maiji: Some green Canadian stuff I've been using for a while
Since before the pandemic, my family's tried to make a lot of conscious decisions on the things we consume from an environmental perspective, and the pandemic made us more into it. With all the tariff yo-yoing happening recently as well, I've been having lots of conversations about Canadian goods, and of course there's a lot of overlap between buying local and making more environmentally-conscious decisions. Nothing below is a paid review; none of these links are referral links. All of this is personal experience from using these things for years and I want to share them because I would like to see them continue.Even if you're not in Canada, maybe some of these things will give you ideas for similar products to look up in your area.In this post: soaps, face cream, toothpaste tablets, cereals, cloth pads. Quite a few of these companies make more things than what I'm talking about here, so worth checking out their sites if you're interested.Dated Feb 8, 2025 for context since the world is an ever-changing place.🧼 Pure Soap WorksBased out of Woodbridge, Ontario. All kinds of soap for all kinds of things! Their packaging is super minimalistic - literally a bar of soap stamped with the name of the soap, and a small sticker on it for the barcode needed in retail systems processing. I also find it really charming to see all the different bars of soap labelled and stacked in the wood displays; it pleases the pixel-organizing gamer in me or something, haha. And it's fun to look at all the different kinds and the ingredients. In the stores here (like Healthy Planet) there are pretty much always deals for buying 2 or 3 at a time. My go-tos are:
Tea Tree Oil for facial cleansing
Shampoo and Conditioner for shampoo... I've tried pretty much all their shampoo bars I think, and I don't have a particular preference. I never really used conditioner even before switching to bars so it doesn't make a difference to me.
Veggie Carbolic for handsoap, but for some reason this one is harder to find (sold out or not all stores carry every variety), so I often substitute with Vegetable Glycerine.
I currently have a Pumice bar I still haven't used; I thought it might be handy for fountain pen ink stains, but haven't had the chance to try it yet. I also plan to get a Laundry Stain Remover bar at some point; I still have one I bought somewhere else a long time ago that I'm still working through.🦫 Green Beaver Face Cream - Moisturizer for Very Dry SkinBased out of Hawkesbury, Ontario. They make a lot of personal and household care and cleaning stuff so worth checking out their whole site if you're looking for alternatives. They're pretty easy to find in grocery stores in the city. Some of it is still in plastic packaging which in some cases is the main reason I go with other brands. This one's in a solid glass container with a plastic lid and it's recyclable. No fuss, I use it every day.I've tried their toothpaste which is also good. But today I use something else for that (see below).🪥 Nelson NaturalsBased out of Nelson, British Columbia. Zero-waste toothpaste! This solved two problems for me: plastic-free packaging, and just my general difficulties with tube packaging and getting to the bottom to use it all up and making a mess while trying. With toothpaste tablets these are no longer issues. I get the mint one! They apparently have soda pop flavoured ones too?? But I haven't seen those in stores around here.(I wanted to add - my adventures in toothpaste tablets actually started with ETEE's chewpaste, another Canadian-based brand that also has a lot of other zero-waste products. But I have to order them online and they hit some kind of supply-chain issue at one point, so I ended up finding and using Nelson Naturals. But perhaps another option for people looking for things!)🌾 Nature's PathBased out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Along with Green Beaver they're probably one of the most well-known brands on this list and fairly easy to find in major grocery stores these days. I've liked pretty much everything I've tried from them, but I mostly eat the cereal. My faves are (note: these links are showing prices for if you buy like a bulk pack of 12 at a time. I usually just buy as-needed from the grocery store):
Heritage Flakes: This one in a bag is usually the best value for me, and such a good crunch, I like putting jam or raisins or dried cranberries/other fruits on top.
Sunrise Crunchy Honey: There's a whole series of crunch cereals, like Maple and whatnot. They're all great. I think of them like tiny corn pops mixed with rice krispies and thick flakes. I loved Corn Pops as a kid and now they are way too sweet for me, amongst other things. These hit the spot with a lot more interesting texture.
Golden Turmeric: This one's very interesting and cool, it really does turn your milk/plant milk a pale gold! It's also harder to find, I can only seem to get it at Healthy Planet, so I don't have it very often. Special periodic golden cereal treat.
Turtle Splash: OK, I only got this once, but it was good and I wanted to adopt and name a baby sea turtle!! (I named it Miss Princess Turtle after the character in Now Recharging.)
I also wanted to try Amazon Flakes (their EnviroKids' cereals lineup are all animal-themed and promote conservation for the featured creature) - the box design is this incredibly vivid blue in person. But I didn't buy it the first time I saw it (on the Healthy Planet website) and I've never been able to find it since. Is it US-only?? No idea.🤗 Treehugger Cloth PadsBased out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Canadian-made reusable mentrual pads and PFAS tested period underwear. I like the bamboo ones. No joke, I have saved so much money with these, and they are way cuter and more comfortable than disposable pads. Obviously a common reaction in a disposable culture is "Whaaaat? Reuse these?? Isn't that unsanitary/grossly inconvenient??" which is very easily squashed because they have a great FAQ page and community with lots of resources to explain how easy and much more hygienic it is (not to mention environmentally friendly which is why we are here).The founding coupple actually appeared on Dragon's Den (you can learn about it and see the episode linked on their About Us page)! They were so cute and charming and convincing that the cynical hard-nosed dragon investors were basically like... oh my god, you guys are too cute, you don't need us, our monster venture capitalist world would ruin the good thing you have going. Don't work with us, keep doing what you're doing!! Also, once you switch to these, you can donate all your unused pads to organizations like The Period Purse (Toronto-based, but there are other orgs like this, so you can probably do a search and find one local to you!). Save money and the environment, help other people. Yay!I am still in the process of trying/experimenting with a laundry cleaning solution I am happy with; I was using Tru Earth Eco strips for a while but then learned that the carrier is plastic that then dissolves in your laundry which is... uh. Hopefully I will have more info/experience in the future I feel is worth sharing!
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