A few years ago, a dentist told me I’d need dentures by the time I was 50 – that’s how bad my teeth and gums were. Granted, they didn’t look bad – my teeth are strong, straight and pearly white – but my gums were already declining. I was brushing twice a day, but I wasn’t flossing and I was eating plenty of sweets.

After two root canals (and I’m only 30!), I take much better care. I still don’t floss as often as I should, but at least it’s more than I used to. I’d like to save my teeth, and save money too. Here are my natural dental care tips:

First and foremost, use a tongue cleaner. I know, it sounds icky, but the slimy stuff on your tongue when you wake up is plaque. It’s ickier to leave it on.
You have to floss. There’s no way around it. Do anything to make it fun! My husband and I have made a pact to remind each other to floss every morning. Do we always remember? No, but it’s a start!
Use ayurvedic toothpaste for the best blend of warming, astringent and detoxifying herbs. These herbs will promote gum circulation, tightening and cleansing.
Sprinkle baking soda on your toothpaste for extra cleansing and whitening.
Brush a few times a week with a paste made of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Rub this on your gums too.
Rinse with green tea for a natural fluoride wash.
If you get a toothache after all that, clove oil works wonders. Apply directly to the painful tooth with a Q-tip so you don’t get the burning oil on your gums. A paste of ginger and cayenne powder also works.
Check out Pristine Planet’s dental care page for a variety of natural products for teeth and gums.

May as well green up the routine, too! Use a Preserve toothbrush made from recycled plastic.

I often grumble about all the work and time it takes to care for my teeth, but I suppose it’s better to have teeth to take care of in the first place! Let us know your own dental care tips in the comments below.

Image: ninette_luz

When top textile vendors branch out into the green, it plants a fertile seed for the entire industry. That’s why I’m applauding Brentano – one of the best sources for designers – for now offering a wide range of responsible fabrics (such as the stunning weaves above).

Among the new selections are 100% recycled polyester bark’s cloth, Eco Wool and faux leathers. The line, including soft woven bamboo, gives us wider options for upholstering sofas and chairs (no more waiting six months for that Brentano mohair velvet from Italy!).

Textile designer Iris Wang and her husband E-Kwan Chen co-founded Brentano over 18 years ago. Their fabrics have been featured in stylish, big bones homes as well as many large installations, including the American Embassy in London, Microsoft in Seattle and most recently, the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

“As we grow, we continue to invest time and energy in developing our company’s green mindfulness,” says the founders. Brentano believes that green awareness is not just a concept or a product, but a lifestyle, and encourages sustainability in the workplace.

Each of the new eco fabrics sold to the trade comes with a “green story” describing the content (e.g. recycled polyester fiber from post consumer polyesters, such as plastic bottles headed for the landfills).

All of these green stories have a happy ending, one that validates the importance of milling gorgeous textiles that are no longer treated with toxic chemicals and harmful dyes.

Look into the future of custom housing: steel frames and insulated panels delivered to your lot for quick, on-site assembly. That’s what’s being done at Eco Steel, a firm of architectural visionaries that connects with other forward-thinking industry partners to deliver these dwellings to homeowners and businesses. Instead of fully finished prefab, the building systems gives you an excellent shell to be finished by your own green contractor.

EcoSalon has been singing the praises of modular prefab dwellings, not just because they often contain recycled content but because they are energy efficient, space saving and low maintenance. These ones designed by Eco Steel tout thermal efficiency and LEED rating benefits.

A fine example of their custom projects is the Goshawk Ranch in Park City, Utah, where Eco Steel is based. This fabulous structure features solar powered radiant heat, low voltage lighting, electric generating windmills, robust grey water irrigation and an outdoor amphitheater.

The company also used eco-friendly steel to construct these Scandinavian-style three-story residential lofts in the coastal Delaware town of Rohoboth Beach. They are engineered for extreme wind loads, and come in 4-bedroom options for multi-family use. Weathering all kinds of climate (and climate change) is a goal of the architects. They also cut down on the time and cost of building a conventional custom house.

“Our building system is a hybrid that offers faster construction and higher quality than traditional means yet is less expensive and more flexible than full prefab techniques,” says Eco Steel.

Your job is to find the land and the right contractor to complete the task.

There’s nothing warmer than a Tuscan farmhouse patina on cottage or even apartment walls, something faux finishers have long tried to reproduce.

