I’ve found 7 plastic-free organic hand soaps for you that contain no toxic chemicals and come in paper packaging you can easily recycle. Why hand soaps? Because the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say washing our hands with soap and water works better than hand sanitizer for killing the germs that cause Coronavirus, the flu, and other illnesses, like diarrhea and the common cold.

Why plastic-free? Because plastic trash is out of control!

And why organic? Because as good as soap is for fighting germs, too many soaps contain harmful toxic chemicals or come packaged in throwaway plastic.  The soaps listed below contain healthy ingredients that work – and don’t come in plastic!

7 Plastic-Free Organic Hand Soaps

Dr. Bronner’s

Zum

Tom’s of Maine

O Naturals

Makes 3 Organics

Ma’na Organix

Patchouli Soap

Here Are 7 Plastic-Free Organic Hand Soaps That Fight Coronavirus and the Flu

Dr. Bronner’s – Made with vegan ingredients and castile soap, but no synthetic preservatives or foaming agents. Packaged in 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Available unscented, or in peppermint, lavender, almond, eucalyptus, hemp rose, hemp tea tree, and hemp citrus. Fair Trade certified and Non GMO verified, too!

Zum – Made with goat’s milk, essential oils, and fresh citrus herbs. Minimal paper packaging that can be recycled. Available in variety sampler pack as well as individually. Look for it online but in Whole Foods, natural foods stores, and food co-ops, too.

Tom’s of Maine – 5 oz. bars, available in 6-packs; available in lavender, orange blossom, coconut oil, and other plant-based compounds (NOTE: May also be available in store in CVS, various supermarkets, Whole Foods, Target, etc.)

O Naturals – 100% natural organic ingredients, vegan, and infused with essential oils. Available in oatmeal & coffee, agave nectar & soy milk, coconut & shea butter, jojoba & tea tree, and rosemary & peppermint. PETA certified.

Makes 3 Organics – Made in Santa Barbara, CA with USDA certified organic ingredients, including coconut oil and shea butter. Packaged plastic-free in a recyclable paper box. Also available in orange blossom.

Ma’na Organix – This hemp oil based soap is infused with eucalyptus that both cleans and leaves your hands smelling fresh. Ma’na is also sulfate- and paraben-free, cruelty-free and vegan. It’s packaged in a minimal recyclable cardboard wrap. Available in lavender, peppermint, spearmint, and cinnamon vanilla cappuccino.

Patchouli Soap – In case you’re wondering, patchouli is a fast-growing shrub related to mint and lavender with an “earthy, sensuous” scent. Additional ingredients in this soap include olive, coconut, avocado and castor oil, cocoa butter and cocoa powder, water, and sodium hydroxide.

When Should You Wash Your Hands During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

After you have been in a public place and touched an item or surface that may have been touched by other people, like door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping cars, or electronic cashier registers and screens

Before touching your eyes, nose, or mouth, because that’s how germs enter our bodies

Before, during and after preparing food, and before eating food

After going to the bathroom

After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing

After shopping and packing and unpacking groceries

After opening mail

Remember to lather and scrub for 20 seconds. The CDC recommends people no longer shake hands with each other. If you somehow do shake hands with someone, wash your hands afterwards and before you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth.

NOTE: We may earn a small commission if you purchase a product through our link. It’s teeny tiny, so not enough to affect how we think, but helpful enough to keep us going. Thanks!

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My favorite gifts to give are those that make a whole bunch of people happy at the same time. I think you’ll like this idea too, which is why I’ve created the Incredible Buy One Give One Holiday Gift Guide.

I love BOGOs! BOGOs are companies that give someone in need a free gift every time one of their items is purchased. Tom’s seems to have started this practice by producing canvas shoes that were sold as two-fers. If I bought a pair of TOMS, TOMS would give a pair for free to someone who was shoeless. Today, a lot of BOGOs offer a wide variety of products. I’ve compiled the best of them into this incredible Buy One Give One Holiday Gift Guide.

Buy One Give One Holiday Gift Guide

TOMS – TOMS shoes has provided over 60 million pairs of shoes to children since 2006, thanks to the many shoe purchases the company has inspired.

You can still shop for shoes, but TOMS now also donates other essentials thanks to the shopping you do with the company. Here are a couple of other reasons why we included TOMS in our Buy One Give One Holiday Gift Guide.

If you buy the company’s sunglasses, TOMS will donate prescription glasses and help fund sight-saving surgery.

If you buy a bag of TOMS Roasting Co. Coffee, you’ll help fund 140 liters of safe water–a week’s supply–to a person in need.

Purchases of TOMS Tote Bags like the one pictured here support the training needed to help provide a safe birth where conditions are risky.

