Gaggle of Chicks Sale: 40% off DIGS Personal Care!
Natural and organic scrubs, soaps, butters, and creams -- on sale for a limited time!
Gaggle of Chicks special: Get 40% Off Personal Care Items by buying here! Act now! This deal expires midnight on Wednesday! Expires midnight on 7/13/11. While supplies last.
Independence Day Sale! 20% Off Everything!
Designer Spotlight: Moksa
Gainesville, Florida: Haskell and Melanie Martin, founders of Moksa, have created a clean revolution. "Our products allow us to do what we love and it allows us to work with progressive people and groups that help minimize society's impact on nature and eco-system. Our mission focuses on habitat preservation and conservation. Soap helps us accomplish that. That's what we call 'soapy love'."
No more bulk packaging, wasted materials, lists of ingredients a mile long that few people can pronounce, or ingredients and packaging that contribute to environmental hazards or questionable ethics. Their products will never include palm oils. Soap makers use palm oil because it's cheap and readily available. Commercial harvesting of palms for their oil is the leading cause of the ecosystem's loss of habitat and deforestation.
Melanie and Haskell have chosen ingredients with the least amount of environmental impact. Moksa's packaging is tree-free. They use post-consumer waste, recycled materials, and no virgin plastics. Moksa's ingredients are certified organic, fair-trade whenever possible, chemical-free, and support women's cooperatives, environmental advocacy groups, sustainable businesses, local businesses, non-profit environmental organizations, and they're certified carbon neutral!
Special Designer Offer: Receive 20% off Moksa's Athlete's Secret Body Butter and Kona Athlete's Body Bar. (For pampering even Dads love!) Code NL0614 at checkout!
Shea Radiance and The Benefits of Unrefined Shea Butter
Many of us can’t let go of our always-reliable-holy-grail skin care products, but unrefined Shea butter can do wonders for your body and health. Funlayo Alabi, founder of Shea Radiance, said, “Unrefined Shea butter contains a sizable quantityof medicinal properties or bio-actives.” From healing small wounds to eczema to even frost bites, unrefined Shea butter can now be part of your medicine cabinet. Heading to the beach this summer? Alabi says unrefined Shea butter also contains cinnamic acid which provides some level of UV protection.
The problem with the refined Shea butter products found at your convenience store is that they have very little cinnamic acid which lowers Shea butter’s medicinal properties. There can also be a lot of funky ingredients in refined Shea butter, so stick to pure and natural.
“Your skin is your largest organ and what goes on your skin is absorbed to some degree into your system,” Alabi said. “Natural products are more wholesome and tend to be more effective than synthetic products.”
Shea Radiance’s Shea is fair trade which helps African women make their own money. They are allowed to spend it however they want, whether on education or medical needs. “When women prosper, the entire family is impacted, especially the children,” Alabi said. The Shea trade also benefits whole communities, allowing more jobs – trucking, storing, packaging, etc – and reinvesting the money earned.
Designer Spotlight: Funlayo Alabi of Shea Radiance
Ipapo, Oyo State, Nigeria: Funlayo Alabi started Shea Radiance to work in cooperation with the Women Foundation for Shea Butter Making Skills (WOFSHEMS) to establish a Shea Butter production venture in Northern Nigeria. Their goal is to establish a viable business entity that will be a sustainable source of income and economic activity for the women in the community. By processing the shea nuts into shea butter within the local communities, the women producers are able to add value to the product prior to export. This allows them to make a significantly higher income from the sale of shea butter as opposed to shea nuts. They invest in building capacity for the local cooperatives by providing storage facilities, transportation and appropriate technology. This support allows them to produce high quality shea butter that meets the quality standards that our customers expect from us.
Special Designer Offer: Receive 20% off Funlayo's entire Shea Radiance collection! Use Code NL0208 at checkout!
This weeks giveaway is something for your Sweetie (or yourself)! Win our Sterling Silver Chrysanthemum Ring in Red just in time for Valentines Day! Email your name and mailing address to info@digs.com to enter (previous winners may not apply).