But conventional methods of sponging on toxic decorative paints will soon reside in the history books along with the old Medici clan of Florence. Earthy plaster is the way to go greener for adding texture and rich color to interior surfaces. A great choice for this approach are the products produced at American Clay.

The New Mexico company’s natural earth plasters use natural clays, recycled and reclaimed aggregates, and stunning natural pigments in all three of their finishes: Lomaâ„¢, Porcelinaâ„¢ and Marittimoâ„¢. Unlike some stuccos and harsh paints, these plasters are non-dusting, mold and face resistant, repairable and moisture controlling.

In addition to the standard line, you can special order Natural Depths, a line of seven rich colors that will also reproduce the feel of Old World marble, suede and terrazzo. The company’s packaging is recyclable, as well.

Among American Clay’s biggest fans is the eco-plaster company, Get Green, Get Plastered owned by Bay Area painter Dana Cummings. He says over the past few years he has switched to greener products on the market and that’s when he found American Clay. “There is so much warmth and a certain quality about having Earth on your walls – it really does connect you to nature,” he says. I love the name of this company, which features a green martini glass icon on the logo. Yeah, let’s get green and plastered, Dana!

Cummings also uses green glazes and eco paints like Yolo Colorhouse and Green Planet Paints to help accentuate the beauty of his plastered walls.

If you’re interested in trying to learn how to apply plaster on your own, check out the American Clay hands-on workshops at the company’s site. You can also read about Carlie’s eco-take on American Clay – and clay walls – by clicking here.

Last week I wrote about Anti-Body’s line of natural bath and body products. Since then I’ve had the liberty of testing out the peppermint lip balm known to rival Burt’s Bees and I must say that I’m hooked. It’s not as pungent as Burt’s and leaves lips feeling silky and soft, rather than sticky and tingly.

Anti-Body wants you to see for yourself, and so, right in time for the holidays, they are offering EcoSalon readers 10% off a total online order. This special coupon will be available through December 31 when you enter the “EcoSalon” code upon checkout. These products make great gifts, so buy away. Thanks, Anti-Body!

It’s about this time of year that all the fashion magazines start parading resort collections in our faces. As the temperatures drop and the cold, blustery winds set in, editors tempt us with straw bags, sandals, linen, and barely there bikinis. For those of us lucky enough to be able to afford a tropical eco-getaway in the midst of winter, there is Ann Veronica.

Having just debuted her spring 2009 tote collection, this designer has prints available that can double as both playful resort ware and durable carryall for next season. All of Ann Veronica’s bags are hand-printed and hand-sewn using heavyweight, all-natural, and biodegradable canvas. Try the Butternut Kashmir Cape Elizabeth Commuter to lug your leftover summer reading to the beach or perhaps the Hibiscus Ferry Bag if you’re in a particularly girly mood, and soak up the sun for all of us stuck here in the grey.

Image: thanker212

An overgrown city is a healthy city. Plants regulate temperatures, scrub the air, provide a haven for urban wildlife and lift our mood sky-high. But all too often, parks and tree-lined boulevards have been regarded as cosmetic frills worked around the basic necessities of concrete, glass and metal – something to add if there’s any money left in your budget. It’s shutters in the front and bare metal in the back.

Back to the drawing board. A study of urban mortality undertaken by two Scottish universities has discovered a link between good health and green spaces – more specifically, reduced health inequalities. All city populations experience different levels of wellness according to social factors such as income, lifestyle, diet and access to medical facilities. The researchers found that in the 366,000 cases studied, close proximity to green spaces reduced this inequality and reduced the likelihood of people suffered from a number of medical disorders, particularly heart disease and strokes.

Why is this the case? Firstly, greenery cleans the air for us and evens out the temperature, making cities not only more pleasant but more healthful. But this may be the lesser part of the answer. Since mind and body are intertwined, it’s clear that a reduction in stress levels can have a profound physiological effect. Recent studies suggest that if your stress levels are high, your body is more likely to age quicker and heal slower. As well as encouraging people to go for a walk in them, green spaces may significantly improve health simply by allowing people to breathe out. 

In the literal sense, our cities need to be greened up. Our health depends upon it. In an increasingly urban world, this has become a critical issue – and if city planners and municipalities don’t rise to the challenge, they may have a rebellion on their hands.

Image: sky shutter

With winter starting to bite, there’s nothing quite like the savory heat of a chili-seasoned dish or drink to chase the cold away. But let’s not be silly about it.

