As my Henna blog posts were so popular (thank you, wordpress stats, for that insight!), I thought I’d share another little favourite of mine for more natural hair care: Lush’s ‘New’ Shampoo Bar. I’ve been using the solid shampoos for years and swear by them (if you’ve never seen one before, check out the photo below). The solid shampoo bars are naked (no packaging!) and Lush say they save 135 tonnes of plastic per year because there’s no need for a bottle. Not only that, they last forever too – one bar lasts as long as about 3 bottles of shampoo!

I’ve tested all the solid shampoos from Lush over the years and ‘New’ is my favourite and the one I find best for my hair. My hair is really thick and falls out everywhere (I’ve been known to clog a hoover or two in the past!), so New bar is perfect for me. It’s magic ingredient is peppermint, which helps to inhibit the falling out of hair. It took a few weeks of me using it to really notice a difference, but now it’s my regular shampoo I’ve noticed a huge difference in the amount of hair that falls out. Unlike a lot of Lush solid shampoos that have left my hair feeling heavy and sticky, New leaves my hair feeling very soft and clean.

The one downside I have with a lot of Lush products is that their products contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (which gives products their foam). SLS is a harsh irritant and one that I’ve personally suffered badly with when used in certain products (I have a severe reaction to SLS when used in toothpaste!). I shall be a very happy person when Lush decides to use a safer alternative to SLS!

New is available from Lush stores and Lush online here for £5 per bar.

Click here to see my previous Haircare posts on Lush Caca Marron Henna

Picked up these little beauties last week at some of the Native American stalls at Leicester’s Continental Market. I’m totally facinated by friendship bracelets – I love all the woven patterns and colours, and how time consuming they must be to make (I remember making rather uneven, wonky bracelets of my own as a child!)! While in Leicester, I noticed all the high street chains had their own copies, but I spent my money outside in the market! They had some amazing wooden crafts, gemstones and dreamcatchers, in addition to the jewellery…I was totally in awe!

I thought I’d give a little shout-out to one of my new favourite local businesses, West Lodge Farm. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person near to Desborough who didn’t know this little gem existed, but my friends took me at Easter and I had a brilliant time! If anyone lives in Northamptonshire, I’d definitely recommend it for a fun day out!

Carl Sagan, one of my all-time heroes!

…not that we’ve been anywhere, really!

It’s been too long since we last updated the blog! It’s been a bit crazy (hello 18-20 hour card-making days!) but we experienced the BEST Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day ever! We even had a celebrity order (hurrah!) and considering my complete lack of ‘celebrity knowledge’, I even impressed myself by recognising them when their order came through!

Lots more goodies have been added to the NOTHS Shop and lots more planned…we have some amazing new designs ready for photographing and uploading so watch this space, (or this space, or even this space!)

New ‘Hero’ design, all ready for those Super Dads! Father’s Day is June 17th!

I love autumn! Crunchy leaves, beautiful shades of red and orange, and crisp mornings! Our weekend was spent jumping in leaves, meeting neighbourhood squirrels and supping yummy hot chocolate! I hate winter but there’s something about autumn that makes it one of my favourite times of year!

I’m a big fan of the Free People Blog…not neccesarily their updates about their clothing range (although they are beautiful!) but they have some fantastic inspirational quotes, photographs and craft projects. Each Saturday, they post a ‘Saturday Do’  – something you should be inspired to do each Saturday. This week’s really caught my attention:

DO: Embrace your “youness”

Not only should we embrace our individuality on a personal level, but it also relates a lot to business. The things that make us unique and individual as people are what make us special and I really think the best businesses translate this well to their products. The most sucessful businesses are the innovative, creative ones – businesses that are the first to do things. All the people I admire in business are those who are true individuals and they’ve embraced it. Their businesses are built on being different and bringing something new to the world. Afterall, if your product isn’t unique, why would your customers want to choose it over all the other similar things on offer? It’s easy enough to create a copy of something, but creating something new and exciting is what truly brings success, in my opinion.

So, here I am sitting at my desk, surrounded by piles of Elephant Poo, Reindeer Poo and knife blades. I think you have to be a little bit nuts to start a business out of something essentially made of ‘poo’ but I’d rather be nuts than boring. Judging by the pile of orders I have to do today, the world outside Ruby Wren seems to appreciate it. I always have lovely comments from customers saying how they love that my cards are unique and they’re sending something completely special. I feel very satisified in embracing my “youness” both in person and in business

Photos: Free People

My Plans for the next few days…

Hopefully I can absorb some of this guy’s passion for design/technology/business/life.

We received an amazing little gadget in the post the other day – an energy monitor from British Gas! The little device shows you your energy consumption in pence, in real time! It’s a brilliant wake-up call for showing you just how much energy you are using at any time. We’ve been trying it out for a few days now and it’s shocking to see it jump when you turn appliances on and off…the most dramatic being the kettle, oven etc. It’s really encouraging us to switch off things that are turned on unnecessarily.

If you’re interested in getting your own monitor, you can get them either from signing up to British Gas Energy Smart tariff or from shops like Ethical Superstore.