Plastic Free July Coupon Code

We are participating in Plastic Free July again. The goal is to refuse all forms of single use plastic. It is not too late to join if you haven't signed up already. If you can't participate for the whole month, just try for a week or two. You can shop Aquarian Bath for lots of plastic free hair and body products with the coupon code 'plasticfreejuly' for 15% off through July 24th.

Echo Moth Caterpillar Sighting

My daughters and I saw this beautiful Echo Moth caterpillar after swimming lessons last week in Daytona Beach. The girls moved him from the hot patio outside the pool onto the ground. Tessa picked an oval leaf for the caterpillar, and he went to work on it right away. You can see the nibble marks in these photos that Moira took. Hope you like them.  

Four New Organic Cotton Flaxseed Pillows and Pillow Giveaway

We had a rush on our Organic cotton Flaxseed neck pillows for Mother's Day. Some of our fabrics sold out, so we have added four new types and will be adding one or two more soon. The first two are sheep (top) and penguin (below) Organic cotton flannels. These are single layer pillows. I usually don't go for cartoon animals, but I found these irresistible. I thought the sheep would be fun for people who like to take their pillows to bed or who have trouble sleeping. We are partial to penguins, they being the Linux operating system mascot, so this fabric was a must have also.

The two pillows below are also new, they are part of our pillow line which has removable washable Organic cotton covers. 

The floral print is also available with pink instead of turquoise flowers.

US residents, 18 and up, you can enter to win a Lavender-Rose scented sheep pillow with the rafflecopter form below. Raffle ends May 31, 2016

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Zerowaste Gardening Tip for Salvaging Bitter Lettuce

If you have planted your lettuce to close together, if the lettuce has dried out a lot during the growing season, or if the weather is hot, you could easily end up with dreadfully bitter lettuce. It may look beautiful and lush like mine in the above photo, but it tastes just terrible. I couldn't stand the thought of composting the lettuce, so I went searching for a recipe. Even better than a recipe for bitter lettuce, I received a tip from @tryplasticfree on twitter.  They suggested that I cut up the lettuce and soak it in cold water for 10 minutes. Luckily, I forgot and left the lettuce in the water for around 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the lettuce tasted much better, but a day or two later I tried with for only 10 minutes and it was still really very bitter. 

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any lettuce growing tips or lettuce recipes.

Three Easy Methods to Kill Leaf Miners with Neem Oil and Soap

The most consistent pests we have in our garden are leaf miners, the larvae of moths that lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. Every few weeks, we treat the plants with neem oil in a couple different ways to eliminate leaf miners. You can choose the way that is most convenient to you. The first method is to put some castile soap shreds into a spray bottle and add neem oil to make a thick bi-layer. Then shake up the solution and spray. The neem spray method is also a good way to deter Tomato Horn Worms. The second method is to put one of our neem-olive oil soaps in a soap saver bag and gently wash the leaves with the soap saver.

The third way is to put a layer of neem oil in a jar with castile soap and water and us a paint brush to apply the solution. Stir up the neem well so that the soap disperses the neem bilayer into the solution. This is a good method for kids who want to help out in the garden, because it trains them to look carefully at the plants and conserves the neem solution. It takes a few days of regular treatment to eliminate the leaf miners. You know you can stop when the infested area turns brown and dries to a crisp. The plants below were treated by my kids with the paint brush method.

Leaf miner infested Tomato leaf before and after Neem- Soap treatment.

Leaf miner in Holy Basil leaf before treatment and after treatment.

Neem oil is one of the components of our Gardner's Gift Set. Be sure to check it out here. 

Jeff Bridges Explains Plastic is Downcycled and Not Recycled

When did we become a plastic planet...

Three New Vegan Friendly Formulas

We have recently modified three of our long time formulas to make them vegan. We have thoroughly tested the new formulas and feel they are equal to or better than the previously recipes. First, our Sesame Aloe shampoo bar (above). This shampoo is specially formulated for those with very dry, flaky or sensitive scalp. The lather is a bit milder than our other shampoo bars, but it is still big compared to a body soap an other "shampoo bars" we have tried from other companies. It gets the job done with no SLS or synthetic ingredients. 

