Say No to Q-tips®

Single Use Is the Enemy

 When it comes to going zero waste, single use anything is the enemy, and Q-Tips are a prime example of a product that's wasteful by nature! 

You can use multiple in one sitting, and you really can't use them again because that's not at all sanitary.

If you haven't seen the reality check of a photo that's been all over the internet recently here it is. Wildlife photographer Justin Hofman (@Justinhofman) posted it to Instagram this September:

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It's a photo that I wish didn't exist but now that it does I want everyone to see it. What started as an opportunity to photograph a cute little sea horse turned into one of frustration and sadness as the incoming tide brought with it countless pieces of trash and sewage. This sea horse drifts long with the trash day in and day out as it rides the currents that flow along the Indonesian archipelago. This photo serves as an allegory for the current and future state of our oceans. What sort of future are we creating? How can your actions shape our planet? . thanks to @eyosexpeditions for getting me there and to @nhm_wpy and @sea_legacy for getting this photo in front of as many eyes as possible. Go to @sea_legacy to see how you can make a difference. . #plastic #seahorse #wpy53 #wildlifephotography #conservation @nhm_wpy @noaadebris #switchthestick

27.6k Likes, 1,659 Comments - Justin Hofman (@justinhofman) on Instagram: "It's a photo that I wish didn't exist but now that it does I want everyone to see it. What started..."

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So you shouldn't use Q-tips because they are generally terrible.

But even if you're not motivated by conscience, why else should you move away from these little buggers?

Q-Tips are actually terrible at removing wax

Yup. Q-Tips over time push wax further into your ear, eventually blocking your hearing. This can lead to needing treatments where you actually need to get the wax vacumed out of your ear! Ya, that doesn't sound to pleasant to me either...

They can cause infection

The American Hearing Research Foundation recommends against using cotton tipped applicators (such as Q-tips), not only do you run the risk of breaking your ear drum and jamming wax deeper inside your ear, but they also also increase the risk of bacterial infection of the external canal, commonly called swimmer’s ear (Nussinovitch et al 2004).

Alternatives

NOTE: If you have something weird going on with your ears, like ear pain, abnormal discharge, tubes, or a potentially ruptured ear drum, stop reading blogs and talk yo your doctor, you may need medical attention.

1. HYDROGEN PEROXIDE

For a deeper clean, you really need to soften the wax in the canal and let it pour out itself.

Lie down on your side and squeeze a few drops of hydrogen peroxide into your sky-facing ear. Don’t let the fizzing and popping noises freak you out—that means it’s working. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes, then tilt your head into the sink or a bowl to drain the remaining solution and the wax it dislodged out of your ear.

2. OLIVE OIL.

 The American Hearing Research Foundation recommends adding two to three drops of olive oil into your ear, then letting it drain out, on a regular basis. They suggest doing this once per week in each ear to help soften ear wax so that it can work its way out. 

3. Ear-picks

Consider these Q-tips of the past, and potentially the future.  They have been recorded in medieval and Roman periods, the Viking-age and at 9th century Anglo-saxon sites. 

Ear picks do the job that Q-tips fail at, removing the wax from the outer ear. So don't stick this sucker all the way into your ear, that's how you pop ear drums. Simply use the small hooked end to remove wax from the area just before your ear canal. 

I would use this as a supplemental method to the ones listed above.

I got my metal ear pick from the Zero Market in Denver. You can find wood ear picks on Etsy, and metal ones like mine on Amazon. Be sure to clean using hydrogen peroxide in between uses!

Note: Many sources recommend not putting anything small into your ear, including ear picks. However this is generally because if you place them too far into your ear (into the inner canal) you run the risk of rupturing your ear drum and jamming wax deeper inside your ear. So only use ear picks to clean the outer portions of your ear, no deeper! As a guideline:  try placing your pinky finger gently into your ear (no shoving!), do not use the ear pick any further than your pinky finger can go!

4. GO TO THE DOCTOR.

If you're reading this post because things are so backed up in your ear that you're having trouble hearing or experiencing pain of any kind, you need to go to the doctor. Call your General Practitioner, or get a referral for an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor (ENT) who can give you a safe, heavy duty cleaning.

5. GO natural

If you are a die-hard Q-tip user and just are not willing to give them up, then I recommend buying 100% organic cotton Q-Tips. These are compostable and are less chemically laden than traditional Q-tips.

The Man Who Wasted Nothing

Me at 6 months, going off with Grandpy for a morning stroll. June, 1992.

This Thanksgiving I unfortunately had to say goodbye to my amazing grandfather.  

Needless to say, it wasn't the most lighthearted, or celebratory holiday for my family. 

My grandfather was an amazing man, he was an intelligent, patient, level headed, and an incredibly loving person. But if I try to write a post about what a superlative he was, it will go on forever. 

