Having been simultaneously intrigued and repulsed by the PediEgg infomercials (not a big fan of feet in general) I finally decided to buy one today to see what all the hype was about. I had heard many people rave about it, but others have said it wasn’t that great.

Well here’s my thoughts:

Pros -

• it does “shave” the dry/rough skin off, and captures it (that’s the ick-factor) in the cute little case
• it doesn’t hurt or seem irritating

Cons -

• if you don’t hold the egg in the exact right angle, the foot shavings (again, ick) fall to the ground – definitely do it over a trash basket just in case
• when I was done, I could tell that a lot of the rough skin had been removed, but my foot didn’t feel smooth and soft until I put my Zippity Do Dah peppermint foot cream on. That’s not just a shameless plug for Garden Girl products, it’s just that my feet felt rough and dry after I was done.

Overall Assessment: I am not convinced it did a better job than my regular foot smoother. And I know some people like to see the results by staring proudly into a little plastic egg at the shards of their skin they just removed from their foot, but it is a bit of overkill for me. Don’t need to see it! Will I use it again? Sure – it’s convenient and now that I have it I’ll feel compelled to use it (I’m not one to waste or discard things – just ask my husband about our bins and bins of baby stuff in the basement). Would I tell others to buy it? Hmm. Not necessarily – unless they are desperate to try something new for their piggies!

If you have another product you are curious about – let me know! I love trying new things – especially if it’s “eco-friendly”!

Another interesting and highly disturbing bit from Not Just a Pretty Face. The average woman uses a dozen personal care products containing 168 chemical ingredients every day. Men use about six products a day with around 85 chemicals.

We carry man-made pollutants in our bodies. We get them from the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the products we use to “clean” our homes and make them “smell nice” and the products we put on our bodies each day.

I have been paying a lot of attention to TV and magazine ads these days. The first thing I have noticed is there is a steady stream of ads touting skin creams and lotions from companies that top Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ list for worst offenders of chemicals in personal care products.

But I have also noticed a huge increase in the number of products that are out there to make our homes smell good. It is astounding. Just from Glade alone there are spray cans of air fresheners, “plug-ins” so we get chemicals in our air 24/7, candles, waxless candles, and oils. Do our homes smell THAT bad?

WebMD did an article recently about the dangers of burning candles in the home. Some wicks have lead in them and can cause lead poisoning. Additionally, the soot in the air can cause air quality issues.

From the article: “Candles are fast becoming one of the most common unrecognized causes of poor indoor air quality,” says Diane Walsh Astry, Executive Director of the Health House Project, an American Lung Association education project in St. Paul, Minnesota.

We really just need to stop wasting our money on these products that not only unnecessary, but they are potentially harmful. Want your house to smell nice? Buy some flowers. Open the windows. Bake something.