Global Beauty : Tips from the Pros

With the dry winter air officially making its mark this season, it’s time to slather on lotion to ensure your skin stays soft and protected throughout these cold months. Should you be working on any winter skincare stories, I’d love to present a few options from my client, Ten Thousand Villages, a leading Fair Trade source for unique items made by artisans from around the world. Ten Thousand Villages carries a variety of beauty products featuring ingredients like mineral rich Dead Sea mud, essential oils, and shea butter with highest concentration of shea sold in the U.S that are sure to help your readers stay fresh all winter. Dead Sea Mudd Soap – Handmade in Israel – $9.00 Soothe your skin with the beneficial minerals of famous Dead Sea mud. This bar of olive oil soap is infused with Dead Sea mud. Ten Thousand Villages sources this product from Sindyanna of Galilee, a group of Arab and Jewish women working together to provide equal opportunities in development and employment. Beautiful Bodycare Kit – Handmade in Israel – $18.00 Create your personal at-home spa with thisnatural materials body care kit. Includes two bars of handmade soap scented with cucumber and coconut, and a natural fiber body scrubber, tied together in a palm leaf basket. This kit involves the contributions of two artisan workshops. Artisans working with Palam Rural in Tamil Nadu, India, make the handmade soap. Artisans employed by Community Action for Social Transformation (CAST) weave the palm leaf baskets. Shea Butter Cream in Clay Jar – Handmade in Ghana – $20.00 This shea butter cream is handcrafted by Ele Agbe (meaning “God is Alive) women’s group in Ghana has the highest concentration of shea sold in the United States. Most butters are diluted with oils, rendering them less effective as ointments used to treat dry skin, stretch marks, burns and other skin ailments. Ghanaians use shea butter for a wide variety of purposes, including cooking, moisturizing and as an anti-inflammatory. Shea nuts are very hard, and require multi-stage processing before they can be used.   Assorted Shea Lip Butter – Handmade in Ghana – $8.00 Handmade in Ghana by the Ele Agbe Company. Shea Lip Butter is made from shea butter, coconut butter, beeswax, and an assortment of essential oils. Available in ContentMint, Citrus Medley and Tropical Blend, Shea Lip Butter uses only natural ingredients and purchases its shea butter directly from women’s cooperatives in northern Ghana.   Rose Soap – Handmade in India – $5.00 Use this rose soap to keep your hands soft all winter long. It is carefully crafted from natural vegetable oils by traditional Indian soapmakers. The fragrance of this soap from Palam Rural Centre is unique, derived from herbs, roots, leaves or flowers, blended to aromatic perfection. This palm oil provides work to local farmers and does not contribute to deforestation.   About Ten Thousand Villages: For 65 years, Ten Thousand Villages has been establishing long-term buying relationships in places where skilled artisans lack opportunities for stable income. The commitment to support artisans around the globe is strengthened through fair trade compensation practices including cash advances and prompt payments. As the company continues to grow, Ten Thousand Villages has deliberately married the concept of fair trade with healthy and environmentally sustainable business practices. From store operations to product sourcing to marketing practices, Ten Thousand Villages strives to meet the “triple bottom line” of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Founded in 1946, Ten Thousand Villages has grown from the trunk of founder Edna Ruth Byler’s car to a network of more than 390 retail outlets throughout the United States. Ten Thousand Villages is an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art & sculpture and personal accessories made by artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. One of the world’s largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization and the Fair Trade Federation, Ten Thousand Villages strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 35 countries. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. For more information, visit tenthousandvillages.com.