Like other members of the pepper family, chilis are delicious, with a subtle, bittersweet taste. But that’s not what they’re famous for – because it’s all about fire. The substance that set the roof of your mouth alight is capsaicin – and it fools your nervous system into thinking you’re in pain, raising your heart rate and releasing a flood of endorphins. That’s the attraction of spicy-hot food: pain without damage. It’s a highly addictive experience. The only problem for thrill-seeking chili chompers is that our bodies adapt marvelously – and taste buds quickly learn to take the heat. So – you guessed it – a hotter type of chili is called for, with the goal of enduring the world’s fiercest chili always on the horizon. It’s a game, an obsession, a rite of passage…and evidently, a killer.

Except in moderation. Red chilli peppers are packed with Vitamin C and carotene, and all peppers are rich in vitamin B. And that “bad” capsaicin has been associated with all sorts of health benefits from the relief of arthritic pain to combatting ulcers.

Although it’s a vegetable, a chilli pepper is so chemically powerful that we treat it as a spice – and like all spices, there’s a point where you’ve just put too much in a recipe for your own good. (My preference: perspiring is fine, tears are a no-no and writhing agony is simply more appropriate for tax time). A cup of Aztec hot chocolate on a bitterly cold day should leave you glowing, not burning – and ready to enjoy your next cup just as much as this one.

Image: benny yap

What’s the difference between hand soap and body soap?

My opinion is that there shouldn’t be any. I respect the skin of my hands just as much as that anywhere else on my body (after all, finger-tips are in charge of one of our five senses). But conventional wisdom seems to be that liquid hand soap should be harsher, more aggressive. That doesn’t sound very wise to me.

In Sarah’s words, what we need is a soap that feeds the skin – natural, sustainable, effective but gentle. (Feeding, yes – intoxicating, no). So we’re talking about Castile Soap, produced purely from vegetable oils. Dr. Bronner’s range is a market leader in the States, with a tagline that confirms everything I think about good soap – “All-One”. Reviews? Glowing (here’s Adam’s, over at Life Goggles).

In the U.K., we’re big on two brands of eco-friendly liquid soap – Ecosoapia and Ecover. I’ve no hands-on experience with the former (which enjoyed a lot of media attention in the first half of 2007) but I’m a fan of Ecover, which leaves my hands feeling and smelling like they’re freshly laundered.

Don’t take my word – test them yourself! A stockist of both Ecosoapia and Dr. Bronner’s is EcoHip – for example, the peppermint Ecosoapia variety costs around $12, and 16 oz. of Dr. Bronner’s Pure Almond Castile Liquid Soap is around $13 (note: this soap is better value than it looks, since it’s thick enough to water down and still remain useful).

Image: B.G. – Oodwin

For the last 7 months, we’ve been amazed at the creativity behind sustainable furniture design. From retro to cutting-edge, using everything from natural wood to biodegrading synthetic materials and with an abundance of imagination, style, quirk, wit and flair, eco-friendly furniture design is proving anything but predictable.

Here’s a selection of some of the furniture that’s caught our eye. We’ve profiled hundreds, so enjoy this first roundup in our new series! Just look at these 34 beautiful designs:

Cool and Contemporary

The Knoop table.

The bamboo Stomach Chair and the Knit Chair.

The Histogram Chair and the Misprint Magazine Rack. (Note: we’re still waiting to find out if the Histogram is sustainably manufactured – and we hope so, because we love the design).

The Signature 2.0 Console.

The Jolyon Yates ODE chair and the Recycoool inner tube chair.

The aluminium Frog Table and the Earth Keiro Table..

The Gingko Light Bamboo Table.

Images: Greener Grass Design / Kalon Studios / Lool82.
The reDO Chair, Kalon’s Nesting Stools and the Lool82 Milk Crate Table.

Warm and Earthy

We’re definite fans of Hudson Furniture’s range of tables – and Luanne, Kim, Tina and I have our favorites.

The Entwined Wood Bookcase and the Tree Slice Table.

A Meyer Wells table.

The Cocopa Wine Cabinet and the Aspen Chair.

Images: Eclexion / greentea design / VivaTerra.
The Lotus Table, the Green Tea Table and the Golden Section Table.

The Recycled Bowling Alley Table!

Timber Block Stools, the Oak Barrel Table and Chalkboard & Reclaimed Barn Wood Bins.

The Quadrato Tray and the Bedworks Laptop Platform.

The Inlaid Antique Teak Bench.

Jali Tables and the Basket Top Coffee Table.