So, instead, I want to write about one aspect of him that I didn't really start to appreciate until recently: my grandfather's refusal to waste.

My grandfather, or Grandpy as he was known, was an engineering professor at UCONN for many years, and had an aptitude for numbers, logic, and practicality. He didn't waste time, or things. 

In many ways, Grandpy was an old school zero waster, he just used some different reasoning and justification for his practices. He and my grandmother were "depression babies," as she would say, they grew up in a time where you had very little, so you did not waste.

This philosophy was driven first by need, then by practicality as our country recovered and the two of them took a few steps up the economic ladder. 

Going through his old books I learned that he used to home-make wine. My grandmother also informed me that they kept all their used coffee tins and stacked them as a make-shift wine holder. 

They arranged for reclaimed wood to be used in the building of their house. The beautiful, exposed support beams came from an old barn in Maine, while the wood paneling in their living room came from an old tobacco farm.

He grew a variety of vegetables in his garden during the spring, summer, and autumn months to help feed the family.

He home-made speakers for all of his kids in his workshop, using wood, glass tubes, and canvas covering. 

He and my grandmother always saved wrapping materials like boxes and tissue papers to reuse for different gift giving events. 

Over the course of his life he would plant approximately 6,000 trees in and around his property, most of which are still standing today.

He utilized his clothing to it's full extent. One of my favorite examples of this came to light in the days before his passing.

The Fleece

We, his children and grandchildren, spent his final days siting at his bedside, often with photo albums laid across our laps.  It was during one of these reminiscing sessions that one of my uncles commented on the printed fleece that was draped over his bed.

"Isn't there a picture of Grandpy teaching Julia to walk in that?"  

Julia being the beautiful 22 year old woman standing alongside us. With a little digging through the albums, we indeed found a picture of 1 year old Julia, tightly gripping Grandpy in an effort to hold herself up, the printed fleece zipped up snugly around Grandpy. 

The fleece in question is an L.L. Bean creation. It's at least 22 years old, but we all suspect it's even older. It had been an item that caught my eye when I was in college, mostly because of how fashionable I thought it was. It has a very similar Peruvian style print to my own recently purchased Patagonia fleece. And looking at Grandpy's fleece, though it was very well used, you would never have know that it was probably made about the same time that I was. 

Julia learning to walk with Grandpy wearing his fleece.

Grandpy, though he cared deeply about our natural world, was not driven to use reclaimed wood, hold onto his clothing, or upcycle his coffee tins by a fear of plastic pollution or overuse of our environment, he was driven by pure practicality. He was the embodyment of the belief that one doesn't need to live in excess to have a wonderful life, filled to the brim with love and happiness. 

He treated everything, and everyone in his life with patience and love. 

That's one of the many lessons he taught me during our time together, and I feel it's a good way to move through life, whether you are striving for a zero waste lifestyle or not. 

I hope you are all having a happy holiday season, and that you are treating everyone and everything in your life with patience and love. 

Choosing Between doTERRA and Young Living Essential Oils

a little disclaimer:

When I first started looking into this, it felt like such a charged subject. I saw a lot of hateful things being said about both companies and their founders; much of it baseless speculation and assumption.

So if you're looking for a breakdown w/o any emotional charge, you're in the right place!

This is just how I made my own personal choice between these two companies. Both brands offer incredibly high quality oils, unlike those that you find at most health and grocery stores. I think they are both excellent choices if you are interested in making essential oils a regular part of your wellness routine!

Why does this decision feel so confusing?

My answer: lack of third party testing and certifications. 

As ethical consumers, we rely on third party testing to know that the companies we buy from are operating correctly. However, neither YL nor dT is Fair Trade Certified, FDA Certified Organic, or a B-Corporation. 

What this means is that we as consumers need to put a lot of trust into these companies that they are doing what they claim, which is not necessarily a position I like being in. 

My Breakdown:

I started to feel overwhelmed with all of the information, both negative and positive, I was hearing and reading about both brands. It's challenging to get objective data since both companies rely on their customers as sellers. I am really hoping that in years to come one (or both!) of them will apply to become B Corps. But until then, I'm going to have to rely on my own investigative abilities.

 So I took a page out of my grandfathers book and made a spreadsheet to break down the data that could be verified.

