So, the bar is pretty low in my household (I can see my friends shaking their heads in agreement). But I do at least try to ensure that, post-shampooing, a comb gets through the flowing locks of my four daughters.

My little ‘helper’ in this regard is Acure leave-in conditioner with Argan oil which I spritz on the girls’ hair to give me a better than even chance of success.

I empathize with those who think leave in conditioners are dumb and excessive, a symbol of consumerism run riot (on par with lip exfoliation products?). But my guess is that people of this persuasion don’t have kids who scream at the mere sight of a comb. (Full disclosure here, in case my kids read this: it’s only one who is really comb-phobic…)

The Acure product is well-priced ($9.99 per bottle from the Acure site or $8.62 from the mysteriously cheap iHerb, which is where I get it since they ship swiftly and cheaply to Canada). And it’s fully functional. If truth be told, I only really use it at the swimming pool when matted hair and industrial strength chlorine conspire to make my life really tough. But it does the trick and once a week the comb runs through the hair.

I hope that it does a load of other good things, such as strengthening and conditioning. But just combing it without misery is enough to make me like it.

Argan oil is, of course, totally trendy these days. I’ve tried it in pure form on my face and have not loved it. Maybe it is the magic ingredient in this stuff. Who knows? But something makes combing easy, without making the hair greasy. The remainder of the product ingredients are on the website and all look pretty plant-based and benign.

The conditioner smells citrusy, but not too intensely so, which is all good too. In my youth I was happy to have my entire head smell of (fake) green apples, but I lost that willingness a while back. I’ve tried other natural de-tangler products and the smells were sometimes quite overwhelming (kid-oriented often equates to bubblegum or grape).

To finish up, I just want to mention that I have often been asked to recommend a shampoo on this site, but I remain unable to do that. I have tried and tried to find something that I really like, that is natural, well-priced and kind to my always-dry scalp. But I have not yet succeeded. When I think I am close I either find a nasty ingredient or my scalp starts itching!

So I remain a shampoo dilettante: any recommendations?

My old boss used to assure me that I should not worry, that paper was a renewable resource, but I did not buy in. I still feel bad about paper use and the resources needed to make, process and ship the stuff to my door.

I have tried a number of recycled and unconventional options and wanted to share my views.

First, let me say that from my experience the paper manufacturers do a grand job of up-selling: they have us convinced that particular types of printer require particular grades of paper. I have a very functional HP desk jet all in one printer/scanner/fax and I have never had problems with any paper I have used (the same was true for my previous HP laser jet). Maybe I got lucky…or maybe, just maybe, we don’t need everything we are told we need….

Perhaps paper quality is a big concern in high volume office machines, but for personal ones I really don’t think it matters.

My absolute top choice for office paper is Step Forward paper, made in India for a Canadian company and sold through Staples ($6.50/500 sheets, a fairly standard price). This paper is composed of 80% wheat straw fibre (a waste product) and 20% virgin wood pulp (Forest Stewardship Council certified).

In case you are worried, it is bears no resemblance to cow poo paper or that textured stock you find in fancy card stores. It’s a standard, bright white paper with technical specifications to match (92 for brightness and 21lb in weight).

Despite being made in India, bleaching is done with the elemental chlorine free process (relatively environmentally benign). This puts it on a par with most north american paper as far as bleaching is concerned (elemental chlorine has been outlawed in north america).

Initially I was worried about the emissions associated with shipping the paper from India, but these do not add up to much when you look at the lifecycle environmental footprint of paper. And if you wish to do just that, you are in luck. Step Forward commissioned a full, third party environmental analysis of its product and posted it on line.

The report ranks Step Forward paper relative to regular north american paper (virgin pulp) and both 30% and 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Step Forward came out on top in four categories out of seven and was the environmental winner overall.

If the company succeeds in its stated objective of making paper in north america using 100% agricultural residue and no chlorine, this ranking will obviously improve all round (see p. 6 of the report).

