A Few Good Fairies

It may be months away from Christmas still, but we thought it might be nice to acknowledge a few good fairies who have been extremely helpful in providing us with some useful information and pointers.

Oprah has a famous saying, "You already have everything you need." With friends like ours, it is certainly proving to be true :-)

Sheliza Shahadan very kindly introduced us to the owners of Tanamera - a 100% Malaysian-born and owned brand of beautiful personal care and spa products made from natural ingredients. I spent a very pleasant afternoon chatting with one of the brand's founders, (who incidentally are a brother-sister team) at their office deep in Kampung Subang. It's the kind of place you just wouldn't call work, since it is set in a village and the aroma of gorgeous herbs being milled on the grounds hits you the minute you step out of your car.

Apart from containing natural ingredients, Tanamera products also don't contain some of the environmentally-damaging ingredients present in most commercial shampoos and cleansers. Plus, their plastic packaging is recyclable, and they were more than happy to explore the possibility of supplying us products in larger batches for dispensers.

If you haven't checked out their products already, do so. They also have spas around the Klang Valley.

The folks at my office (yes, we still have to find a way to pay the bills until La Pari-Pari is built) discovered a new retail outlet called Body Bar in Tropicana Mall. The owner, Michelle is a lovely lady who used to work in the technology industry. Now she's pursuing her passion for all things natural with her retail brand whose tagline is "If it's not good enough to eat, it's not good enough for your skin!"

Her products are sourced from around the world and she certainly is passionate about her quest to encourage more people to use ecofriendly, natural goods. In fact, this young lady even has an edible garden growing on her home balcony!

I couldn't resist playing with all the lovely products at the shop's bar - and yes, they really do have one. So much so I ended up going home with one of their products - an amazing facial cleanser that is made using a recipe African women have apparently used for years to bathe newborn babies. I swear by it now.

Both these companies are shining examples of how Malaysian businesses are waking up to the profitable benefits of doing business the green way. And, the more I dig into the subject, the more it becomes apparent to me that skin and personal care products in particular should be green. After all, as Michelle said to me, the skin is the largest organ on our bodies. Yet, we do little to ensure that the stuff we put on it isn't poisonous.

Makes a whole lot of sense to me. Now to get Anim to crunch the numbers and ensure we can get green products on La Pari-Pari's bathroom shelves.