DIFF Charitable Eyewear – DIFF (as in make a “diff”erence) is built on the principle that designer eyewear should be socially conscious as well as affordable and fashionable.

That’s why, for every pair of sunglasses purchased, a pair of reading glasses is donated to someone in need.

Through their partnership with Eyes on Africa, DIFF has provided the gift of sight to over 20,000 people.

They also partner with Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity, a partnership that in 2017 helped 10,000 people worldwide.

Better World Books – This bookseller collects and sells books new and used, then uses the profits to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.

They also commit to matching every purchase on their website with a book donation to someone in need, in a program called Book for Book.

They conduct book collection drives on over 2,300 college campuses and partner with 3,000 libraries, too.

So far, the company has converted more than 250 million books into over $24 million in funding for literacy and education. In doing so, they’ve diverted more than 250 million books from landfills.

Here’s another benefit: every order shipped from their warehouses is carbon balanced with Green-e Climate certified offsets.

Bluer Denim – For every pair of jeans you buy from this company, you can donate an old pair.

Once Bluer receives them, they’ll give you a $15 credit and send your old jeans to someone who needs them.

It’s a great way to recycle your jeans and reduce the carbon impact of producing and shipping a new pair.

Here’s another advantage to Bluer. They’re made in America: designed in Portland, Oregon; made from cotton grown in Georgia and denim milled in North Carolina, with rivets and zippers coming from Kentucky. The jeans are cut, sewn, washed, and hand-finished in Los Angeles using what the company says are eco-friendly ozone laundry processes.

Good Spread – I always give friends and my kids food for the holidays, so when I heard about Good Spread being a BOGO company, my first reaction was, “Bingo!”

Good Spread includes organic unsweetened peanut butter, organic honey banana peanut spread, organic chocolate pretzel peanut spread, and organic salted honey peanut butter.

The ingredients are non-GMO, Palm Done Right, and organic certified.

Where does the BOGO come in? When you buy a jar of Good Spread, you send a treatment of MANA Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food to a malnourished child. As the company’s motto goes, “Four delicious organic flavors to choose from. One lifesaving mission!”

WeWood – “You buy a watch. We plant a tree.”

What’s not to like about that BOGO approach?

Since 2011, WeWOOD, a company based in Florence, Italy, says it has planted over 500,000 trees.

Its goal is to plant 1 million total by 2020. The company works with Trees for the Future and American Forests to “help restore Mother Nature one watch at a time.”

The watches are made from exotic remnant hardwoods minus any toxic chemicals.

BOGO Bowl – This company’s name says it all. And the company says it up front.

“You buy a bag and we give a bag to a pet in need.”

The pet food manufacturer says it doesn’t use byproducts, artificial colors or flavors, or corn, wheat or soy as filler. It’s good dog and cat food in a variety of formulations to help animals maintain a healthy weight and develop healthy bodies, starting with kittens and puppies.

The company helps pet pantries, foster-based programs, animal shelters, and rescue centers.

We’re looking for more BOGO companies to add to our guide. If you have any recommendations, please list them in the comments below or on the Big Green Purse Facebook page.

Happy holidays, and thanks for shopping BOGO!

NOTE: Some of these entries contain affiliate links. We’ll make a teeny tiny commission of you use the link when you shop, which helps us continue to bring you the green expert content you need to live the greener life you want. Thanks!

The post Our Incredible Buy One Give One Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Safer products for women have been around for years, primarily in response to their strong consumer demand. Guys can have a similar impact on manufacturers, by choosing the safest products available. These deodorant options, all of which are highly rated for health and safety by Environmental Working Group, are a good place to start:

Crystal deodorant:   This clear, rock-like product uses mineral salts to reduce the bacteria that cause body odor.   Just moisten the crystal and rub it under your arm; it dries immediately.  The line has a product specifically for men. Added  Benefit: the Crystal company is the top rated natural or conventional deodorant according to the analysis of Environmental Working Group. The company also supports “The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics” and pledges that any products it makes will “meet the standards and deadlines set by the European Union Directive 76/768/eeC to be free of chemicals that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects.” Here’s some additional useful background on crystal deodorants.

Tom’s of Maine Unscented Deodorant stick: makes four different deodorants from ingredients like hops, chamomile, and lemongrass.  You can purchase the deodorant fragrance-free, or scented with calendula, woodspice, or honeysuckle rose.  Tom’s is  available at most grocery and drug stores, including  Rite Aid and Walgreens, but can also be purchased online.

Aubrey Organics uses herbal extracts and vitamin E in their Men’s Stock Natural Dry Herbal Pine deodorant.   The deodorant comes in spray form (but not an aerosol can) and can be purchased directly from the company’s website as well as in natural foods and Whole Foods stores.

Want more information on safe personal care products? Here you go.

(Research by Katie Kelleher)

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