Two factoids from the report which are interesting: wheat straw paper can be recycled just as many times as wood pulp paper (5-7 times) and the total energy used for making Step Forward paper and shipping it from India is less than half that for virgin wood pulp paper made in north america. Please remember these figures and quote them back to those who tell you it takes more energy to recycle paper than to make it from virgin sources.

Step Forward requires 20,413 MJ of energy/tonne of paper. 100% recycled north american takes 25,188 MJ/tonne, 30% recycled north american takes 39,218 MJ/tonne and virgin north american takes 45,232 MJ/tonne. So there!

This post is getting a little long, but let me give you a few other options if, for any reason, you can’t lay your hands on Step Forward paper.

Cascades, a great Canadian company that I have talked about before, makes several recycled papers. The cheapest option is a 100% recycled version it makes specially for Costco and sells in large boxes of 1,500 sheets. It is regular weight (20lb) but not what you might consider regular brightness or opaqueness. Does not bother me in the slightest but it might bother some. It is well priced and functional. Don’t fear it!

Cascades also makes some more up-market recycled options which would suit larger scale offices better. ReproPlus 50 scores a 94 on brightness, a 190 on the Sheffield smoothness scale (who knew?) and 88% for opacity. For every 3 cartons used, Cascades claims that one tree, 683 gallons of water, 413lbs of air emissions and 132lbs of solid waste are saved as compared to using a virgin equivalent.

Cascades Rolland Enviro100 copy paper is, unsurprisingly 100% post-consumer recycled. Opacity is 89% and smoothness falls to 170. Rather oddly the claim is still for one tree saved despite all that extra chewed up post-consumer stuff, but water savings are double the ReproPlus 50 level at 1,241 gallons. And, better still, the paper is processed entirely chlorine free.

Take a look here if you want to see the specs of all Cascades office papers.

So, on that very technical note, I’ll sign off. Bottom line, in my view, is that its crazy to use virgin pulp to make office paper. I think that’s what I said about toilet paper too.

Or that’s what I had always thought. My long-held theory has been that taking small steps will ready us, in the longer term, to take much bigger steps for the planet (think of giving up planes and cars….). Harvest the ‘low hanging fruit’ now and then get out the ladder. That is part of what this website is about.

But this may not be how it works. A recent blog post and related film, from the folks who produced the excellent Story of Stuff, challenges this notion, suggesting that as we pay attention to small consumer decisions we become simultaneously complacent and disempowered. Instead we should focus our energy on movements for real change, at governmental and corporate levels.
I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Anyway, back to Earth Hour. I still think that this is something worth celebrating and I was thrilled that a Canadian city, Vancouver, was selected as the Global Earth Hour capital this year.

Just in time for Earth Hour, I was also thrilled to discover – by way of my great friend and inspiration, Helen – a fantastic solar light made by the company Nokero (‘no kerosene’). I was particularly glad to see Helen with such a light, as last year when camping together we managed to melt both her tent and my hand with a red-hot propane lamp.

Nokero’s real aim is to bring environmentally friendly light to those without access to electricity in developing countries. Burning kerosene is expensive, contributes to global warming and creates terrible internal air pollution (living with a kerosene lamp is equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day). Nokero lights solve the air quality problem and are said to repay their cost within 3-8 weeks.

Nokero’s excellent lights work for us in the developed world as well. They are light weight, bright and functional. They hang or stand up and switch off automatically in bright light so as to avoid wasting charge (so can be used as porch lights, etc.). They are ideal for camping, disaster preparedness or Earth Hour 2014.

The basic light is the Crestone, which retails for $15 (through the site or on Amazon). This is the one I have tried (while night-skiing last Friday). It’s a great light: bears no resemblance to the cheap solar garden lights you see everywhere these days. There is also a new model, the Shavano, which is twice as bright. That’s bright!

An additional bonus is that the lights operate on AA rechargeable (and recyclable: let’s hope that happens in developing countries and these things are not creating a new stream of toxic waste) batteries, which can be replaced for $2 each.

Nokero ships around the world, though rates are expensive for single lights. While the company has dealers, these are mostly in the developing world. My assumption is that the lights are cheaper there too, and that we are subsidizing the cost of lighting the developing world with our purchases here.

