First Blog \ How green is your home?

Hi Melina here, the creator of Made it, today I start my blog!

On this I will focus in on some great products being created by Made it's incredible New Zealand Artists & Crafters, and give you the inside knowledge on how they are made, as well as share my thoughts on Art, Creativity & Life in general.

Currently I am focused on my impact on the environment and I'm waging war on plastic in my home and business life with varying success.

One area I'm doing well in is my bathroom. I have totally ditched the shampoo bottles, liquid soaps and plastic container deodorants -so unnecessary! And such easy plastics to rid yourself of for good.                                     

Shampoo bars are effective and easy to use -and smell divine. With my shampoo bar journey I began with a Be Natural one from our store, all natural ingredients including coconut and avocado oil and essential oils of lavender and chamomile -gorgeous! First I started by rubbing the bar in my hands and then transferring to my hair, but soon changed to using the bar directly -its a lot faster!                         

Another bonus is you can use all of it -no standing a bottle upside down trying to get that last drop. With a shampoo bar you can see exactly how much you have left!  I also believe they save you money. My bar has lasted me over a month so for $10 that seems a pretty good deal.  Why pay for water and plastic packaging I say.

Made it stocks a great range of earth & human friendly soaps, deodorants & shampoo bars, our deodorant is made by Ben & Jewel at No. 8 Essentials.

Their business was born out of a desire to create natural perfumes for the visiting tourists to NZ but turned into a whole lot more.....

Here's Ben talking about how he started experimenting with a natural deodorant;

"My wife Jewel is the lucky one, like most of Asian descent she very rarely needs to use deodorant. But me being a typical kiwi male - well that's a different story!

 I wanted to use something natural, but so many products didn't really cut it.I needed something that actually did the job. Fortunately while we were developing our natural solid perfume range we happened upon some ingredients that had some great effects on our skin and bodies.                                           

My scientifically inquiring mind had me delving through a ton of research papers, and trying a bunch of different ideas, after some experimenting we produced some test batches.

The effect was immediate -no BO to be detected! Even a strenuous walk and a stressful day were no match for our recipe. Now totally converted, we worked on getting the ideal formulation and strength, getting feedback from customers at markets, friends and family. We found a lot of people were keen to get away from Aluminium and go for something that works as well as being all natural.

Part of our journey found us coming across the cardboard tubes. Easy application, no plastic, compostable, what's not to love? We knew this was a great idea.

There's no single silver bullet to the problems humans created on our only available planet. The wastage, the pollution, the destruction. But nature is amazing at restoring itself to balance again, though this cannot happen when the causes still exist. Things need to change, and we are all responsible. Small steps every day will bring about the world we want to live in.

We love Wellington, we love watching the local Tui climb and dive around our house, we love popping into town for a coffee and dropping of our products to our local retailers, and we love bringing effective natural products to Wellingtonians.

So thanks Wellington and New Zealand for taking to our products -we'll continue to serve you and keep you smelling great! -Ben Foden of No.8 Essentials.

You'll find all of Ben and Jewel's deodorants at Made it as well as their great lip balms and perfumes too.

Here's to going green New Zealand!

Until next time, 

We made it, you love it.

Melina.