Help Bird and Insect Populations with your Yard or Garden

Florida Native Wildflower Monarda punctata (spotted Horsemint)

According to scientists who published in the journal Science this month the number of birds in the United States and Canada has declined by 3 billion over the past 50 years. That is nearly 30 percent of bird populations, and not just rare or endangered bird species but also common birds. Birds particularly impacted are those which feed on insects.  This downward trend runs parallel to a downward global trend in insect populations. A few of the suggested causes for the insect decline include habitat destruction caused by urbanisation, pesticides, climate change, and artificial lighting.

 There are two easy ways that you can help make a difference in healthy insect and bird populations. First, eliminate pesticides from your yard, and second grow a garden. Any size garden is helpful, even potted patio plants. Native plants for the yard are low maintenance and act as host plants for insects and pollinators. Another good place to start is with an Organic soil mix and seeds of native wildflowers. Look for native wildflowers and plants at your local farmer's markets.

Florida Wildflower Tropical Sage,  photo by Carl E Lewis (CC BY 2.0)

Aquarian Bath is doing our part to improve habitat for birds and insects! We were recently featured in the Daytona Beach News Journal for creating a certified wildlife habitat though the National Wildlife Federation and the Florida Wildlife Federation.

Clip of News Journal Article "Local business makes a difference to protect wildlife" Sept 2019

Plastic Free July Sale

Are you ready for a challenge? What plastic items can you give up during the month of July? Straws, cups, plastic shopping bags, something else? We would like to help anyone trying the plastic free July challenge by offering a discount on our products, because we have so many plastic-free bath and body items. Learn more about Plastic Free July and sign up for the challenge by visiting http://www.plasticfreejuly.org.

Aquarian Bath coupons

• At AquarianBath.com take 15% off your order with the coupon code PFJ2019 valid now through July 22, 2019
• At Aquarian Bath on Etsy take 10% off orders $20 and up with the coupon code PLASTICFREEJULY2019 valid July 1 - July 22
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Limited Edition Silver Fir Shampoo bar

Zero Waste Soap Saver Set with shampoo bar of your choice

Healing Arts Festival at Hot House Yoga:Sunday, April 28th

Join Aquarian Bath at the Hot House Yoga studio on Sunday, April 28 from 4 - 7 PM. 

We will be bringing hot/cold therapy neck pillows, eye pillows, soaps, shampoo bars, shea butter, lip balms, deodorant, tooth powders, and solid perfumes. Hope to see you there! You can RSVP at the Facebook event page.

Daytona Beach Earth Day Fest: Monday, April 22 at Cinematique

Earth Day is Monday April 22nd! Please join Aquarian Bath at this community event with demonstrations, vendors, open mic and free beverages. See you there from 3 - 9 PM. Aquarian Bath will be bringing our most popular ecofriendly items for sale. Brought to you by Permaculture Daytona! BYOC (bring your own cup)! Go green- Carpool, bike, walk, or bus!

You can RSVP at the Facebook event page. 

Go Drastic on Plastic Event at the Ormond Beach Library April 28th

Go Drastic on Plastic Event at the Ormond Beach Library 

Sunday April 28th  1:30 pm - 4:30 pm.

Educational film and guess speakers.

Raffle prize with plastic-free products by Aquarian Bath.

Lavender Jojoba Hair Serum now available in Plastic free refill bottles and new scent.

Aquarian Bath's leave in hair serum is now available in a refill bottle with a metal lid. I also just added a new scent which is currently only available in the refill bottles: Patchouli Mint with Patchouli, Spearmint, and Peppermint essential oils. I have a similar blend that I was using for my hair that is constantly getting comment while I'm in the locker room or as I'm leaving the YMCA. I tried to recreate it as best I could!

Plastic Free July 2017 Bath Set Giveaway Contest

Have you signed up for the Plastic Free July challenge yet? It's all about refusing single use plastic. You can make it simple by refusing straws, plastic cups, and plastic bags. You can make it more challenging by refusing all single use plastic. Sign up for one day, or one week, or the rest of the month. It is okay if you didn't sign up at the very beginning of July. Aquarian Bath would like to make it easier for you to go plastic-free not only in July, but also year round. Therefore we are offering a coupon code this month and also sponsoring this giveaway, for one winner. You can use the coupon code "PFJ2017" at AquarianBath.com for 10% off through the end of the month. 

This plastic free bath set by Aquarian Bath includes the following items: 

Black Licorice Tooth Powder (paste alternative)

Lemon Vanilla Shampoo Bar  (vegan, palm oil free, works well with most hard water)

Lavender Rose Geranium Soap (vegan, palm oil free)

Coconut Lip Balm (vegan)

Tea Tree Deodorant Balm sample (vegan)

Zero Waste Soap Saver (Organic cotton and hemp)

The more you promote Plastic Free July by tweeting or blogging, the more entries you can earn to win this price. Enter to win this plastic free bath set using the rafflecopter widget embedded below. This giveaway is open to those 18 and up; see widget for additional terms. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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.

