Lulu Organics Holiday Gift Guide

Dear friends!

We have decided to put together a collection of gifts we covet this holiday season. If you're looking to support small business—look no further. These items are lovingly crafted by our dearest friends, our favorite small businesses and the artisans who inspire us everyday:

Lulu Organics Holiday Gift Guide!

Happy holidays!
xoxoxo
Lulu Organics

African Birth Collective

A Sénégalese mom after her birth.

Kara after a birth.

Lulu Organics is donating 100 bars of our new Lavender & Oatmeal soap to the African Birth Collective in Sénégal, West Africa and sponsoring our oldest and dearest friend birthing doula and midwife-in-training Kara Engelbrecht. She is looking to raise money & supplies for this amazing cause, please take a moment and see if you can help.

***

A letter from Kara:

As many of you know, a year ago hung up my doula shoes and started apprenticing with Nancy Myrick and Ami Burnham from Rites of Passage Midwifery. It took years for me to come to this place, always teetering on the edge. With the support of Jon and Michelle, as well as all the families I had worked with over the previous six years, midwifery came calling, oddly at Rainbow Grocery one night, and I took up the task. So now I am enrolled with the National College of Midwifery and apprenticing full time.

As I immerse myself in midwifery I realize that though I knew it would be vast, I did not know how deep in my belly I would have to go. Everyday I get more excited to learn and at every birth I see something in a way I didn't see it before. So to add dimension to my education I will be traveling to Senegal with the African Birth Collective in November. Here I will be working in a birth center along side two other apprentices, a preceptor, one sage femme and three matrones.

I am preparing for this in many ways. Julia, my travel partner, and I have marathon study sessions, trying to get all the classes done that will support us in Africa. I expect to be at fourteen births between now and November. At each birth I vow to try one more new thing. I am also relying heavily on my friends with good veins for some IV experience. I plan on taking not one, but two, neonatal resuscitation classes before I leave.

Not only is there a lot to learn before I go, there is a lot to collect. We will be stocking the clinic with medical supplies as well as mama/baby packs to send home with every mother. This means that I am collecting newborn sized onesies, socks, hats and blankets for the babies, tooth paste, tooth brushes and pens for mamas. If you have any extra of any of these, please drop them at my home. I am also accepting money! This will cost about $4000 all together, including transportation, tuition, medications, and supplies. Anything beyond that will go into the clinic itself. The last group was able to have the bathroom and floors tiled as well as screens made for the windows in the postpartum room. I would love to be able to leave knowing that we were able to make a lasting difference. My Paypal account is under my email address, kara@serpentine.com and my home address is 2543 Bryant, 94110.

This feels like a very significant time for me. I know how important community is. Now I feel like I am connecting with midwifery around the world.

Thanks everyone for everything.
Warmly, Kara
African Birth Collective

Healthy Feelings

So I'm back and totally inspired... as usual! I'm also feeling a tad guilty as I always do when I realize that busy-ness has allowed my health to suffer. At the conference all these wonderful and insightful people stood before me and reminded me that sitting for long periods of time in front of the computer is not a natural human function [it's not?!]. Well, I'm blessed to be reminded that I'm an animal that needs whole foods, sunlight, clean water, movement and happiness. I took a plethora of classes and the ones that really resonated with me were the ones taught by herbalist David Winston. He focused on Auto Immune/Chronic Disorders and Adaptagens—two areas of focus that are so timely in our hour of failing health due to our 'better-living-through-chemistry' mentality and our sedentary lifestyles. He was so insightful, my pen could barely keep up. I highly recommend any of his written books and/or his required reading list.

Proactive health is best! Simple living is key. You're the smartest practitioner in your world as you are the only one that can listen to your bodies' needs and wants. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Spring Fling

Okay guys and girls, I'm going to try my darndest to post on here more often. It's my spring equinox resolution. Today I'm headed down to Lake Lanier Islands, Georgia for the annual Clayton College of Natural Health Conference to study with the likes of Matthew Wood and Phyllis D. Light (sadly, no Rosemary this year). I'm excited to be in the company of such great herbalists and to learn a thing or two. Upon my return I think it's time to gear up health-wise, maybe do a little juice cleanse and be more regimented about some exercise. Now that the weather is a little warmer I can't think of anything save for feeling good and being outside. Maybe I'll go raw again? I've posted a picture to inspire you for the warm seasons. What could be more romantic? I'll also be sure to post all the things I've learned at my conference as inside health is outside health.

Let's Talk Talc

I love powders! Who doesn't? They're so versatile and practical they are a household must. I've used some form of powder in my hair since I was about 19... it's a simple idea but it works wonders and I love it. So when brainstorming what I felt was a worthwhile first product here at Lulu Organics, hair powder immediately came to mind. The endless fragrance options, the practicality, the lovely packaging—it was a no-brainer.

When chatting to friends and family about my idea I was surprised to find none of them thought too much of the concept of an 'organic' powder. I personally have mulled over the long standing concerns about talc and it's association with various cancers for some time. And powders, traditionally, are sprinkled and puffed onto very sensitive areas so how could you not think about it?

With any toxicity research that can put a hitch-in-the-get-along of a major corporation the consensus is, not surprisingly, 'on the fence'. But when 'on the fence' is regarding studies that have analyzed links between talc and pulmonary issues, lung, skin and ovarian cancers I might simply opt to not take the talc option. Especially when so many safe alternatives exist.

Below are some links to information and studies on talc, please enjoy.
Ovarian Cancer Talc Study
Pulmonary Toxicity Talc Study
Cancer Prevention Coalition
OBGYN Forum on Talc

Welcome!

Welcome to the LULU ORGANICS beauty blog! I don't know about you but we love to sidelong the ingredient label on our beauty products and it's not uncommon for us to ask 'What the heck is that?!' Check here from time to time to read our rants.