- Herbal Hair & Skin Care 1993
As a stay at home mother to 6 children, natural herbal treatments were our first priority for healing and health, not to say we never used Allopathic (standard) medicine, it was used sparingly.
We choose the natural modality of healing because:
• being herbal it is food based
• with knowledge it is self empowering
• it’s environmental impact is less and more easily absorbed into nature from whence it came
Two occurrences forever changed and revealed who I am. The first incidence happened when a dear cosmetologist/construction worker friend met with an untimely demise shortly before our rural upstate NY community was sited for a regional landfill and incinerator.
Our friend would join us for dinner every few months to tame the unruly heads of our clan members, his skills kept us from being ragamuffins, as you can imagine, even if hair care cost a mere $5.00 a head, multiplied that is a significant investment for a young family; but Howard was more than keeper of the hair, he was laughter and family. What would we do with out his scissors, his smile?
Awaking one early morn at sunrise to deliver the morning news, our oldest son and I learned from the headlines, that our community was sited to become a “Host” for a regional landfill and incinerator. This situation brought our community together and it also catapulted me into a life of activism.
These two significant influences combined in my heart and psyche; “knowing” there were alternatives for beauty, I attended cosmetology school and after hours studied the natural methods for hair and skin care which included, but not limited to, herbs and foods used topically and internally.
After obtaining my license in cosmetology, my husband and I turned the side porch into a salon where I used and sold all natural products. The thought was that having a large family it would be ideal to have the salon at home; what I learned was rationally it seemed like a good match, realistically it was not.
Four years after opening shop I closed Herbal Hair & Skin Care, and took directorship of the multinational youth environmental organization, Kids Against Pollution (KAP) which did allow for an integrated family and work life. Together my children, their friends, and kids from all over traveled the country to youth environmental meetings, conferences, and summits; we explored and learned about local environmental issues, giving voice to the stakeholders of the future at the decision making table. We were the youngest official delegates to the World Summit on Sustainable Development Johannesburg South Africa, 2002.
Numerous and varied environmental Boards and Working Groups occupied my time and passion to create a habitable sustainable world for our children.
Now that the nest is empty I have found myself in the for profit sector with my passion intact for healing the future. I have learned there are multitudes in the for profit sector with this same passion and that there is a need for activism behind counters everywhere.
Returning to my roots of natural cosmetology after decades of collaborating with so many amazing individuals and organizations, I want to share what I have learned and experienced with others as part of our collective journey co-creating the future, with each purchase choice we make.
The Mission of Non -Toxic Beauty Blog is to Inform about the realities of main stream personal care products
Update on legislation pertaining to health and beauty products
Empower readers to make healthy purchasing choices for themselves, their families, and friends known and unknown, human or other.