Ecostore USA *giveaway*

I was recently contacted by a representative for Ecostore USA. She asked if I wanted to try a couple of their products and share my thoughts with you. I'm all for trying new eco-friendly stuff so I said, "Sure!"

Ecostore USA is the US extension of the more than 15 year old New Zealand store (www.ecostore.co.nz) founded by Melanie and Malcolm Rands. They specialize in plant based, non-toxic products like household cleaners, baby and personal care items. It all came about when members of an eco village in New Zealand found the chemicals in traditional store brand products were becoming dangerous to their waterways. And now there's a whole line of products available for those looking to go green and those looking for a healthy alternative to chemical based products.

It was hard to choose exactly which products I wanted to try. I've reviewed many cleaners, but not too many haircare products so I opted to try the Vanilla Shampoo and Vanilla Conditioner. They definitely worked when it came to getting my hair clean. I was a little disappointed that the shampoo's scent was so faint, but the conditioner made up for it by having a bit stronger scent. And one thing I was really excited about is their lack of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, they don't have any. Some of you may be scratching your head wondering why I care about that, right? Well, recently I read an online friend's blog and she disclosed that she has thinning hair and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate in shampoo worsens her condition. Ever since reading that I've been a little nervous about using a shampoo that contains it.

And guess what? Ecostore USA isn't just being generous to me, but they're being generous to one of you Red Sox Mommy readers as well! That's right, one of you will win a $25 gift certificate to Ecostore USA.

For the first (mandatory) entry just visit the Ecostore USA blog and sign up for the No Nasty Chemicals newsletter (in the right sidebar). Then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

If you'd like more chances to win you can do one or more of the following after doing the above requirement:

- Blog about this giveaway (5 entries, leave 5 comments).
- Visit Ecostore USA and leave a comment letting me know one product you're interested in trying. (1 entry)
- Follow @ecostoreusa on Twitter (1 entry)
- Follow me on Twitter (@RedSoxMommy) and tweet about this giveaway, you can do this one once per day, just leave a comment each time (1 entry each time). Mention @RedSoxMommy & @ecostoreusa in your tweets please.
- Add my button to your blog (2 entries, leave 2 comments) or add my URL to your blogroll (1 entry) (Please note my URL recently changed to redsoxmom.com, the code for the button in my sidebar reflects this change if you want to switch to this new code).
- Become a follower or subscriber (1 entry).
- Enter any other current giveaways on Red Sox Mommy (look in left sidebar for links to giveaways) (1 entry).
- Fave this blog on Technorati (1 entry).

Disclaimer: You must have a US mailing address. You must leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. I will not use the addresses for any other purpose. You must follow the first entry requirement before any extra entries will be counted as valid. No "count me in" style comments will be qualified to win, please follow the directions. You have until December 3, 2009 at 11:59pm MT to enter. I will choose the winner at random soon after that time and s/he will have 72 hours to respond to the winning notification or a new winner will be chosen by the same method. The winner will receive their gift certificate via email.

Good luck!

I received a bottle of each the Vanilla Shampoo and Vanilla Conditioner from Ecostore USA to use so I could write this review. The opinion expressed is my own.