So in my quest to find a different way of living I decided to look into organic products, I'm already an allotment owner and so can provide seasonal vegetables (and hopefully fruit soon) but what else could I do organically...

I've been having skin problems lately and it was suggested that I use water based foundation (to stop clogging up the pores), when I searched the web, mostly organic sites came up for this type of foundation. This got me thinking about not only what you put into your system but also what you put on it. Its something I've been interested in for a while but didn't realise how important it is, so I did a bit of digging around.

Channel four recently aired a programme 'How toxic are you? It featured an array of people using products and their chemical count pitted against 'organic' products. Parabens were something that came up frequently as they are often put into cosmetics and were a big 'no'; they are a chemicals which used to be thought safe in the UK and around the world. Japanese research suggested that some forms of parabens actually made the skin structure deteriorate and age significantly. They've also been linked to breast cancer in women, so not so safe after all! So now I need to find alternatives to my usual array of cosmetics, deodorant, toothpaste and hair styling products.

A fantastic site I'm recently stumbled across is the Organic salon and their range of products rivals the best out there. They also include a nifty Ingredients Glossary which tells you exactly whats in the list of ingrediants on the back of your moisturiser etc. The only problem is that there is just too much choice, my credit card is going to take a bashing...I'll have to look into ethical trading next.