The journalist and Clover's Natural Market

So my advisor was interviewed by a senior journalism major a short while ago about bisphenol-A (BPA) and the work he does/we do in the lab. I guess he suggested she contact me to find out what we do as a family to avoid BPA in our lives.  So she did.  Last week she was over to photograph me and Wayne making dinner and to record our conversation/me talking about BPA and other harmful chemicals I try to avoid (parabens, sodium laureth sulfate, phthalates, this list really could go on). Sunday she came with us grocery shopping. Yesterday I took a trip to Clover's. The reason I originally wanted to go to Clover's was to find a baby/toddler lotion without parabens and phthalates in it.  I mentioned this to Wayne a few weeks ago, but my experience yesterday solidified the fact that I really needed to go.

Riddick has horribly dry skin.  As in it cracks if left unattended. He also gets eczema on ocassion. I have been trying to make a habit of slathering lotion on him every morning, but with two kids and everything that needs done in the morning, this doesn't always happen, and when we get home, we make dinner, do some chores, and crash on the bed, asleep before we get there. When I do remember, I have been using a Huggies brand baby lotion on him.  Yesterday, I put the lotion all over him and put his clothes on.  Five minutes later he had HIVES. I had never actually seen hives on a person until yesterday. Red blotchy spots with raised bumps in the middle. I threw him in the tub and rinsed him off, and they mostly went away. The lotion went in the trash.

After I dropped off the kids at the sitter's I met the journalist at Clover's. I have never stepped foot in Clover's. Until yesterday. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they have.  You could really do all your grocery shopping there if you wanted to get all-natural products. Also if you wanted to go broke you should shop there, because there are some pretty pricey items.  But you get what you pay for. Anyway, the journalist started recording and taking pictures of me trying to sort through the selection of skin care products for kids. Really this takes a lot of time, because some products still have ingredients that I know are harmful even though they are in an all-natural store. It just so happened that a friend of mine who also has a baby and a thesis was there, so I asked her what she uses on her baby's skin. She uses sesame oil. What?!?! Sesame oil? How simple! Basically she told me anything you can put in your body can go on your body.  Soon after that a saleswoman noticed me and helped me find the section of the store that had oils to use on skin. They have a lot. And they are expensive. Like, $1 an ounce or more, depending on the oil. 

I decided to go ahead and put a small bottle of sesame oil in my cart and look around the store just to see what they had. They really have a lot of neat stuff. And you can get organic produce there for about the same price as the pesticide-and-herbicide laden produce at a regular grocery store. (Why does the organic stuff cost more at the regular grocery store?) Milk from hormone-free cows that have eaten pesticide and herbicide free grass bottled in half gallon glass containers: $2.99. Ouch. I think I'll have to stick with plastic gallon jugs for now (I'll probably post at some other time about my plastic-induced depression). Cereal, pasta, coffee, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, granola, vegan stuff, potato chips, bread, jelly, salsa, diapers, wipes, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent...they really do have pretty much everything you could want.  For a lot more. So as I was looking around and examining ingredients on various products, I ended up talking myself out of buying the small bottle of sesame oil. I did, however, purchase a bottle of shampoo that is supposed to take care of dry, itchy, flaky scalp which I now have thanks to postpartum hormones and hard water (I will post a review of the shampoo in about a week).

After I finished at Clover's, I decided to swing by Schnucks to get some sesame oil.  I really don't want to pay more than $1 an ounce for oil. Sesame oil at Schnucks was less expensive than Clover's, but apparently sesame oil is fairly expensive compared to olive oil, which, incidentally, is the base for many all-natural baby lotions. I bought olive oil. If it didn't work, I could at least cook with it and I wasn't out a whole lot of money.

So I put olive oil on Riddick this morning. It was a little messy, but with practice I shouldn't get it all over the place. It seemed to work right away, it soaked into his skin well, it didn't stink, and I didn't have to use a lot of it. He didn't have an allergic reaction to it, it doesn't have any harmful chemicals in it, and it is less expensive than baby lotions. I think we'll try this for a week and then I will post again on how well (or not well) it works.

The journalist is coming back this week to formally interview us. More on that later.