Wood Combs Are Better, or, Ditch the Plastic and Beat the Static!

I have a confession to make.

Since working for Terressentials, I have at my disposal many beautiful and amazing and truly fabuloso body care products (my all time favorite still remains the Flower Therapy Replenishing Cream) and all of the eye-catching and exquisite fair trade, fair made array of gifts and wearable art found at our downtown Frederick store.

My confession is.... that although our Hair Wash is truly wonderful, when I use it I have incredible static, still after using it for years now.

I have been washing my hair with our body wash and following with an apple cider vinegar rinse. I don't have a problem with static using the body wash. And my hair looks and smells great! That is my confession....the static problem with our hair wash still after so many years.

After getting home from a recent trip to Texas to visit my dear sister, I realized that I had left my comb at her house! It was this big, plastic, nylon, lime green thing that I've had as long as I can remember. There have been many times, looking at it, that I would wish I would lose it! But it stuck around. Always easy to find in the bathroom drawer.

Now there I am with wet long hair and no comb! I tried “brushing” out my wet hair but felt the constant tug from the bristles of the brush must be hard on my hair not to mention very annoying to me!

While at work one day, I remembered the beautiful hand made wooden combs crafted from local sustainably harvested cherry wood in Pennsylvania (my home state). Cherry wood is a hard wood that is strong enough to untangle stubborn knots.

Like a lot of things in life, I never really paid attention to the combs in the store, thinking....how can a wooden comb possibly get through my hair? And, like a lot of times in my life, I was wrong. It goes though my hair just fine! And it's beautiful too! I don't know about you but I feel better using handmade and of the earth real things.

So... I have the comb, it works, I love it and hope to never lose it. The question is, will using a wooden comb really help with my static problem? The answer.....A resounding YES! I was skeptical, I admit, but I used our hair wash and for the first time ever, I had no static all day long!

Like drinking water from a beautiful glass makes it taste better, using products that are of and from the earth make life much better. It's about the connection. Terressentials strives to bring that connection of earth and beauty to you, you just have to choose it.

I know combs aren't a very exciting purchase but it's something we use everyday so why not have a beautiful one. Come see what Terressentials has to offer!

The Weight Of Evidence

We have included this photo so that you can see the volume of "organic" personal care product misrepresentation evidence that Diana Kaye, co-president of Terressentials, has collected for more than twenty years! The volume of the documentation even surprised us when we had to load it on the scale!

The Weight Of The Evidence: Here's a close-up view of the scale's readout from the photo above—that's right, nearly 250 pounds of fake organic personal care products evidence!


URGENT! Please take time right now to read this important information regarding an upcoming, long-anticipated event—a joint Federal Trade Commission and USDA Roundtable investigation (in October) surrounding the issue of personal care fraud and a request for YOUR opinion— your golden opportunity to speak out against organic fraud in the personal care marketplace. You now have a chance to help correct some of the wrongs that have been done against you, your family and friends and our organic community in the name of billions in profits taken from you by unethical outlaw companies—the organic cheaters.

One simply has to walk down the personal care aisles of just about any store—or look at any one of thousands of websites—and randomly pick up any “natural” or “organic” personal care product and you will see many synthetic chemical ingredients. Unfortunately for you, it is well-known in the personal care industry that there is no legal definition of the word "natural." Armed with this knowledge, predatory manufacturers and greedy, unethical retailers peddle their chemical products using the words "natural" and "organic" because they have found that there are no repercussions for them, rather, if they cheat you, they realize huge monetary rewards.

Most people have no idea that the government has, strangely, refused to cite, indict or fine manufacturers or retailers for misrepresenting chemical ingredients and largely synthetic chemical personal care products as "organic." It is especially bizarre that, even with much notable identification of such organic labeling fraud and: 

• USDA federal regulations defining the word "organic" and the legal and illegal use of the word organic on product labels and in marketing/promotional materials 

• FDA policy statement that requires personal care product companies "must comply with USDA regulations for the organic claim" if they refer to or imply that their products are organic via product labeling

• Lanham Act—under FTC purview—a federal law designed to protect consumers and businesses from false advertising and unfair c ompetition

...that neither the USDA, the FDA or the FTC have not engaged in any serious effort to protect consumers from widespread phony organic personal care product labeling claims since the National Organic Program law was passed in 2002.  Until now. 

We have some promising news. On Thursday, October 20 in Washington DC, the FTC and the USDA will be co-hosting a Roundtable discussion, open to the public, to examine YOUR perceptions of “organic” labeling of non-certified personal care products. It has been announced that the panel will consist of industry representatives, consumer advocates, and academics. Diana Kaye, the co-founder of Terressentials (celebrating a 25 year anniversary!), is a long-time organic labeling watchdog. She has compiled thousands of pages of evidence (see photo at top of page) documenting this “organic” labeling fraud—product labels, ads, marketing materials, catalogs, even actual product samples. (All secured in an off-site location, of course.) Diana is now looking to share this disturbing evidence with you, the media, and government agents. We want this organic fraud to end, don't you?

