Baby - It's You...

You want your baby to have only the gentlest of skin care products? You want to put a smile on your baby's face?
You want to be sure that you don't use anything harsh, laden with chemicals and unpleasant smells?
Look no further! I found THE ultimate baby care products for you and your little one.

Made without harmful preservatives and free from synthetic aromas and mineral oils, our baby skin care products are 100% vegan, smell gorgeous and are bio degradable.

The Secret of African Black Soap

Firstly - there is no secret. Authentic African black soap is made in different African countries according to local recipes. Whatever the ingredients are, they should be pure, if possible organic and the soap itself should be hand made in small batches preferably by small local women's co-operatives. Some black soaps contain essential oils or lemon juice (popular in Ghana) others are unscented.

Personally I prefer the black soap from Togo as it contains high levels of unrefined shea butter and unrefined palm kernel oil. Both are fair trade and sustainably harvested meaning no rainforests were chopped down (unlike palm oil that comes from Malaysia for example).

You can melt down the individual bar together with unrefined shea butter and add your preferred essential oil. Or just add distilled water plus your favourite essential oil to your soap flakes to make liquid black soap that can be stored in a pump dispenser. If you don't want to do this then just buy a bottle of ready-made liquid black soap and add your essential oils to this.

African black soap is extremely versatile. It can be used to wash your hands of course. It's great as a shampoo or add some liquid soap to your hot bath. For me the benefits are multi fold: it helps my skin stay spot free, doesn't dry my skin out, the bar is ideal when travelling (none of this plastic bag business at the airport that is now in place for liquids) and it is really multi functional as it is an all round beauty product.

I like the fact that our African black soap is made with organic principles in mind: no chemicals, parabens, steroids, animal by products are added and of course it is not tested on animals either. It is suitable for vegans and I have countless emails from people telling me about how the soap helped better their skin's condition.

More fantastic shea butter soaps, creams and lotions as well as shampoo and conditioner made with shea butter can be found here.

You just call out my name...

News, tips, ideas and opinions about trends and events in the world of fair trade and eco friendliness bundled with snippets about emerging markets, business happenings, pointers to interesting news articles, advice on marketing and promoting your products and much more. Be part of a growing group of aware business people who care.

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How to make your own shea butter cream

An easy home made recipe for novices, using fair trade unrefined organic shea butter, olive oil and essential oils. Whipped shea butter cream - the ultimate in heavenly skin care. Recipe available at www.cebraonline.com/tips-trends-16-w.asp

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Chic fair trade & eco accessories that make a difference

Cebra is a fair trade and eco accessories internet shop with a difference. The aim is to bring together artisans from Africa, South America, Asia and India and conscientious consumers who are looking for unique products that make a difference to their lives and that of the producers. Cebra also strives to preserve ancient craftmanship.

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New Look Cebra Fair Trade Website

My web designer Jamie Lovell and I have worked very hard over the last few weeks to bring you our new look Cebra fair trade website. And here it is - fresh, contemporary, informative and easy to navigate.

My aim is to bring you stylish, modern, well made eco chic. Accessories that you can be proud of and that stay in fashion for some time. And when you tire of your purchase you can either pass it on to someone who appreciates eco chic or compost most items (or dismantle them and make them into new accessories - the jewellery for example!).

All our fair trade and eco accessories have been made by small co-ops and individual artisans from either Africa, Asia, South America or Europe. Buy purchasing fair trade accessories you can really make a difference to their lives. I believe that fair trade not only supports the people but also the environment they live in (and therefore ultimately our environment - our planet is here to enjoy for everyone, not just a chosen few). Fair trade enables people to get a better education and send their children to school. It empowers people and gives them a meaning in life. Fair trade to me also means products that have been made using traditional skills and craftsmanship as well as sustainable and/or recycled base materials.

It is important to support ancient skills as hand made items have an aura of luxury and instill a sense of pride and self worth not only in the maker but also in the buyer of these accessories. And they don't have to break your bank balance. However, most hand made fair trade items don't come cheap if you want a fresh, modern, contemporary design as a lot of input goes into research and producing pilot products before the end result is released.

I think it is worth buying fair trade eco chic - you want accessories that last and that are not polluting our planet. At the same time you want stylish and contemporary items that you can be proud of.

Buying fair trade and eco accessories makes sense. Buy them with a clear conscience at Cebra.

Cebra's new website was mentioned on springfair.com marketplace

Packaging - my pet subject!

I am a bit of a plastic bag nutter, meaning I hate the things. I can't understand why anybody would want to stuff their shopping into these. They pull your arms out, lengthening them in the process, the handles dig into your fingers and they have a tendency to split when you don't need it. And they are such a killer of wildlife and a general drain on our oil resources.......
Why can't the supermarkets at least give away biodegradable and compostable plastic bags? I did some research and they are not that much more expensive than the oil based ones. They are sturdy and carry your goods home. They take around 6 weeks to fall apart when you put them into your compost or in a landfill site.

Is it laziness, ignorance, stupidity....? Personally I use a trolley and a rather chic one at that. I don't think I look silly and even if I did, I don't care as my posture and health are more important to me than looks. Plus they are environmentally friendlier than plastic bags...