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

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. 

Flourless Carrot Cake Recipe: Made WIth Juiced Carrot Pulp

Do you like juicing carrots? Have you ever wondered if there was something you could do with the leftover carrot pulp to keep it zero waste? I have a good solution for you, a tasty flourless carrot cake. Our carrot shampoo bars are made with freshly juiced Organic carrots. I end up with a lot of carrot pulp from making our Carrot Shampoo bars and freeze the pulp for baking with later.

Flourless Carrot Cake by Aquarian Bath

2 cups cooked garbonzo beans

3 cups carrot pulp

5 eggs (try "flax egg" to make it vegan)

1 T molasses

3/4 c sugar

1/4 cup Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil

2/3 t pink salt

2 t Organic ginger powder

4 t Organic cinnamon powder

2 t baking soda

1 t Organic Stevia powder (green)

First mix the garbanzo beans in a food processor with olive oil until smooth.  Mix together with carrot pulp, eggs, sugar and molasses followed by the additional ingredients.  Bake in an oiled pan at 350 degrees F until the top becomes firm.  Test the inside of the cake with a tooth pick  or knife before pulling out of the oven. 

You can find Organic spice ingredients for this recipe at Mountain Rose Herbs. 

Carrot Shampoo bar with Lemon, Bay Rum and Cedarwood essential oils.

Tom Renick Park Plastic Free July Beach Clean Up Photos

Thank you from Aquarian Bath to everyone who came out to our Plastic Free July, Two Hands 30 minutes beach clean  up at Tom Renick Park yesterday.  We were almost rained out, and the skies were very dark but we just had a light splattering of rain for about 10 minutes and then it cleared up nicely.  I heard from at least 10 people who said they didn't join, because the weather looked threatening, so we are thinking to host another event like this before the end of the month, either in Ormond Beach or Daytona Beach. Please post and leave a comment if you would like to join with time and place suggestions.  The week of July 20 has been suggested so far.  I will post back with a comment if we come up with a time and place. 

Looking really dark before the event. Photo by Scott Johnson

Two of the Burley guys picking up along the beach.  There was so much fireworks waste!  I didn't realize that so any of theme were made with plastic components. Photo by Marianne Burley 

We brought re-usable gloves instead of disposables.

The results from our pick up!  Some of it was beer bottles and beer cans. What I picked up the most of was was bits of plastic wrappers, bottles, cigarette butts, and fireworks.

Moira using the long arm trash picker above the dunes. 

Starting the raffle!  Five winners received various plastic free prize packs, some of which included shampoo bars, deodorant, lotion bars, lip balms,  bamboo tooth brushes, and tooth powder.  As I told the group, the clear bags we used to package the items are made from Cellophane which is an easily compostable and biodegradable wood product. Maybe someday they will be made from hemp!  The cellophane bags come from a specialty supplier in Oregon called PakSel.  I accidentally stated SKS here, which is a bottle supplier.  Photo by Brooks "The Wooden Bee" Busby.

Plastic Free July Beach Clean Up at Tom Renick Park July 6th

Aquarian Bath will run a “Two Hands” clean up at Tom Renick Park, A1A Ormond by the Sea, Ormond Beach, Florida 32176 on Monday July 6, 2015 at 5:30 P.M. for Plastic Free July 2015. To join the clean up, arrive at Tom Renick Park by 5:30 PM. All you need are some gardening gloves. Get a raffle ticket when you start at 5:30. After the beach clean up we will have a look at what we found, take a photo, talk about what the Plastic Free July event is all about, and plastic alternatives. The raffle drawing will be at 6:30 for one $50 prize and five $10 prizes from AquarianBath.com. Participants can get an extra raffle ticket by bringing a bag of trash they picked up from the roadside on the way to this beach event. You can RSVP to the facebook event page if you like.

Plastic Free July is aimed at raising awareness of the amount of single-use plastic in our everyday lives. You would be amazed how much tiny plastic material can be found along the edge of the beach, and it is not healthy for birds and ocean health.

A “Two Hands” clean up takes the spirit of huge national and international clean up days and brings it back to the individual. The concept is using your two hands for thirty minutes to clean up your world.

Around 20,000 people across the world have completed a two hands clean up which initiated in Fremantle, Western Australia.

To join the Plastic Free July challenge visit www.plasticfreejuly.org.

New Bamboo Tooth Brushes

Aquarian Bath is now offering Bamboo Tooth brushes.  When you purchase a bamboo toothbrush you are reducing plastic consumption and making an environmentally conscious choice for your household. This toothbrush has a biodegradable handle made from 100% bamboo. The soft bristles are verified BPA-Free Soft Nylon (recyclable, not biodegradable). The company that makes the tooth brushes, Brush with Bamboo, is working on a plastic-free bristle option for it's next generation of tooth brushes. The bamboo toothbrush comes in a biodegradable box made from paper. The inside wrapper is made from plants and is compostable in city and commercial facilities. These bamboo toothbrushes can be used for just as long as plastic toothbrushes. Pick up one, or a set of four with your next Aquarian Bath order. 