Next we have had requests to increase the Frankincense concentration in our Frankincense and Myrrh Solid Perfume recipe. This solid perfume now has a higher ratio of Frankincense to Myrrh, and also includes Candelilla Wax instead of Beeswax.

Lastly, we shortened the tongue twisting Lavender Tea Tree Eucalyptus Lip balm to "Tea Tree Eucalpytus Lip Balm." There is still Lavender in this recipe together with menthol to sooth and cool blistered and sore lips. We have replaced the beeswax from the former recipe with Candelila wax and Castor oil, which helps the lips retain moisture. Our lip balm line is now 100% vegan friendly.

Florida Wildflower and Garden Festival April 2nd in DeLand

The Florida Wildlfower and Garden Fest is happening 

April 2, 2016 9:00am-3:00pm Rain or Shine

West Indiana Ave., Downtown DeLand 

We are not vending, but we will be there to enjoy the lectures and plants. 

Check out the full schedule here.

Coupon For a Free Lavender Patchouli Hemp Oil Soap - New Hard Water Friendly Formula

We reformulated our Lavender Patchouli Hemp Shampoo Bars so that they work better for people with hard water (tested at 21 grains/gallon). The formula is very similar to our Aloe shampoo bars. You can use it as a shampoo or as a body bar unless you have dry skin. It is scented with Lavender and Patchouli essential oils and colored naturally with Rhassoul clay. You can use the coupon code "NaturalHair" for a free Lavender Patchouli shampoo bar with orders $35 and up at Aquarian Bath or in our Etsy store, through April 30th or until we run out. One per customer please. 

This Simple Infographic Explains the Difference Between Organic and Non-Organic Cotton

Some Flaxseed pillows makers are advertising their pillows as 100% Organic when only the herbs but not the pillow fabric is Organic. Cotton is actually the dirtiest crop in terms of pesticide use, so if the pillow fabric is not Organic, the whole pillow is definitely not Organic. If you really want an Organic pillow, you don't want the part of the pillow exposed to your skin to have carcinogens or hormone disrupting chemicals.

It has taken us a long time to create an extensive Flaxseed neck pillow line made from all Organic cotton or pesticide free hemp. Thanks to the soil association for this helpful infographic that explains why Organic cotton is so different from non-Organic cotton. To keep the price down on our pillows we started reselling some of the Organic cotton fabrics in our Etsy and Ebay stores, so check them out if you sew; we have flannels, poplins, bark cloth and corduroy.

Coupon for a Free Vegan Salt Soap from Aquarian Bath

Use the coupon code "Saltme" through March 15th for a free vegan salt soap on orders $35 and up at Aquarian Bath or in our Etsy store. These are unscented salt soaps, naturally colored with Indigo. They are great for normal to oily or problem skin types. This is a very good option for blemished skin types. We also have scented salt soaps! Check out all of our salt soap varieties here. Like all of our products, these soaps have no synthetic ingredients and no palm oil.

Question for Our Regular Shampoo Bar Customers: What is Your Hair Type?

If you are a regular shampoo bar customer, we would love to know what hair type you have (e.g. curly, straight, dyed, dreadlocks, etc.). This will give new customers an idea about how our bars will work their unique hair type and help us improve our offerings. This poll takes just a few seconds. You are welcome to leave a comment down below with your favorite bar and hair type also. Thank you! Poll

How to Plant Seed Papers

We recently started including seed paper promos with our North American Aquarian Bath online orders. There have been some questions about what seed paper is, how to grow them, and if the seeds are non-GMO. Seed papers are paper that has had live seeds embedded into them during the paper making process. Plant the seed paper in a sunny area under a thin layer of soil. Keep the seed paper moist to allow the seeds to sprout. It is easiest to put the seed paper out before a rainstorm is coming, because seeds love rain water. We have tiny basil plants coming up in one of our raised beds from one of these seed paper squares. 