Anyway, I am now looking for compostable bubble wrap and biodegradable jars. Do you think I can find any? Nope! Scrolled through page after page on the web, read loads about what could be done and how easy it is to produce the things (especially the jars) but I can't find a supplier that sell small quantities. And there is not one producer here in the UK, they're based in USA.

What's wrong with the British? Why don't we care about our environment and our future? Is it because we live on a small island? Can't we get the bigger picture? Are we so self absorbed that we just don't care?

There will be a time when our landfill sites are full and we HAVE to think about alternatives. Better start now as in 2 years it will be too late....

Anyway, enough ranting and raving. Does anybody know where I can buy my jars? 1/2 oz or 1 oz. size...

Cebra scoops Marie Claire best fair trade product award

In celebration of Fairtrade Fortnight, Marie Claire has voted our Alaffia shea butter hand & body balm the best fair trade product.

You can read their verdict by clicking here.

Naturally I am thrilled as I kept telling everybody over the last few months how brilliant shea butter is and how it can really give you a great skin if you keep using it.

In fact, I just had a phone call from a lady telling me how grateful she was for having found our website and the best thing she did was order our handmade African black soap and the rooibos & shea butter antioxidant cream - she will come back and order for her friends and relatives as well as she wants all of them to experience the healing qualities of our skin care products.

We shall soon be introducing unrefined shea butter as a refill for your glass jars. The shea butter can then be ordered as 100 g or 500 g unit. You may either refill your exisitng Alaffia jars or store the shea butter in one of our herb baskets (very decorative in the bathroom) or any clean jam jar (for example).

I am also trying to get my hands on shea butter oil. This is great for cooking but also a fantastic carrier oil for essential oils which can be mixed together and used as an aroma roll-on, bathing essence, massage oil or to use all over the body as a moisturiser.

Other new items on our website:

Handbags and stylish rucksacks (with and without leather straps) from Costa Rica.

The fabric for these is hand loomed by Borucan Indians. They are a small tribe living in the rainforest of Costa Rica and fabric weaving is a thousand year old tradition and skill that has been passed down the generations. It needs to be preserved as it is one of the few sources of outside income for these people who are now threatened by civilisation and tree logging. All the yarns for this fabric are dyed with natural colours. Read more about the Borucan Indians and our handbags on our website.

Glass beaded tea light holders from South Africa.

These are made by hand from tiny glass beads by a small group of Xhosa women. The lady who runs the group has received award by the United Nations in 2005 and she goes to extreme lengths to ensure that the Xhosa people have a regular income by creating new designs and coming up with fresh ideas every 6 months or so. I am quite fond of their products and I shall be stocking more items in the near future. The tea light holders come in two colour schemes and as a pack of three each colour. Also available are tea light holders made from porcupine quills that were collected in the bush.

Decorative Kilim floor cushion covers.

A kilim is a flat woven textile, traditionally hand woven by tribal women in Central Asia since the eleventh century A.D. The techniques and designs of the kilim weaving tradition are believed to be a legacy of Turkoman tribes of Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. These cushions are available in four colour schemes with the main colours being: grey, indigo, red and brown. Size: 69 x 69 cm and they come in set of two cushion covers.

More unusual cushion covers will be added to the site in a couple of weeks. Watch out for our pure silk tusser cushion covers with a stunning kalamkari border. Hand made and printed in India. I love them!

As always - more stunning and new fair trade and eco accessories can be found on my website under "What's New". I am sure that here you will find a nice Easter present for someone special - or for yourself.

Take care for now. And thank you for supporting fair trade and our artisans.

News from Judy

Those of you who have been reading here first about my border collie Judy, will be interested to know that I have researched a new supplement and tested it on her. It is called Nexrutine and it is a completely natural Cox 2 inhibitor. What does that mean - Cox 2? Apparently that is what causes arthritis and rheumatism and an inhibitor reduces inflammation and pain. To be honest, Judy is also on Metacam, the most popular chemical Cox 2 inhibitor but - I use Metacam in the evening at half the recommended dose and 1 capsule of Nexrutine in the morning. It seems to work a treat. She doesn't limp anymore and is quite happily accompanying me on two walks a day. And if she wants to - she can run! Especially when she sees her doggy friends and cats or squirrels.

Judy is still on her daily dose of glucosamine with chondroitin and I use the human form in tablet form (1 per day). Please, please, please - if you are using glucosamine make sure it is not sourced from shark cartilage. Around 78 million sharks are killed every year just for their fins - most fins are exported to China from the EU (can you believe it??) and the EU fishing industry in my opinion will be responsible for the demise of sharks very soon if something isn't done about this. Apparently the Spanish are extremely aggressive in their fishing methods, going well outside their fishing territories and using appalling methods like long lines with hooks on them to catch sharks (up to 200 sharks have been found dead on some of these lines). No surprise there, I hear you say - they rip of people who want to buy property in Spain so why should they care about sharks? I agree, but I must say that during my time spent in Spain I only met extremely nice and caring Spaniards, people who are interested in protecting their wildlife, their National Parks and who want to abolish hunting.