Nokero also makes an interesting-looking range of solar battery and phone chargers as well as a neat reading lamp, which I hope to try before too long.
Keep up the good work, there in Colorado, Nokero!

I’ve long been on the hunt for a good body lotion to combat the ills of the Canadian winter (extreme dryness) and old age (extreme dryness plus wrinkles).

Too many of the lotions that I like at first blush turn out to be below par environmentally. Or else absurdly expensive. Or too greasy. Or overly worthy and thus unstable physically (nothing worse than having a great bath and then slathering on rancid lotion).
First a short rant: I am horrified by the number of personal care items (soap, lotion and the like) that come from China these days. Even seemingly high-end brands are manufacturing there: very many of the attractive and expensive-looing gift sets you find around Christmas originate in China.

Shipping heavy, water-filled items makes no sense ecologically. Then there is the question of what exactly it is you are slapping on your skin. It amazes me how little many people seem to care about that, despite the compelling logic of absorption through a porous surface (ever wondered how nicotine patches work?).

Back to good lotion. I have two recommendations here. Both are well-priced, feel/smell nice and are adequately benign from an eco/toxicity perspective.

ShiKai is a California company that has been around for over 40 years. It makes a whole range of great body lotions in scents ranging from yuzu to pomegranate: I am fond of the cucumber/melon which has a fresh and not-at-all overpowering smell.

The lotions have a lot going for them: they are unctuous without being greasy, come in nice large tubes (8floz or 237ml) at a reasonable price ($6.91 on iHerb or $8.99 on ShiKai’s own site: I’ll never understand that) and generally feel quite luxurious.

The company emphasizes the pureness of its products – ‘All Natural’ is written right across the middle of the tube – though the the body lotion still scores 3 on the Skindeep database. Back to that later.

My new favourite lotion is made by another US company, Nourish. Nourish makes four ‘flavours’ of lotion, plus unscented. These come in the same sized tubes as the ShiKai product but cost slightly more at US$9.99 each (or you can buy all four for $32: they make great presents as the packaging is high-end and  attractive, if a little heavy).

Nourish was apparently the first skincare company in the US to get USDA certification for its entire range. This means that the products are at least 95% organic. For more on this certification – which some other brands now share – and Nourish’s other ‘seals’ (gluten free, Oregon Tilth, etc.) see here.

My favourite Nourish flavour is lavender mint. It’s light and fresh and I’m not sure you can ever go wrong with lavender. I was initially intrigued by the fig flavour: though I like it, it has stronger hints of apricot than fig.

Nourish lotions have a different consistency than ShiKai ones. They are absorbed almost instantly and leave no apparent film on your skin  (both good and bad, depending upon your mood and degree of dryness, I would say). But they feel good and nourishing (appropriately), nonetheless.

Nourish sells through its website and Whole Foods stores, in the US only. Canadian folk can order on-line, though this is not well advertised. The great news is that we Canadians also benefit from reasonable shipping rates. US rates are $5 flat or free when your order is over $50. Canadian orders ship for $5 when the order is over $50.

Nourish also makes deodorant, shea butters and various body washes and polishes, so it’s easy to stock up. If my order is anything to go by, your package will come quickly with paper packaging and a hand-written thank you note.

Like ShiKai, Nourish manufactures in the US. One gripe is that, though pretty, Nourish tubes seem to be made from unnecessarily thick plastic. It makes them stiff and heavy and just seems a waste (though they do claim to be recyclable, we know that depends upon where you live).

But what of ingredients? Nourish products are not rated on the Skindeep database. I asked the CEO about this and he told me that though he supports the idea of the database, he finds the ratings a bit off at times. Alcohol, for example, scores very poorly, regardless of its source. For this reason, Nourish has opted against seeking a rating.

I have actually noticed this problem myself: some quite natural-sounding ingredients, such as essential oils, are given a bad rap by the database for potential allergic reactions which are really not a huge concern for me.

