Creating and maintaining the right personal image for you and your company

Thanks to my high school teacher, Mrs. Bell, I have learned the basic causes and effects that have produced the current environmental state of the earth - how most of our modern necessities actually harm the earth, and how this eventually harm us, beings who live here.

Being earth friendly is not just about saving the trees and saving the whales. On an individual level, it is being aware of how we can live in harmony with nature - which boils down to how we can do this in our daily lives.

For example, I used to dislike wearing make up, because I learned of the harmful effects of the de-natured ingredients on the body. I remember being in a relationship where the person literally almost forced me to wear make up, claiming I looked great in it (so it meant to him I looked bad naturally). I said: sure, I will wear it more often, if I can find make up products that are harmless to me (I neglected to tell him that it should be harmless to the earth too)! Of course, years later after that relationship was long gone, I did find some wonderful products. And happily, my current partner is kinder, and will never coerce me to do anything against my will.

Here's a list of things I do to manage my image while being as earth friendly as possible:

1. Wear organic make up .

2. Use only biodegradeable, earth friendly soap. . I use this soap as my shampoo, make up remover, and face cleanser. I recommend this product to men as a great alternative to shaving cream, because it's better for the skin and the earth. Do you know that most other soaps are not biodegradeable, therefore pollute our water?

3. Stay away from plastic clothing. Believe it or not, some "creative" designers do use plastic to make clothes. There are shirt dresses that are made of plastic from Le Chateau. Plastic harms the environment - read this article. Even though the article talks about plastic bags, we can apply the concept to all plastics - including clothes.

4. Reuse shopping bags. Some of the bags fashion and make up retailers use colorful, strong bags that may be used as gift bags later on.

5. Recycle paper wrappers - retailers now love to wrap clothes in thin, tissue papers. When you unpack these, put the papers in the recycle box. Better yet, you may reuse some of these tissue papers, if you keep them relatively wrinkle free.

6. When your clothes no longer fit you, don't just throw them out. Give them away, or sell them. Better yet, use them as rags - if the clothes are made of absorbant material, like cotton.

7. Recycle the little bottles that the cosmetics are packaged in. If they are plastic, make sure that your city has a plastic recycling program.

8. Get a haircut that requires no styling products. Please consult with your hairstylist about this one. Or, use a hairstyling product that is earth friendly, like the products of this brand. Take note though, even though this brand's hairstyling products are great, the shampoos are NOT earth friendly.

9. Buy clothes that belong to the "classic" category because they are less likely to be outdated in just a few months. Examples: sweater sets for ladies, a nice sports jacket for men. Stay away from quick come and go trends, such as plastic shirt dresses, as mentioned before.

I would love to know if any of you have more earth friendly image tips!