Terressentials is the industry leader and pioneer of truly organic body care and Diana needs to be seated at the Roundtable! The Roundtable panelists are invited by the FTC and the USDA. Wouldn't it make sense for these agencies to invite Diana? Write them here and tell them so! Make sure that Diana, the most prominent advocate for our National Organic Program and upholding USDA organic certification—the internationally-recognized Gold Standard—for personal care products, is seated at the Roundtable to advocate for you and to encourage the enforcement of organic and consumer fraud regulations. 

For more information about the Roundtable, including contact information and location, see the FTC site. We know you're busy, so we're providing you with an example of a sample comment (included here, below!) that you can use as is or modify and submit to the FTC comments page and the Director of the Federal Trade Commission, Ms. Jeanne Bumpus.  Sample letter:

Dear Ms. Bumpus,

Thank you so much for authorizing the new Roundtable to Examine Consumer Perceptions of “Organic” Claims for Non-Agricultural Products, Specifically Personal Care Products! 

This controversial issue of mislabeling conventional and synthetic chemical personal care products as organic has raged for far too long. This travesty is an insult to health- and environmental- and organic-minded people, and disrespectful of and an egregious violation of our National Organic Program regulations! This abuse of the word organic is also grossly unfair to organic farmers and is dramatically unfair competition to legitimately certified organic American personal care product companies. Also, we must address and stop the flooding of our American marketplace with foreign-made and synthetic personal care products that make bold organic claims and that do not adhere to our strict USDA National Organic Program regulations! This fake organic product invasion harms American consumers and businesses and our local economy.

I am also writing to urge you be sure that Diana Kaye, co-president of Terressentials, a USDA certified organic personal care products business, has a seat at the Roundtable. She is the expert on consumer perceptions of the word organic in the personal care marketplace and has worked tirelessly to collect evidence of organic misrepresentation of personal care products over twenty-five years of doing business. Ms. Kaye has been very active in monitoring the application of the National Organic Program rules across the personal care marketplace, and in educating the public about the NOP labeling rules. She is a devoted consumer advocate for true organic labeling and I trust her to be my voice at the Roundtable discussion.  Please include Diana Kaye on the Roundtable panel!


I would greatly appreciate having you stop this widespread misrepresentation of the legally-defined word "organic" as soon as possible please. I look forward to the day in the near future when I can purchase honest, authentic USDA certified organic personal care products and know that the word on personal care products does indeed hold the same, true meaning as other genuine USDA certified organic goods.

Thank you for asking for my opinion and for considering my request and for taking action on this very serious issue!

Sincerely,

_____________________________________
(your name)
 


*****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****     *****


Dear Terressentials smart friends and good customers, 

We'd like for you to know that our small organic team is also working to get this news out via petitions, and articles via blogs, newsletters, web site postings, etc., and we would greatly appreciate you joining us in helping to spread/share the word about this historic Roundtable event. Please do share this article everywhere that you can! 

Also, if you haven't already done so, please do be sure to sign up to receive our Terressentials Organic Newsletter (link here on this page) and stay tuned for more markteplace and Terressentials news, special offers and event updates—and never any spam! 

Please know, too, that our small organic team greatly appreciates all that YOU do—thanks!

The Terressentials team

Delightful Hot Beverage Accessories

When you enjoy your morning (or afternoon, or evening, or wee-hours) cuppa, are you also enjoying fine craftsmanship? Toxin-free materials? Bright colors, like delicious orange Mandarin, verdant Ivy, or pure Purple? If not, then you should come view our line of coffee and tea accessories.

Our line of coffee and tea pots, mugs, and accessories is one of the most admired and appreciated products in our Frederick store. There are mugs with built-in tea strainers and lids that double to hold the strainers. There are small, teapot-shaped spoon rests. There are large, rounded pots, and smaller, single-serve pots in several varieties, like the Stump teapot with the hinged lid or the Tea-for-One teapot with the stacking pot and mug. There is also the Teabag Teapot, with a clever shelf for the bag when the tea is done brewing. And, for those who find the best way to brew coffee is the French Press method, there is the Cafe-Style Coffee and Tea Press, in clear glass or several bright colors of ceramic.

There are three qualities of our products that you will appreciate from the first use. One, of course, is the beautiful and elegant design. Embodying the Japanese quality of shibui, these teapots, brewers, and mugs have no inessential line, no extraneous, useless features, nothing to distract you from the simple, perfect shape and balanced form – a form emphasized by the bright, unusual colors. Two, the use of plastics is minimized, keeping the hot water from being contaminated by unnecessary and unwanted chemicals, so you can drink in the assurance that you are consuming nothing but what you want to feed your body with. Three, the careful craftsmanship makes each piece a treasure, to be used for years.

These coffee and tea accessories make fine gifts, for others or for yourself.  Stop by our Patrick Street store soon to choose your favorite.