To be complete I have done my own comparison of the ingredients of ShiKai and Noursh lotions. Both use aloe vera, shea (see shea nuts in the picture: hard to imagine they help your skin but they do) and a range of plant extracts. Overall, though, Nourish does seem to do better. Plant ingredients are all organic and the only potential ‘nasty’ is ‘Organic SDA 38B (Alcohol Denat): apparently an organically derived denatured (altered to be non-drinkable) alcohol.

ShiKai has a couple of chemical-sounding things in there: dimethicome, phenoxyethanol and cetyl alcohol and its plant products are not organic.

So take your pick: lotions are a pretty personal decision, after all.

Right now, tea is top of my list. There are only so many cups of strong (albeit largely decaf) coffee I can drink in a day. And I have to fill the void left by my Lenten resolutions to give up processed sugar and alcoholic beverages (at least those that are consumed in the comfort of my own home).

Tea is the perfect drink. As a good Englishwoman, I drink `real’ tea in the afternoon: preferably lapsang souchong, the smoky flavour of which reminds me of the smell of horse tack. It is a huge anomaly that this should appeal to me as I dislike almost everything else about horses.

Mostly, though, I drink herbal tea. I start my day with a pot that I share with the kids before they depart to school and I depart to coffee (between 8am and 11.30: I am very precise).

I drink at least one further cup of herbal tea during daylight hours (often out of my trusty, but now discontinued, travel mug) and then conclude my day with a final cup and a good book (ideally). So you can see why water gets squeezed out.

I have been thrilled at the recent explosion of tea varieties and shops, though I think many promise more than they deliver. Tea needs to be super-fresh to be at its best; I often find the fragrance of teas has dissipated before it reaches me, even when it comes via quite fancy stores.

My other pet hate is individually-wrapped tea bags. Yes, they can be pretty (especially Pukka teas from the UK) and convenient, but do we really need an extra 40cm² of bleached and printed paper with every cup of tea?

Yes, the paper is recyclable/compostable but, as I have noted before, paper recycling is energy inefficient. Plus, individually-wrapped tea bags typically entail staples that add nothing to the compost stream and must detract – minutely – from taste and eco-soundness. I won’t even get into all the tales of the quality of tea that is typically used for tea bags….

So, though I do use bags for convenience, I try to find ones that come in good old boxes and that I can store in an airtight container for freshness.

Anyway, I digress.
I love most teas as long as they are not acidic – fennel is a top choice for me and my digestion – and I am an avid fan of rooibos tea. I discovered this in South Africa on the 1990s before it joined the mainstream. For those who find herbal tea to be somewhat insipid, it is the perfect choice and healthy too.

My favourite teas come from Herbal Republic, a small shop on Granville Street in Vancouver. I discovered this tea many years ago at an Ottawa retailer and have since purchased on-line and commissioned friends to bring bags back from B.C. for me (as supply is limited in Ottawa).

What is exciting now is the proliferation of rooibos blends: Herbal Republic offers some great ones. Its mokka rooibois used to come with a slogan that read something like: `with tea this good, why bother with coffee?’. I would not go that far (as I adore coffee) but this is a great, slightly sweet but by no means sickly, and gorgeously substantial tea. My second daughter’s favourite.

I also love earl grey rooibos and find that Herbal Republic makes a lovely aromatic version. This is one that needs to be fresh and well-blended (they blend theirs in house).

The company, which appears to have a good eco conscious and is part of the ethical tea partnership, offers plenty of other rooibos blends (such as African Dream and Ginger Bounce) all of which can be sampled (30g) or purchased in larger quantities.

Herbal Republic sells lots of black teas too, and has developed a compostable tea filter for restaurants and people who can’t handle loose leaf tea at home. Some are individually wrapped in plastic (grrr…) but you can also buy kits with tea that you insert yourself. This offers the ease of a bag without the extra packaging or lack of freshness that sometimes inflicts bags.

Finally, Herbal Republic has a herbal medicinals line which is Health Canada approved. Sadly I find the only one I’ve tried – the flu and cold relief – too bitter so I can’t attest to its healing merits. Let me know if you can.

The only snag about Herbal Republic is the website. It is in the process of being upgraded at which time I hope it will become a bit more user-friendly, with better descriptions and, most importantly, more transparent shipping rates.

