Choosing to Participate:
A Social Justice Service Project on Sustainability

Today was a success!!!  Everyone in our workshop seemed to be having a very good time.  Everyone got to take home at least two things, and all the recipes were wonderful.  The avocado hand lotion was very popular and if we had some more avocados, I think everyone would have made some.  Sharyn was very enthusiastic about the lotion making.  She made her own face mask and hand lotion.  When Sadie and Ava made the face frappe several people tried it on, including myself.  The man who was photographing us even put it on.  Several people from other workshops came in to our room and would comment on how good it smelled.  Some of the seventh graders seemed as though they weren’t listening when Talia and I were talking, but other then that everyone payed attention and everyone was very enthusiastic.

-Gaia

It has almost been four months since we started the sustainability project. Talia and I have been working with salon founder John Masters for two months. We have decided for the Day of Learning that we are going to direct a workshop where ten students will get the chance to make their own beauty products. During this workshop we will show the participants that they can make products that can found in makeup stores, right in their own kitchen. We will be using ingredients like avocado, honey, essential oils, salt, sugar, and many others. We plan on making some of the following: Grapefruit Face Frappe, Avocado Honey Mask, Pumpkin Pedicure, and several others. The people in our workshop will be able to chose a recipe with a partner. We will supply examples of on or two of the recipes so our group members have an idea of what they are doing.  Talia and I are very prepared I feel.  We have many ingredients and just the right amount of each one.  When we did a small run through for Tracy, she didn’t have any real critism for us, except that we should provide examples.  I feel confident that we will be able to keep everyone under control and be able to have everyone go home with new information in their head.  Something that might be a problem is the demand for a blender and or food processor in many of the recipes.  Tomorrow we will sort everything out.

- Gaia

Lately, along with working with natural beauty salons, I have been working on the door project with Lilly, David, Brianna, Jack G., Amy, Henry, Emma, and others. We have divided the door in to about a dozen sections shaped like puzzle pieces. I am working on the piece in the top left hand corner. I plan to paint vines cascading down the side of the doors with small flowers all along them. There will also be vines going along the top of the door and intertwined in the vine there will be a circle sign that says love in psychedelic letters. I don’t think I fully understand the projects purpose and how it is going to help children in schools in New Orleans recover from Katrina. The doors are pleasant to look at, but other then that I don’t think they serve any purpose other then the one they were made for. Maybe that’s what these children need, some thing nice to look a, some thing pleasant to the eyes.

Lately, Talia and I have been feeling as if we might be encountering a dead end with the John Masters Organics. We have almost done everything we can with the salon. They don’t need any volunteers so we aren’t exactly allowed to help around the salon so we are thinking of expanding our topic. I think it would interesting and exciting to explore the broader topic of sustainability in the fashion and beauty industry.

My mother suggested a store called Origins. It is a petite store selling cosmetic and beauty products. They have recently launched a new organic line of products. Some of these include organic face wash, organic face lotion and many others all of which are 90 to 97% organic. If Talia and I decide to use this store, we might ask the employees what they think about the organic scene. We might also do a comparison of the Proactiv face wash ingredients and the Origins face wash ingredients to see the difference. I think this would a great store to use because it seems very friendly and welcoming.

Another avenue which would be very interesting to explore would be the sustainable fashion brands. There are many, but for example a brand leila suggested was Moo Shoes. Moo Shoes is a vegan shoe brand that doesn’t use animal parts or animal
by-products such as leather and glue made from animals.

So far I am feeling confident in that Talia and I will be able to finish our project by the time required. We already have good information ready for The Day of Learning and we have plenty more time to gather some more.

Here are some of the products of John Masters Organics.

-Gaia

bourban vanilla & tangerine hair texturizer

After school,Talia and I went straight to the Salon. On the way we spoke about all the questions we would ask him.

We entered the salon and John ushered us to the back where we hung up our coats in a small closet. We sat up front and began our questioning. At first it wasn’t very smooth and I could sense that Talia and I were both slightly tense and unsure of how the interview was going to turn out. Soon we were done asking all our questions, but we improvised from there. It actually turned out very well. I was the one writing down what John said, so I think I was a little more stressed out because I was afraid of not being able to get everything down.

I was suprised at how much John new about all the chemicals in non-natural beauty products. He told us about all the bad chemiclas in toothpaste. For example; the Titanium Dioxide which was been classified by the International Agency For Research on Cancer as a a possible carcinogen to humans. Titanium Dioxide is in Crest and Colgate toothpastes. It is also found in plastic, paper, food, and other things. It is used usually to provide whiteness in something. I have almost six pages worth of interview question answers, but I want to save it for the Day of Learning.

I am slightly worried that Talia and I will not be able to do much more with our sustainability group because we aren’t able to help around the salon and we have already interviewed John Masters, but we might be able to think of something else.  When leila said we could interview an employee of John Masters.

-Gaia

Talia and I went to the John Masters Organic Salon on the fifteenth of February. Sarah took us during activity period on Friday.

We walked in to the salon and were immediately relieved as a blanket of warm air slid over us. I was slightly surprised by how different the salon smelled and looked. While other bigger salons use products with harsh chemicals in them that create a strong shampooey, fake smell, the John Masters Salon did just the opposite. The Salon uses natural and even organic ingredients in their products, creating a calm scent that smells slightly like flowers and cut grass. The salon was lit with a warm yellow light giving off a cozy feel. It is also filled with mirrors pointing every which way that produce an interesting and complex scene.

While John was on the phone with a business partner, Talia and I waited and busied our selves by going around the room smelling and trying on all different sorts of creams and lotions. There was a Pomegranate facial oil, sea water with Lavender mist, Honey and Hibiscus hair reconstructor, and many other relaxing combination lotions. John Masters take some of natures finest plants and turns them in to wonderful smelling lotions and sprays.

When John got off the phone he greeted Sarah, Talia and I warmly . We spoke to him about our sustainability project and how we would like to ask him some questions about his Salon sometime. He was very enthusiastic about the project and readily agreed. We then spoke for several minutes about the difference of natural and unnatural salon products. He told us what had driven him to found an all natural salon. He said he was really disturbed by putting chemicals on his own body and in his hair. He was so freaked out that he started making his own lotions in his basement. He also told us something very disturbing; Chanel lipstick has lead in it! Here is a successful make-up company, and one of their top products has lead in it. To make the matters even worse, this lipstick goes on you lips so it can get in to your body more easily.

Sarah, Talia and I departed the Salon, and headed back to School. We had learned a lot of new information and got a little peek at the Salon’s inner workings. I was a little nervous before meeting John, but as soon as I really got to know what he was like, my emotions changed completely. I left the Salon that day feeling confident about our project, much cheerier, and smelling floralful.

-Gaia