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	Young Living	doTerra
General
Price of Equivalent enrollment kits	- $160 (plus tax & shipping) : Premium Starter Kit: Diffuser, 55 mL oils ($2.90/mL)	- $150 (plus tax & shipping) : AromaTouch® Diffused Kit: Diffuser, 40 ml oils ($3.75/mL) - $275 (plus tax & shipping) : Home Essentials Kit: Diffuser, 140 mL oils ($1.96/mL) doTERRA has many more starter kit options than YL Note: I ended up paying $220 (plus tax & shipping) for doTERRA's Home Essentials Kit whcih comes to $1.57/mL
Product Testing	- Uses owned and third party labs for testing. - Self-regulated - Limited transparency, no release of GC-MS tests - Issues with adulterated oils	- Uses third party labs for Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) testing - Self regulated - CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® - Extrememly transparent - Worked directly with FDA to develop standards
Environement
Environmental Reporting:	- As of Aug 2017, working with SCS Global Services to advance and improve their Seed to Seal® promise	- Source to You ® - No third party reporting
Distillation Methods	- Steam distillation - Cold pressing (citrises) - Resin Tapping (Frankinsense, Myhrr, copaiba) - Solvent / Chemical Extraction (Jasime, neroli)	- Steam distillation - Cold pressing (citrises) Note: Frankinsense is harvested via resin tapping but distilled via low temp steam distillation
Habitats & Resources:
People:
Human/ Workers Rights:	- Little transparency of workers locations and conditions, some OSHA violations	- Co-Impact Souring, not 3rd party regulated - No OSHA violations
Supply Chain Management:	- Has a company code of eithics and claims to follow DSA Code of Ethics - Seed to Seal ® (recent violations are problematic for this) - Following a Lacey compliance program (b/c of previous violations)	- Co-Impact Sourcing - not third party regulated - No OSHA violations
Irresponsible Marketing:	- Seed to Seal not necessarily guaruntee (see legal actions) - Gary Young is not a Doctor though advertised he was at some point (not confirmed w/ reliable source)	None that I could find
Giving Back	D. Gary Young Foundation	Healing Hands Foundation
Politics:
Company Ethos	- Some illegal actions in sourcing (rosewood) - OSHA Violations (only a few incidences) - One worker death (accident, not related to bad working conditions)	- No OSHA Violations - No Criminal Activity - Co-Impact Sourcing (not 3rd party certified)
Legal Actions	- illegal harvesting and importing of Rosewood (voluntarily reported) - Violation of Lacey, Puruvian law, and CITES	- As of June 2017, All charges against doTERRA and its defendants by YL have been dismissed
Organic Product	- Stringint product testing, meets organic standards, though not as transparent	- CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® meets organic standards
Certified Fair Trade	No	No
Certified B-Corp	No	No

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my final choice

In the end / for now, I chose doTERRA. Here's why:

1. Recent Legal Actions
   • The fact that YL recently was found to have been illegally sourcing Rosewood was a really big deal to me. And it's hard for me to believe that this is a one time incident. If nothing else, it shows that there are cracks in their Seed to Seal promise.
   • doTERRA also recently won the lawsuit that YL had taken against it.  This shows me that doTERRA did not do anything illegal when their founders broke away from YL to start the company.  
2. Sourcing
   • This was a hard thing to judge simply because neither company is Fair Trade Certified. I'm really hoping doTERRA will have a third party certification soon. 
3. Third Party GC-MS testing and reporting
   • YL does not release their GC-MS tests, and there shouldn't be any reason not to. I read a piece written by a long time YL user who had her oils tested only to find that they were indeed adulterated with synthetics (read her post here).
   • DT does use third party testing and reporting when it comes to GC-MS testing, and this means you can rest assured that your oils have not been adulterated with any synthetics

Honestly, if I had made this decision even 6 months ago it might have been different. But the recent releases about Young Living nudged me in doTERRAs direction.

Sources

1. https://static.youngliving.com/en-US/PDFS/yl_stringent_unyielding_quality.pdf
2. https://www.doterra.com/US/en/cptg-testing-process
3. http://holisticessentials.ca/the-day-young-living-broke-my-heart/
4. https://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=15eeb032645db017198d0931b&id=97addd555b&e=1c4ef13115
5. https://www.youngliving.com/en_US/opportunity/products/starter-kits
6. https://www.doterra.com/US/en/pl/enrollment-kits
7. https://www.scsglobalservices.com/young-living-essential-oils-takes-sustainability-commitment-to-next-level
8. https://sourcetoyou.com/
9. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652604000654
10. https://www.doterra.com/US/en/brochures-magazines-living-winter-2013-2014-distilling-essential-oils
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z6Yp9AfufI
12. https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2016/05/25/doterra-reinvents-supply-chain-for-impact-on-poverty/#240927a85c43
13. https://www.doterra.com/US/en/difference-co-impact-sourcing
14. "https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/essential-oils-company-sentenced-lacey-act-and-endangered-species-act-violations-pay-760000
15. https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=303609242"
16. https://www.doterra.com/US/en/about-fact-sheet
17. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/essential-oils-company-sentenced-lacey-act-and-endangered-species-act-violations-pay-760000
18. https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=303609242