The site currently auto-generates enormous shipping costs. They say that these are just estimates and you will be charged actual Canada Post rates, but pressing the ‘purchase’ button on a $30 shipping cost is disquieting, to say the least. You have to call in to ensure peace of mind.

If you are out there, Herbal Republic, do let us know when things are fixed up then everyone can plan a tea party (and I can fix the links in this article)!

I hope I did not alienate too many with my disparaging remarks about washing dishes with cloths. I am now trying to claw my way back into your good books by giving you fantastic options for implements with which to abrade your plates and pots when the going gets tough.

For my stainless pots, the first thing I reach for (while still clutching my blue washing up brush) is my Lagostina stainless cleaning powder. Many times that does the job on its own (it’s also great on my Corain sink).

But when things are really stuck tight, my next choice is a scouring pad. I have two top choices. The first is a coconut fibre scrub pad by Safix. It looks somewhat like a loofah but is actually made, in India, from stuck-together coir (the hair-like strands that surround a coconut shell).

So this is a truly natural product, without question biodegradable, non-rusting and not injurious to the hands like some metal scrubbers. The website does not claim that production benefits poor people, but let’s hope. And using coir – which can also be made into rope, but is often wasted – is a great idea.

The pad is so light that shipping emissions don’t bother me.

Safix products are available in health food stores in Canada and, apparently at Waitrose stores in the UAE (this is from the website: not sure about UK Waitrose stores as no UK distributor is listed). [If you are in the Ottawa area, try Arbour in the Glebe.]

My other top choice, for a full range of scourers and implements to suit every washing up disposition, is a UK family-owned company called Ecoforce.

Ecoforce makes laundry and cleaning hardware most of which contain at least 95% post-industrial and post-consumer recycled content. It has several scourer options (all non-metallic): a dark green heavy duty pad; a white non-scratch scourer pad and a thicker sponge topped with a scourer pad (a good all-in-one option for non-brush washer-uppers).

All are pretty traditional products in appearance and work well on pots, pans and plates (begging the question: why use virgin materials for these tasks?).

Ecoforce scourers are not biodegradable. The good news is that they are made in the UK, which hopefully means they are made in a pretty non-polluting/wasting facility (always a big concern with cheap stuff from China).

Ecoforce is part of a family of companies (EasyDo) which also makes a product called Dishmatic. I’m sure you have seen something like this before. It is a hollow implement (like a brush handle) that can be filled with your favourite washing up soap (Biovert in my case..). Dishmatic has the advantage of offering three interchangeable head types that can be clicked into place: white non-scratch; green heavy duty and a steel scourer option.

I give you this information somewhat grudgingly as I am no fan of these washing up wands. On the plus side, Dishmatic is made of 50% recycled content (less than the Ecoforce products: I guess the plastic handle isn’t great). On the negative side, these tools dispense way too much dish soap for my liking and they are almost expressly designed to serve those who wash dishes under a running tap.

Please, please don’t do this. It’s a huge waste of water. And it is also inefficient: it’s much more effective to let your dishes soak in a basin of water while you wash. (or, if you have these bad washing up habits, to use a good, energy-efficient dishwasher).

So, was that worth waiting for? I cannot imagine it was, but here’s hoping.

Ecoforce products area available widely in the UK and through independent health food and eco-stores in Canada (though not the US, as far as I can see). Prices seem fair at $3.59 for a 3-pack of scourers (but they are much lower in the UK at £1.25 for the same pack).

Full disclosure here: Ecoforce sent me scourers to review. Saffix did not.

First let me say that I believe there are two fundamentally different types of people in this world: those that wash up with a brush (I fall into this category) and those that wash up with a cloth or sponge (god forbid).

Cloth and sponge people: I respect you, I admire you, but I just don’t understand why you would choose a grimy cloth over a lovely washing-up brush. And, in my view, the loveliest of all the washing up brushes is the ‘professional’ washing-up brush made by the Swedish company, Stiwex, sold by Lakeland in the UK (2 for £5.99).

