I was also reticent about the pump spray and the fact it would be wetter on my underarms, but I’ll try anything so I ploughed on. Bionsen is a hypoallergenic range containing Japanese spa minerals (whatever they are) and is aluminium and paraben free. There’s some science behind the deodorant as instead of it blocking the sweat glands like anti-perspirants, Bionsen (and other deodorants) tackle the odour instead. The “antiseptic agents and germ-killing ingredients target and kill the bacteria that causes body odour on contact. Fragrances also work to combat body odour but the natural, finely-tuned balance of the body is not affected”.

So does it work? As I said before I was worried about the wetness of the spray but after a couple of times you work out the right amount so it doesn’t dribble down your side and then I left my shirt off for five minutes after that too to make sure. And it really seems to work. I actually chose the two hottest weeks of the year to start my testing (May is the new August it seems) and it performed admirably. In fact even when I was sweating a lot, I had to get the Tube one day, there was no bad smell whatsoever. I still sweated, but sweated in a sweet smelling way.

I’m not sure it’s better than other deodorants or anti-perspirants I use, but I know it’s better for me and it’s certainly not worse which I suspect some people would think it would be. I like the smell more than other products I’ve used and think I’ll use it from now on. I discovered the girlfriend uses the roll-on as well when she tried to steal this as she thought it was for her. The roll-on is a bit cheaper at £1.99 and there’s also an aerosol spray at £2.99, stick at £2.49 and this pump spray is also £2.49. It’s available at high street chemists, supermarkets and John Lewis.

It’s a great example of how media is changing from something through which to disperse information to becoming a tool for (collective) action. It’s a little long, but worth the patience.

“As citizens and as consumers, we may not be able to wield a great deal of power. But when we do things together, our power is ridiculous!”

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

We’re a green product review site, so to celebrate our redesign, we’ve launched a massive eco product competitions. Currently there are 83 prizes with a total value of $3,721 / £1,860 but this is going up all the time so might be higher by now.

Prizes include those from Guest Editor and green store, Nigel’s Eco Store, shaving products from Male Organics, Bulldog grooming products, a fairtrade soccer ball, lots of gift certificates, books, hats, make-up, bags, shoes, gadgets - plenty of items for men, women and children.

We’d love you to stop by and enter, you’ve a great chance of winning something green.

Organic is a agriculture product made without pesticide, harmful chemicals, hormones. You can find “organic” on most anything but most of the time it is not completely organic unless you see one of many logo’s like these.

These logo’s on products found in groceries stores are quite hard to get placed and certified on a product because they test just about everything from fertilizers to what the wood was treated with on fences and if one thing that is tested as “modified” the produce won’t be certified to sell as organic. Only 100% organic products may use the organic seal. if a product is 95% is organic they can’t put the organic seal but they can say it is a organic substance. If the product is at least 70% they only can label up to three items that are organic. finally if a item has less than 70% organic they can’t say its organic anywhere on the item. for more information visit this site http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/FactSheets/Backgrounder.htm Heres the actual chart that was in the magazine Good Housekeeping. In other words your best bet will be finding a product that has a certified seal that states that it is certified “organic” on the product you want to buy.

Before you buy something try to remember what the correct labels for a item should be and what labels you should not buy into on a certain product.

I’m not sure any of this information applies to people in the U.K. but it certain it does apply to the people in U.S.A.

There are five steps in the process of creating product. First there is extraction of natural resources next comes the process of production made from the natural resources, chemicals etc. then comes distribution at your local stores which leads people to consume or buy a product and finally the disposal of the product. This short video digs deeper into these five steps in making and distributing from life to death of a product. The short movie with Annie Leonard is about 20 minutes long which you can see at The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard also on their web page you can watch, download the video which is about 55mb in size, or you can even buy a DVD with this video for $10. I recommend this video for everyone to watch especially for the real consumers that keep buying products more than what the average person may buy in a given month or year. Spread the word about this video it may even get you thinking about what you even buy for the holidays, birthdays party’s or even things you buy for your own self.