I am going to take my other dog, Bess, off her prescribed steroids as I feel they are doing her a lot of harm at the moment. I have researched other natural products that can help with eczema and I came across neem - it can be taken as capsules internally or applied externally in the form of neem oil. apparently it boosts the immune system which is a major factor in treating eczema. Bess is also on two capsules of evening primrose oil and two tablets of garlic with fenugreek. A few people have commented on her feet which are far less inflamed theses days. They used to be rather red as she kept gnawing them and ripping off hairs.

All my dogs are on a diet of cooked chicken and white rice with boiled vegetables, garlic and herbs plus a smidgens of dried dog food (I prefer Burns) and their coats look fantastic. I started this diet after friends of mine brought back their pooch from the brink of death by feeding her chicken etc.
It is not as laborious as you may think. Just buy a good free range chicken (no battery chickens for me) and boil it in a large pot together with the veggies and herbs for approx. 1 hour and 15 minutes, let it cool down and remove the meat from the bones. Then steam a large pot of white rice (I use Basmati) and once that has cooled down you are ready to go. A little will go a long way - I feed my dogs twice a day smaller portions and 2 chickens last me 10 days. I put the meat in a container as well as the rice and it keeps well in the fridge. If I have to travel then the dogs have to make do with the dried dog food.......

Finally one of the perks of speaking German is that I can watch German television. I had a satellite installed 9 months ago and am now watching science and nature programs as I find them far more informative and not so insular (sorry Britain!) unlike the television here. And hey presto - today I watched a program about an orthopaedic technician who makes bandages for dogs with arthritis. They filmed a three year old labrador that developed arthritis and started to go lame to the point where it used only three legs to get around. The technician measured the dog's leg and handmade a bandage which the dog had to get used to, but after only 4 days it was able to jump over low hurdles and now it seems to have forgotten about the bandage completely and is running around freely and without any signs of lameness. There are apparently only 5 orthopaedic technicians in Germany that specialize in animals. I don't know of any in the UK but it means that if Judy one day is unable to use her hind leg there is an alternative to the usual (having to put her to sleep).

Well, apart from animals I care about people as you know. Which is the whole purpose of running an internet catalogue offering fairtrade, organic and eco friendly products. I believe that if one gives people a purpose in life and an alternative to poaching then wildlife and nature can be saved. Most indigenous people that I have come across treat their environment with respect. It only gets out of hand if they have no other choice because they have no food, no clean water, no clothes and no hope whatsoever, that they start plundering their natural resources. And most people in developing countries want only one thing - give their children a good education so that they can prosper and help their countries. And education doesn't just mean learning English, maths, physics etc. It involves teaching about the symbiosis in nature and the relationship between humans and nature - that we have to look after fauna and flora in order to be able to survive. It also means teaching about ancient traditions, respect and good manners - something that sadly a lot of people in the so-called developed countries don't put any emphasis on anymore.

Next time I'll tell you about my forays into the world of chocolate......Can't wait and in the meantime I'll keep on testing various chocolate bars for you ;-

I am not a member of BAFTS or the British Fair Trade Organisation, simply because BAFTS wants me to sell only products from IFAT certified and FLO certified "suppliers" (i.e. producers AND middlemen) and I don't sell coffees and teas or bananas and chocolate.

Whilst I agree that certification is a super idea I object to the notion that I MUST sell only from such suppliers or at least 75% of my products must come from such producers and suppliers. Firstly it is expensive for small producers to get the IFAT and FLO certification (they have to pay a yearly fee based on their turnover, just as I would as a member) and secondly most IFAT and FLO certified producers and suppliers in my experience either don't supply small retailers such as myself or they don't supply what I want to sell!

Now, I could go and form a company in Kenya, Nepal, India, Brazil and then apply for the certification. But - I don't have the money to do this and I don't want to limit myself to just one product. I want to give a retail outlet to as many small producers, artisans and co-operatives as possible. Which is why I decided not to apply to any of the aforementioned bodies for a certificate. Until they change their policies that is - and I believe BAFTS is in the process of reviewing their application process. Hopefully so that people and small businesses such as myself have the chance to become members and support the fair trade movement with their enthusiasm and expertise as well as their knowledge and strong belief that what we do is the right thing. We should not be restricted and bogged down by administration and rules that sometimes don't make any sense and sometimes are simply downright silly (plus that cost money that goes into the administration of said regulatory bodies i.e. the salaries of chairmen and women rather than the actual cause i.e. helping small producers).

In the meantime I am an enthusiastic supporter of Transfair and the American Fair Trade Federation (which laughably is boycotted by BAFTS for reasons that nobody explained to me). Both are far more transparent and open minded than their European counterparts, alas as to whether the hostility between the European and US bodies is reciprocal remains to be seen...... I just hope they find a way to work together rather than against each other as this would make them the strongest network for fair trade that there can be.

In the meantime I am posting a video, financed by TransFair and produced by Mobius. It is the best video clip on fair trade and what it means, but also shows how each of us consumers can help change trade for the better if we all stick together and vote with our money. Enjoy. (c) of the video is eq.tv