh heaven surrounded by traces of sandalwood and patchouli and my skin felt hydrated all day.

3. Verte Natural Deodorant. It is the consistency of solid coconut oil, not surprisingly as it contains coconut oil, shea butter, bicarb, corn flour and essential oils. I applied it in the morning and it worked all day for me. I cannot vouch for whether or not it would be as effective in Summer. I usually use the Pure Beginnings deodorant but I'm just as happy with the Verte product.

So, do I recommend Verte Natural Body Products? I do. If you'd like to order something from Rona you can contact her on roxanacu@hotmail.com. (This is not a sponsored post by the way, I just like her products and think she deserves support. Besides, its not always easy to find all-natural, toxin-free body products and I really enjoy passing this kind of information on where I can).