Good for You--and the Earth

EARTH TO SHOPPERS . . . EARTH TO SHOPPERS: Finally a way to pamper your body while preserving the environment. The ecology movement has spawned a few new environmentally correct bath and body shops with products that keep packaging to a minimum, haven’t been tested on cute little bunnies and, in some cases, pay you for returned containers. And the products aren’t that expensive, with prices generally in the $4 to $12 range.

At the Century City Shopping Center, for instance, recently opened Body Logic offers shampoos, conditioners, soaps, lotions and massage oils that contain no animal proteins or fats, no petroleum jellies and no solvent alcohol. The company uses some recycled paper products and pays 50 cents for each returned plastic container, which the store then recycles.

Body Logic also donates 5% of the proceeds from its Save the Rainforest shampoo to a rain-forest preservation foundation, says Ira Schechter, who, with partner Dan Samakow, owns the store.

You’ll also find environmentally sound products and policies in the Beverly Center’s Bath & Body Works, the newest link in The Limited’s ever-expanding chain. The store is in the test-marketing stage, with kinks still being worked out, so we couldn’t get much information. But Bath & Body Works carries products that haven’t been tested on animals and cut back on packaging. Our favorite thing about this shop is the wonderful array of fragrances, in everything from shampoos and conditioners to bubble baths and lotions. Among them: freesia, apple-kiwi, papaya, honeysuckle, peach, rose and vanilla.

But wait, there’s more: The huge, international Body Shop chain of bath/skin care/makeup stores is opening its first Southern California branch (in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza) next month. This company pioneered a number of earth-friendly policies. Until the store opens, you can order from its catalogue: (800) 541-2535.

CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD FACE?: Searching for a little extra oomph in the skin cleansers and creams you use? Feel like expanding your rock collection while you wash your face?

For years, crystal lovers have used quartz and other gemstones for their healing and energy-enhancing properties by floating specific stones in their drinking water, bathwater, cosmetics and other potions.

Now, however, there’s a skin-treatment line that does that for you. Facets, a division of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Crystalline Cosmetics Inc., features four products that either contain crystals or list ground quartz silica as a prime ingredient: Quartz Clarifying Cleanser ($16.50) contains a clear quartz crystal, Rose Quartz Skin Balancer ($15) has a rose quartz crystal, Amethyst Protective Cream ($22) comes with an amethyst inside, and Quartz Clarifying Masque ($19.50) contains quartz silica.

In solid or ground form, crystals--especially quartz--are said to amplify the energies of whatever they come into contact with. In the case of Facets products, that includes aloe vera, natural oils and vitamins. Each rock is double terminated (for neophytes, that means pointed at both ends and more powerful). For information on ordering these cosmetics, which come with the New Age equivalent of a Cracker Jack trinket, call (602) 991-1704 or write to Crystalline Cosmetics, P.O. Box 13777, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85267-3777.