New Organic Flannel Flaxseed Pillows

We have some really special new pillows in stock. These are Organic cotton flannel fabrics which are GOTS certified and made by Cloud 9. Theses are the softest most cozy pillows I have ever made. We have them in blue and white polka dot, pink and white polka dot and white with pink birds.  Hope you like them. 

Uses for Myrrh Resin in Body Care

Myrrh is a dried resin from Commiphora trees. Myrrh trees are native to arid and semi arid areas of North East Africa and the Arabian peninsula. The exotic resin was famously mentioned in the Bible as a gift from the Magi together with Frankincense and gold. The name Myrrha comes from Greek mythology. Myrrha, the daughter of Cinyrus was transformed into the tree and her tears, the resin droplets. The resin is used medicinally as well as in perfumery, and incense. Egyptians used it for embalming.

Myrrh resin photo by Sjschen

Frankincense and Myrrh are also commonly paired together in Chinese Traditional Medicine most often for trauma due to sports injury with bruising. The Chinese name for Myrrh is “Mo Yao.” Myrrh has opiate properties for pain relief. Also, it is beneficial for circulation and useful in reducing swelling. Myrrh resin is decocted in water for at least an hour at a dosage of 3-12 grams for adults in Chinese Herbal formulas. The herb is for short term internal use.  I used it recently both internally and externally to help with my recovery from a sprained elbow with severe swelling and bruising.  5:1 Myrrh extract powder is also used in lower doses in Chinese medicine. This type of extract powder is made from dried tincture of Myrrh resin. The Myrrh dosages used in Chinese medicine described above are not appropriate for people who are taking blood thinners or who are pregnant. 

For pain from toothache or mouth sores myrrh can be applied externally. For example, 1 ml of Myrrh tincture can be added to 4 oz of water to make a mouth wash. Good quality myrrh tincture is made with very high proof alcohol in order to extract the resin.  

Myrrh essential oil is beneficial for reducing inflammation, as an expectorant, for slow healing wounds, and even for improving digestion. Myrrh oil is considered one of the safest essential oils, because it has been in use for thousands of years.

In conclusion Myrrh resin has a long history of use for many purposes including pain relief, wound healing, perfuming and improving circulation. It can be used both internally or externally, but high therapeutic doses are for short term use only, and should be avoided for those on blood thinners or who are pregnant.

How to Dye Hair Red Naturally with Henna Powder

Dying hair with henna is easy to do. I will explain the steps to dye your hair with henna in this blog post. We like using henna as a hair dye because it conditioning to the hair. Regular chemical hair dyes damage the hair cuticle. Henna is also is very compatible with our shampoo bars and diluted vinegar rinses. As hair dye, henna works best on lighter colored hair. Aquarian Bath is now offering powdered red Henna for hair dying, which is what I used to dye Tessa's hair (above).

How to Dye Hair with Henna

Preliminary precautions: Some people are allergic to henna. If you have never used henna before, then it is best to do a patch test on your skin. Make a patch test on the inside of your wrist with a little bit of henna mixed with water. Wait 24 hours to see if your skin has a reaction. If there is no reaction then you can begin the process below for dying your hair.  

Hair Prep: For best results, start out with clean dry hair that has been brushed and divided into smaller sections with clips. It is a messy job, so try to get help from a friend if you can. Wear your old work clothes, or black to avoid staining good fabrics.

8 oz of red henna powder now available at Aquarian Bath

Ingredients: The first step is to put your henna powder in a bowl with the juice of one half of a lemon and 1 tablespoon of oil such as Extra Virgin olive oil or grape seed oil. If you do not have lemon juice you could use vinegar instead. The lemon juice or vinegar helps the henna color stay in the hair for a long time. For short or thin hair you may only need a couple ounces of henna. For longer or thicker hair you will need more henna. Eight ounces works for my shoulder length thick hair. You can start out with a moderate amount of henna add more to the bowl if it looks like there is not enough. 

Form a Paste: Mix the henna, lemon juice and 1 T of oil with enough hot or boiling water to form a paste with the consistency of a creamy soup. At this point you need to decide if you have enough henna paste in your bowl to completely saturate your dry hair. If you think there may not be enough henna paste to completely cover your dry hair, then add more henna powder and water. Let the paste sit for around 30 minutes to allow the lemon juice to react with the henna powder.

Coat the hair evenly and wait: Next apply the henna paste to your hair completely covering each strand down to the roots. Avoid applying the paste to the forehead and around the ears and neck, because the henna paste will also stain the skin temporarily.  Leave the henna paste on your hair for 30 minutes to 2 hours. The longer you leave the paste on your hair the stronger the final hair color will be. You can freeze any leftover paste in a jar for future use.

 Rinse clean: Here is Tessa's hair after approximately 30 minutes of dying.

Wash as usual: Here is her hair after a couple of washes.  You can see that the bright orange fades out to a more natural looking color.