my poor neglected blog!

I ave neglected this a little. I haven't stopped the environmental cause though. I had a miscarriage, but while pregnant I was debating with myself the environmental impact of a child in a western, northern hemisphere country.

My considerations were - do I as a vegetearian eat fish to ensure my developing baby gets enough omega-3 for brain and eye development (I was eating a spoonful of flaxseed oil everyday anyway, bleurgh! But there are some question marks over whether this short chain omega 3 is useful even given the poor conversion rate to long chain omega such as that found in fish).

-what nappies will I use?
-will I use washable wipes?
-what about toys etc?

Then I had a miscarriage and had to wear pads (sanitary towels) while I was bleeding and spotting - 18 days. I normally use a mooncup and cloth pads at night, but I didn't have enough cloth pads, so I felt awful contributing to landfill. My wonderful husband points out that this is better for the environment than having a child! Hmm.

Anyway, we are getting cats so that throws up it's own issues. I have blogged on pets before, and my next post will either be about volcanoes and lack of planes in the sky (yay!) or about cats. I'm not sure yet, but let's hope it doesn't take so long as this post to happen!

not-cotton wool, or not-cotton not-wool

I have just started using what I like to call not-cotton not-wool. I started using a muslin square to remove my make-up and was still using cotton wool for my toner. I started looking into organic cotton wool due to the ethical conundrums surrounding cotton. Then on a somewhat unrelated note I started to phase out all disposable menstrual wear (having used a moon cup for eons, but still having some disposable back up pads).

At this point I wondered whether you could get reusable cotton wool as it were. Of course you can!

I bought a fleece set, a bamboo set and a hemp set. I am testing them all out. It's a tricky business though, no-one tells you how to use these things. I mean, you pick up how to use a disposable cotton wool pad. Basically you use it and chuck it in the bin.

Reusables are a tad more confusing - what sort of fibre? For what job? should i stain remove first? Or just wash?

So far I have tried the fleece ones. It felt soft on my skin and held the toner in a similar way to a cotton wool pad. I then washed it with warm soapy water before letting it dry then putting it in my net laundry bag for my small washable items like this. I only do my laundry with soap nuts you see, so i think if i didn't remove the stains at this stage it would probably come out of the wash looking similar to how it went in. All seems good with that one so far.

Then today I thought I would try a hemp one. That was so super absorbant that i had to use loads of toner. It just disappeared into the pad. I think this is the stuff nappies should be made from! So, not feeling the hemp ones yet.

Bamboo is still yet to be tried....