check yourself before you wreck yourself: the neutrogena wave exfoliator
our country is probably the easiest country in the world to sell things to. why? americans are naturally innovative, and need to have the newest contraptions to make life simpler and easier. we have a love affair with shopping, and even use it as a form of therapy - do you remember that scene in clueless where cher and di go shopping to cheer themselves up after a bad day? i’ve lived that scene too many times.
in many cases, frugality is not seen as a positive thing like it is in other cultures. for example, one of my former colleagues was horrified when my other colleague (of chinese descent) asked for her leftovers to-go after a business lunch. “you just don’t do that,” she said. i agreed that it probably wasn’t the norm for most businesspeople, but wondered why. as people who understand business, shouldn’t we try to be more frugal than anyone? why is it such a faux pas for a cfo or other person who is in charge of saving a company money to take home half of a $50 steak? the richest people i know are relentlessly thrifty and not ashamed of it at all (insert warren buffett comment here).
that being said, the check yourself before you wreck yourself series will focus on examining products that are on the market that you probably don’t really need. i like pretty packaging as much as the next piggy, but i’ve had to throw away my fair share of junk (damn you, mix n’ chop!), and am looking to be more selective with what i spend my hard earned buckage on.
this week, we examine the neutrogena wave power-cleanser.
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according to reviews, this thing makes your skin feel silky smooth and, in the words of one youtuber, eliminates the need to wash your face because “it does all the work for you.” i don’t know about you, but i never found that moving my hands up and down my face was all that strenuous. or could it be the lathering part that is so labor-intensive? i’m lost.
other than turning our nation’s teens (who this product appears to be marketed towards) into muscle-less, noodle armed wimps, there is another major problem with the wave. it comes with disposable pads that you stick onto the electronic base and are supposed to be disposed of once a day (or as said youtuber recommends “two times a day because i don’t like leftover oil and dirt in the morning). that means that you use 7 pads a week if you follow the instructions on the pack. sounds like a lotta cashmoney and waste to me.
my solution for someone who wants the exfoliating power of the wave, but doesn’t want to shell out the loot or create the waste? if you have an electronic toothbrush like the oral-b professional care 8950
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revisiting brita’s filter for good campaign
remember these?
yes, that’s oil spilling out of their mouths.
there was a considerable amount of positive buzz surrounding brita’s filter for good ad campaign last summer, but many people are still purchasing bottled water. why???
it is somewhat understandable if you’re out on the street, feel a bit parched, and pick up a bottle of water at the closest bodega. but it’s a little different when you consciously purchase cases of the stuff to drink at work, especially in an office like mine where delicious, double-purified and free water is available right from the cooler.
many of my officemates were horrified when the cases of water they buy from staples skyrocketed from $3 a case to $10 (due in large part to oil prices). but guess what? they still kept buying them! many still purchased 2 or 3 cases. $20 or $30 bucks a month vs. free? seems like a no brainer to me, but for some reason, we americans can’t seem to shake the idea that something that we have to pay for is inherently better than something that we don’t.
by the way, if you haven’t heard yet, these brita ads are referring to the fact that making the plastic bottles to meet our country’s demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year.
so, why are you still drinking bottled water?
the little bit of controversy behind the ad campaign was that brita never mentioned the fact that their filters are also made out of plastic and end up in landfills just like plastic bottles do. but kudos to them for being able to counteract that dirty little secret with a new collabo with recycline, a company that makes toothbrushes, plates and other cool stuff out of plastics like stonyfield farms yogurt cups that aren’t usually recycled.
brava, brita, brava.
pics courtesy of why me design
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why is this a site?
swyyne has always been an experiment for me. with all of the other super eco sites out there, i've been feeling like i want to contribute something just a bit different. so for now, here are my random musings.
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