This brush lasts for years (I kid you not) without the bristles flattening, thereby cutting back on significant amounts of plastic and landfill space. The handle is the right length, the bristles are the right stiffness: it works.

And maybe I like that I am officially a professional cleaner when I use it. Beats being a downtrodden housewife.

I haven’t found these Stiwex brushes stateside, which limits the usefulness of this post. I am sorry. Lakeland does ship overseas, but the cost is high (a £15 washing up brush may not be worth it). So just make sure that next time a friend travels to the UK, you lodge a request for a cheap and useful souvenir.

As much as I love my blue-bristled brush, there are jobs that it can’t handle. For that you need scourers and scrubbers and the like. It won’t surprise you to know that I have views on those too, but you’ll have to wait a week or so to hear them.

While I, too, am getting in the holiday spirit, I am also mindful of the many tasks that lie ahead. Inevitably I will put off wrapping until the last minute; I’ll be up late, late on Christmas eve for sure.

One of my strongest memories of childhood Christmases is of my beloved grandmother rushing around with a basket, collecting and neatly folding wrapping paper for reuse the following year. At the time I viewed this as a bizarre annoyance. Now, of course, I do the same.

Except I can’t collect the paper from my own presents, because I typically don’t use any. I have become a massive fan of fabric wrapping. It’s much quicker (critical at 2am on Christmas morning), less wasteful and the materials can easily be stored year on year.

I use lengths of fabric, old scarves and, to the extent that I have them, proper Japanese furoshiki cloths. There are numerous fancy ways to use cloths for wrapping, but I tend to opt for the basic method of cross-tying the diagonal corners. Not creative, but functional.

I also maintain a stock of fabric bags. My mother in law made a buch of drawstring bags a while back and I have guarded these with my life. I have also added to my stock from the dollar store and elsewhere, though it is hard to find large-size fabric bags at a reasonable price (and I am too lazy to make them myself). If you are prepared to invest a bit here, Etsy has a huge range of options, of course.

If I run out of fabric bits and bags, my next choice is to use old pictures stored up from when my kids were in kindergarten. If you are a parent and your kids were lucky enough to have a teacher who liked paint (and mess) you will almost certainly have brought home stacks and stacks of artwork which you will have had a hard time throwing out. At last a win-win solution: home-made wrapping paper!

There are a number of other great options, including decorated newsprint or brown paper bags. If you are more organised and patient than me, you can make these look really fancy. See this TreeHugger post for some great suggestions (if you can handle the slow scrolling through pages, which I hate, on TreeHugger posts). The point is that you can give attractive looking gifts and still conserve resources (the big factoid from the net is that if every US family wrapped just 3 gifts in recycled materials, we would save the equivalent of 45,000 paper-covered football fields).

My last plea: please don’t use that shiny plastic wrap. It screams out land-fill even as it sucks up needles from your tree with its static field.

Now I have to go and wrap….Merry Christmas!

I really have to struggle to hold the line on polish with my four girls (actually, only three, one wouldn’t touch the stuff). I am, in this regard, a kill-joy: I just don’t feel that nail polish and young fingers mix. I am also an outlier, it seems, as coloured nails have become the norm on even the tiniest kids.

I am amazed how willing parents are to deal with the mess, the work (which five year old can remove polish on their own?) and, most of all, the slew of toxic chemicals that dwells within both the polish itself and the remover.

I have tried hard to identify a really good adult option for eco nail polish, but have so far failed. Everything I have tried has either been not sticky enough or way too sticky: there are some brands that don’t come off for love or money.

If you have some suggestions for me, I’d love to try them.

[I wanted to add a clarification to my original post here: I am looking for water-based nail polish. There are many good brands - such as Zoya, OPI - that are free of the worst chemicals (3 free) but are still solvent based. A step in the right direction and good enough for my toes, but still not OK for my kids' small fingers].

So, for the kids, I have found two solvent-free options that I can just about tolerate (if I overlook my general aversion to tots-aping-teens). These are the Klutz Nail-art set (a book and 6 water-based colours) and the products made by the US company, Piggy Paint.