We tested seed papers from multiple companies, and are using the ones that we liked the best. The seeds are about 80% viable and non-GMO. Seeds start loosing their viability after a year, so it is best to plant seed paper within a year. The wildflower mix (blue) is a mix of of Clarkia, Daisy, Black Eyed Susan, Bird’s Eye, Alyssum, Catchfly and Snapdragon. Other papers that we have are Carrot, Dill, Roma tomato, Basil, and Parsley. We just ran out of butter crunch lettuce. I have also started including a seed paper tag on our Gardener's Gift Set.

The inspiration behind our new seed paper promos.  This Dill plant was grown from seed paper I planted last fall.  Thanks Kraut Source.

Good luck with your seed papers!

Sea Side Herb Society Annual Fair March 12, 2016

The Seaside Herb Society Faire will be held again next month in Ormond Beach.  I apologize to those on my subscriber list who got a notice about last year's faire last night. I am not sure why that happened. Please note that this blog post has the correct date for 2016, which is March 12.

Seaside Herb Society 
21st Annual Faire

Come and celebrate everything herbs!  

There will be speakers, herb plants, baked goods, soaps, and more!

Saturday, March 12, 2016 - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bailey Riverbridge Meeting House

1 North Beach Street, Ormond Beach, FL

Can Shampoo Bars Really Make Your Hair Grow Thicker and Faster?

I have naturally thick hair that I keep long so I can properly test shampoo bars. One of my daughters has my thick hair, but my other daughter has her dad's thin and fine hair.

Sometimes new customers want to know if Aquarian Bath shampoo bars can help hair grow thicker, stronger and faster.  We want to know too, but we are biased. We tend to think that if your hair starts growing better after switching to our shampoo bars, it has more to do with what isn't in our shampoo bars (no SLS, no surfactants, no parabens, no chemical preservatives, no synthetic fragrance) than what is in them. Our way of thinking is that soaps and shampoo aren't really meant to be curative, since they are wash-off products. However if you have been using shampoos with ingredients that have been irritating your scalp and clogging your pores, then you may have been experiencing reduced hair growth. So if you stop using them and switch to shampoo bars, it is possible you may experience improved normal hair growth.

This blog post was inspired by a remarkable story from a customer who wrote the following last week: 

I switched to Organic last year and ordered a set of your soap, deodorant, lip gloss and shampoo. The shampoo from you has caused me to have more hair growth all over my head! My boyfriend kept saying I was cutting my hair, because I had all these short pieces everywhere. No, it's new growth at 40 yrs old! its all over my head! I have been using it twice a week since April last year (Sesame Aloe Lavender shampoo) and I will never use anything else ~ S.J. of Indiana 1/23/16

I checked the ingredients of the $73 specialty dandruff shampoo that S.J. was using previously. There were about 50 ingredients, including a few surfactants, so it is hard to say if one or the other ingredients may have been irritating. I also have to wonder if switching your diet to a 100% Organic can improve hair growth also; it was not clear if that was the case also.

Etsy product feedback Photo credit: Alica Monroe

If you experienced improved hair growth after using our shampoo bars, we would love to know what you were using before, either the product or the ingredients. Please feel welcome to post a comment or send us an email through our contact form on Aquarian Bath. Thank you in advance. We love getting feedback. It helps us make better formulas and make more informed recommendations to customers.

Also, if you are interested in improving hair growth, you might also like our product review for this high frequency device.

Free Jasmine Rose Soap Coupon

Valentine's Day is coming and our seasonal Jasmine Rose soaps are in stock. We have them for sale in heart shapes and rounds.

We also have Jasmine Rose Soaps stamped with "love." When you use the coupon code "soaplove" with your next order $35 or more we will include one of the "love" bars with your order from Aquarian Bath. This offer ends February 14th or until we run out. 

Happy New Year! Free Rosemary Soap Coupon

Happy New Year from Aquarian Bath. Hope you have a great 2016 and many fond memories from 2015. Rosemary is for remembrance, so remember to use the coupon code "twentysixteen" for a free Rosemary soap with your order over $35 on AquarianBath.com or AquarianBath.etsy.com.This offer is valid through January 15, 2016 or while supplies last.