Greetings friends and loved ones – I hope your July is unspooling in a series of golden green days full of sunshine, good food and better memories.

As promised, here is Part 1.2 of my cruelty-free personal care rundown. If you missed Part 1.1, you might want to backtrack to catch up on the whys and wherefores.

First, obligatory photograph – this time of the little baby visitor I have sleeping in the welter of untrimmed shrubbery in my backyard. I’m not mad. ❤

Whilst several personal care items were relatively easy to swap for cruelty-free brands, some are still a work in progress. Top on the list:

Deodorant – Tom’s of Maine lavender is what I’ve been using. Look, it does the job, the price point is good, it glides on and doesn’t leave white marks. The problem is that after years of using deodorant and becoming accustomed to my underarms smelling strongly of tropical orchid or some other intense fragrance, to suddenly find myself smelling NOT perfumey is jarring. I don’t smell bad – it works – but I can smell myself more often, if that makes sense, and I’m not used to that. I don’t want to be sitting in a meeting and smell my own personhood – I want to smell tropical orchid. So this has been a work in progress. I also have a stick of Schmidt’s Ylang-Ylang and Calendula waiting to be tried as I’ve read good things about it although it’s more expensive.

Toothpaste – See above. After years of becoming accustomed to overpowering mint pastes and mouthwashes, the product I went with first has taken some getting used to. Desert Essence Tea Tree & Neem doesn’t taste sweet – in fact I found the flavor kind of gross until I got used to it. And it doesn’t leave my breath super minty either. But I have found that the product works much better relative to plaque and tartar than any drugstore brand – my teeth feel cleaner and smoother after every use. I also plan on trying other flavors of this and maybe also a Tom’s of Maine to compare and contrast.

My next update, Part 2 in the series, will address some of the cleaning products and processes I’m trying out for July. Stay well friends – xo.