These are very different products. The Klutz set (which retails for about $15-$22 in North America or £12 in the UK) is more of an art event than a nail polish. The latex type colours go on nicely and then literally peel off. You might get them to stay for a day, but not much more (which makes me happy).

The accompanying book has some fun design ideas. A word of warning, though, don’t let the bottles spill on your carpet. It takes a good deal of determination to get the ‘polish’ out.

Piggy Paint is like adult nail polish. Indeed adults can and do use it too (the site notes that it is a good option during pregnancy).

It comes in nearly 40 funky colours from bright pinks to green, yellow, silver, black and blue. It costs $8.99/bottle. Ingredients are very benign and although the product itself is not featured on the Skindeep database, no ingredients (except possible tints) score higher than 1 (zero is best). Neem oil is used as a preservative (which makes me happy as I used to have a neem tree in my garden when I lived in Africa).

Piggy remover is acetone free but does contain alcohol. Interestingly, it comes in two formulations, one that meets California air pollution standards and one that, by implication, does not. I can only assume the non-California one is more effective, but my money would be on the less polluting version.

Both sell for $8.99 (for 120ml). Indeed $8.99 is the magic price on the Piggy Paint site. But you can also buy Piggy Paint at a wide range of retailers – mostly kids’ stores – in the US and Canada and a few on-line sites in the UK. All products are US-made so no worries there.

In my experience, Piggy Paint that is applied in a single coat, by children, without the help of a hairdryer (to set the colours) can more or less be peeled off (at least by my determined kids, eager to convince me that, no, they did not put on nail polish).

I can’t vouch for how long it will stay on your fingers if you really want it to last, but this is clearly a ‘green nail polish’ brand that is largely marketed at kids not adults, so my guess is it could be a bit fleeting. Just like me, these days!

Personally I love giving experiences, but I have yet to persuade my four kids that a stocking full of promissory notes and gift cards to the local coffee shop really cuts it. Small indulgences are required: preferably ones that can be wrapped, used and then disappear leaving a relatively small footprint.

One thing that will be in the stockings of the young Foxes this year is a selection of products that I have received over the past two months in my regular package from the Natural Beauty Box (T.N.B.B.).

T.N.B.B. is one of a number of companies operating in the monthly cosmetics and skincare subscription space, though by no means all companies offer natural products. You sign up for anything from one month to one year and then wait to receive a nicely-packaged goody-bag of natural cosmetic sample sizes (not sachets) through the mail. They even throw in some full-sized products from time to time.

Samples are guaranteed to be at least 95% natural and 50% organic. This may not satisfy complete purists, but it is good enough for me (especially in comparison with some of the horrors my kids have been known to bring home).

Inside your pretty gift bag you will also find coupons in case you like the samples (reminding you that this is, of course, partly a marketing exercise).

T.N.B.B. does not tell you what you will receive in advance, but that is half the fun. Who doesn’t love getting an indulgent surprise in the mail from time to time?

So I have been saving up my precious bottles to scatter amongst my girls’ stockings. For me this is a great solution to the pre-teen lotion love (which I remember so well from all those years ago).

Yes, there is excess plastic (think little bottles) but, on balance, I am not too worried as I am not channelling toxic fragrances and chemicals to my kids.

Here in Canada, subscriptions vary from $15.75 to $20/month – shipping included – depending upon how long you sign up for. And the really good news is that subscriptions are available not only in Canada but also in the US (same price), the UK (OK: same price in pounds as in dollars, but UK folks are used to that…), and worldwide ($32/month).

And if you are looking not for stocking-stuffers but for a more substantial one-off Christmas present, you are also in luck. The Natural Beauty Box is selling a December Deluxe Beauty Sac stuffed with at least five full-sized products and five samples.

The cost for this is $49.99 (inc. shipping). I just ordered one for my niece: fingers crossed. My only gripe is that there appears to be no ability to include a gift message when you place the order (or did I miss it?).

Another gifting option, of course, is to be more generous than me and instead of splitting the boxes, give the one you love their own subscription. Voilà, the gift that keeps on giving.