Tints of Nature Hair Coloring

Here I am as your guinea pig for a new brand of "organic, natural hair coloring" called Tints of Nature. I bought it at Elephant Pharmacy but I know its available at some Whole Foods stores. My hair to start was dark brownish black, faded from a blue black with some ash blond roots. My natural hair color is light, but I prefer other colors to my own!
My goal was to get a nice light brown with some gold red tones. Of the selection of colors T.O.N. offers (quite a few actually), none looked as if they fit that description so I decided to lighten my whole head and then put in a reddish color. There are two lighteners available. One is for dark brown hair and the other is for light brown. I started with a box of the dark brown to blond and quickly figured out that there was NO WAY the amount of the mixture was going to cover my entire head. I tried, but came out with a spotty leopard look of copper and dark brown and some lighter blond. Not pretty. Last night I used the lightening kit which is recommended for lighter brown to blond and covered the spots that were still fairly dark that I apparently missed. It did the job, but boy was I nervous having to "spot check" every little dark area on my head.
This morning I am using the red to cover my whole head. Its quite bright, I like the brighter reds because reds seem to fade easily.
So, here are my recommendations.
1. If using the lightening options, be sure to buy 2 kits if you have chin length or longer hair. That stuff just sucks up into your hair and isn't easy to spread around.
2. Buy another applicator brush if you plan to lighten your entire head. The brush that comes with it is for highlighting and is a real pain if you are doing an overall job.
3. Follow the directions and be sure to do your ends before your roots when you have super dark hair. But remember to do your roots because the end result will be some greyish brown roots with yellowish blond copper in the rest of your hair.

I am not a professional, so take these suggestions as my experience and hopefully they will help you when you decide to try this stuff out. The good thing is its free of ammonia and parabens and is NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS! You will notice that the lightener doesn't burn like most do. The smells are pleasant instead of harsh. The other ingredients they use are organic.
Check out their website here: http://www.tintsofnature.com.au/tints_of_nature.html

Top Notch Pet Foods

My dogs are not full-time herbivores. They usually get a mix of foods and I often change their kibble each time I run out because their tummies can handle the switch easily. I don't recommend this for most dog moms and dads because it can cause an annoying and inconvenient bout with diarrhea or gas. There is absolutely no excuse for feeding your pet junk food. Brands often found in grocery stores like Safeway are made with byproducts like chicken feathers and poop, downer animals, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments, pesticide residues, antibiotics, and molds contained in pet food ingredients. Meat from sick animals may be loaded with drugs, some of which are known to pass unchanged through all the processing done to create a finished pet food (such as penicillin and phenobarbital). Between 1995 and 1999, there were two major recalls of dry dog food by different manufacturers due to mold contamination of grain ingredients. Some fungal toxins are very dangerous. The second recalled food killed more than 20 dogs. Never buy a food containing “by-product meal” or “meat and bone meal.” These rendered products are the most inexpensive sources of animal protein. The contents and quality of these meals can vary tremendously from batch to batch, and are not a reliable source of nutrition for your animal. Healthy and environmentally responsible foods are available at large chain stores like Petco & at small mom and pop stores in your neighborhood. Here are some great choices in different price ranges to keep your pup in tip top health.
MY FAVORITE FOR THE PRICE, QUALITY, AND AVAILABILITY:
NATURAL BALANCE VEGETARIAN DOG FOOD OR ORGANIC CHICKEN FORMULA

CASEY & WILEY (my moms doggies) and SAMMY & HB (my vizslas) go NUTS over:
Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie Canned & Dry Food....new bags I saw announce "ORGANIC at no extra cost to you!" Merrick has an interesting business model. They help us choose food for our pets by naming them after popular human meals or creative mixes with interesting ingredients. They are very meat-minded, but they also offer organic so I feel okay recommending it over other brands.

IF YOUR DOGS BEG FOR FRUIT.....
CASTOR & POLLUX Natural Ultramix features natural chicken as the #1 ingredient! Fortified with Vitamins & Minerals. Wholesome fruits & vegetables that you can really see! There are banana chips, carrots, bananas, papaya, apples and blueberries in this food! Yummy.
C&P also features an organic food called ORGANIX.

Looking to BEEF UP YOUR KARMA?
KARMA dog food is 100% organic (ALL ingredients in the food, not just the meat is organic), the box is made of recyclable materials, and they manage the food from the way their ingredients are farmed to where the dog food is sold.


Other honorable mentions are:
EAGLE PACK Holistic Formulas
Jeffrey's Pet Food Store (soon online!) in the San Francisco bay area.
Its quite easy to make your pets food if they have allergies and such. A book I used to utilize daily when I made my dogs meals by hand was Dr. Pitcairn's Natural Health for Cats and Dogs book. Its available on Amazon.com.