How to look after your wooden chopping board

Looking after your wooden chopping board is pretty much the same as looking after your face and body.

When washing your face you apply a cleanser, then a toner that kills off bacteria and hydrates the skin, then you apply a moisturiser.

The same applies with your chopping board.

First you want to clean your chopping board with water and a natural cloth, which acts much like an exfoliating scrub does for your skin - smoothing and refreshing the surface of your board.

Follow with some natural vinegar (making sure it's the real deal i.e. fermented and not a fake vinegar substitute).  This is the antibacterial aspect of the cleanse.  Leave to dry before doing the next step.

Lastly drizzle some olive or coconut oil over your board, not too much, and massage all over the board with your hands (moisturising your hands as well).  Leave to sit for a couple of hours or over night before using.  This allows the oils to penetrate the wood.

When done your dried out dull board will look renewed and refreshed.

clean wooden chopping board with water and eco cloth

tools of the trade: natural vinegar and olive oil

after vinegar application leave to dry

after olive oil application leave to soak in overnight

  

Leading Brand Claiming To Be Pure & Natural

Using the words 'pure & natural' on their Body Lotion, joining the 'pure, natural, organic' wagon because they know this is what more and more consumers are looking for.

How natural is it really?

The ingredients:
aqua, glycerin, alcohol denatured, cetearyl alcohol (3rd & 4th on the ingredients listing which means there's a lot of alcohol - though yes technically alcohol is natural), isopropyl palmitate, glyceryl stearate citrate, octyldodecanol, argania spinosa kernel oil, glyceryl glucoside, sodium carbomer, methylisothiazolinone, phenoxyethanol, linalool, limonene, citronellol, benzyl alcohol, butylphenyl methylpropional, alpha-isomethyl ionone, geraniol, parfum.

Can you read all that? It's hard to know what's in the product with all those technical names and there are a number of ingredients in there that I personally choose to AVOID.

So let's investigate.

1. isopropyl palmitate = it's a type of stearic palmitic acid with alcohol
2. glyceryl stearate citrate = is a citric acid
3. octyldodecanol = a long chain fatty alcohol
4. argania spinosa kernel oil = argan oil
5. sodium carbomer = sodium salt of carbomer
6. methylisothiazolinone = preservative [hazard rating 5 out of 10 - irritation]
7. phenoxyethanol = prservative
8. linalool = is a terpene (a large group of volatile unsaturated hydrocarbons found in the essential oils of plants, especially conifers and citrus trees) [hazard rating 6 out of 10 - irritation]
9. limonene = limonene is a scent ingredient and solvent naturally occurring in the rind of citrus fruit
10. citronellol = a natural occurring scent derived from plants
11. benzyl alcohol = a naturally occurring and synthetic ingredient used as solvent and preservative; has been associated with contact allergy.
12. butylphenyl methylpropional (also called lilial) = is a synthetic scent ingredient; associated with allergies and contact dermatitis [hazard rating 7 out of 10]
13. alpha-isomethyl ionone = a group of naturally occurring and synthetically produced scent chemicals
14. geraniol = a naturally occurring scent oil found in plants [hazard rating 7 out of 10]
15. parfum = fragrance [high hazard rating]

The product is 'pure & natural' because it contains NO parabens, silicones, colorants or mineral oils. It's a good start.  The brand is owned by a European country and in Europe many of the chemicals we use are banned there.

As to whether they test on animals, for all appearances they do not, however, they do state: "we cannot guarantee that ingredients we purchase have not been tested for or by someone else."

Regarding selling their products in China which requires testing they state: "The answer to this problem is to convince the Chinese authorities that animal testing for cosmetic products is unnecessary. AND: According to our (website) statement concerning animal testing we do not or make anyone else do animal tests for us and we are the great promoter of alternative test methods wherever possible."

Compare the above product to JOLI's
Light Moisturiser face & body lotion:

The Ingredients:
aqua, almond oil, chamomile,citrus seed extract,cypress,emulsifying wax, natural preservative, pro vitamin B5, rosehip oil, vitamin E.

Can you read that? Yes! It's nice and simple isn't it. This is what I choose for my 'pure & natural' moisturiser.  What do you choose?