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	<title>The Alabu Skin Care Blog</title>
	<link>http://thealabublog.com</link>
	<description>a natural perspective on skin care</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:01:03 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>5 Ways The &#8220;Safe Cosmetics Act&#8221; Will Harm Consumers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[First, let me explain what the &#8220;Safe Cosmetics Act&#8221; is. It&#8217;s a bill that has been introduced into the house by representatives Schakowsky (D-IL), Markey (D-MA) and Baldwin (D-WI). This bill&#8217;s stated purpose is to make the cosmetic industry safer through further regulation. While it sounds great on the surface, the group that is really [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/5-ways-the-safe-cosmetics-act-will-harm-consumers/689/</link>
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		<title>Reminder: It&#8217;s time to donate blood again!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been eight weeks since the last time we asked you to donate. That means you are eligible to donate again. Right now O Negative blood is in high demand. Please consider finding some time to donate this week, especially if you are O Negative. Donating is pretty quick (about 30 minutes if you make [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/reminder-its-time-to-donate-blood-again/682/</link>
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		<title>3 Claims In Dove&#8217;s &#8220;Soap vs Dove&#8221; Ads That Are Misleading</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you haven&#8217;t seen the commercial, you can watch it below: (you can also view it on Dove&#8217;s website) [See post to watch Flash video] First, I&#8217;d like to say that I don&#8217;t think Dove is a terrible awful product and you should never use it. I think our soap is far better, but don&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/products/3-claims-in-doves-soap-vs-dove-ads-that-are-misleading/571/</link>
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		<title>6 Reasons Why People Use Oatmeal In Soap</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you ever wondered why people put oatmeal in soap? You can find oatmeal in a variety of skin care products. So, what&#8217;s the deal? Oatmeal offers some really awesome benefits for your skin, and a lot of these benefits can be passed on to your skin through soap. We use something called colloidal oatmeal. This [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/6-reasons-why-people-use-oatmeal-in-soap/522/</link>
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		<title>We Choose Natural!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve discontinued a few soaps recently, and we&#8217;ve already explained this a couple of times, but I&#8217;ve gotten a few of e-mails lately from people asking why their favorite soap is discontinued. Allow me to address this: There are two basic ways to scent soap. One is to use fragrance oils, and the other is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/we-choose-natural/573/</link>
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		<title>HSMG 2010 &#8211; Day 1</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This weekend, I&#8217;m at the Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild 2010 conference in Denver, CO. It&#8217;s pretty awesome seeing so many soap makers, suppliers, and industry experts all in one place! Today I had a hard time choosing which sessions to go to, because they all sounded interesting. The keynote address was given by Carol Moseley [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/hsmg-2010-day-1/563/</link>
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		<title>Scratching Below the Surface: Regarding Skin Deep</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Kayla Fioravanti owns and runs Essential U and Essential Wholesale, one of our valued suppliers. She recently posted an article written by Dene Godfrey, President of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists. These organizations are self-proclaimed consumer advocate groups, but as the article explains, there&#8217;s more to the story. Whether or not you&#8217;ve heard of the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/scratching-below-the-surface-regarding-skin-deep/551/</link>
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		<title>What are these weird ingredients?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve stayed informed over the past few months, you&#8217;ve noticed that we&#8217;re making a few changes around Alabu. We have a new logo, and are currently rolling out new packaging. If you&#8217;ve received anything in the new packaging, you&#8217;ll notice that the ingredients listing looks a little different than it used to. First, I&#8217;d like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/what-are-these-weird-ingredients/530/</link>
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		<title>Trouble in the City</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you live in the NYC area (especially SoHo), you may already know that one of our valued retailers—Thompson Chemists—experienced a fire last week. Here at Alabu we are very sorry to hear about this. We met the folks at Thompson Chemists at the Extracts Show in 2007 and we have been doing business with them ever [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/trouble-in-the-city/538/</link>
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		<title>Spring Skincare Tips</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For some of us here in the northeast it seems like we skipped right over spring and jumped straight to summer. This weekend was in the upper 70s with lots of sun. The winter coats got left behind and we saw lots of shorts and flip flops. I&#8217;m not sure if this weather will hold [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/spring-skincare-tips/509/</link>
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		<title>How to wet shave with an electric shaver (huh?)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For years I&#8217;ve used a wet-shave method with a typical three-blade razor. I have super-sensitive skin on my face (no really, it gets irritated when I THINK about shaving) , and the three-blade design seemed to provide the least irritation for my skin. Thankfully Alabu shaving soap has made shaving tolerable. Any time I&#8217;ve tried [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/how-to-wet-shave-with-an-electric-shaver-huh/474/</link>
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		<title>Not What but How Much</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Some consumer advocate groups are creating a lot of anxiety in consumers and lobbying for excessive laws based on flawed science. There is a common misconception that we need to be protected from all toxic substances to be free from disease and birth defects, but this is simply not true. It&#8217;s not about any exposure [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/not-what-but-how-much/462/</link>
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		<title>What We&#8217;ve Been Up To</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We started talking about our new look at the beginning of this month. The change to our new look is going to be a process that may take several months, but it will be well worth it. A part of this new look is new packaging. We have also changed the name of our lotion [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/what-weve-been-up-to/455/</link>
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		<title>Another Step!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In the upcoming month we&#8217;ll be attending the Boston Gift Show. This is one of the steps we&#8217;re taking to increase the number of stores that carry our products. This isn&#8217;t a craft show like we&#8217;ve been doing. It&#8217;s a show where store owners come to find new products to carry. We&#8217;re looking forward to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/another-step/447/</link>
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		<title>A New Family Member</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We started looking for a cat to adopt and found one at the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society in Menands, NY. The staff and volunteers there were all so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. They knew about the animals under their care, and pointed us in the right direction to find the perfect pet for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/around-the-shop/a-new-family-member-2/443/</link>
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		<title>The New Photo Setup</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday we introduced our New Look. We are all really excited about it. During this process, we are going to be changing our product pictures on our website as well as literature. Hal has been working really hard to make our pictures look as professional as possible. In order to do this, Hal was going [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/the-new-photo-setup/426/</link>
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		<title>New Look, Same Great Products</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the last 10 years Alabu has gone through many changes. Some have been more obvious than others. Currently we are going through the process of making a few more. One major change that we are making is to the look of Alabu. We originally started selling our soap under the name Alabu in 2000, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/new-look-same-great-products/421/</link>
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		<title>Antibacterial Soaps: Providing a False Sense of Security</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The H1N1 virus has hit a lot of people this flu season. With the limited supply of H1N1 vaccines, people are encouraged to wash their hands often throughout the day using an anti-bacterial soap. Is this necessary? Will anti-bacterial soap keep you healthier this flu season? Washing your hands is a very important part of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/antibacterial-soaps-providing-a-false-sense-of-security/417/</link>
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		<title>Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils&#8230;No Such Thing!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As we have been reaching out to different stores to make our product more available, we have been asked some questions about our essential oils. We have also been told by some stores that they&#8217;re looking for &#8220;therapeutic grade&#8221; essential oils. We&#8217;ve been in this business for a lot of years, and &#8220;therapeutic grade&#8221; was [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/therapeutic-grade-essential-oils-no-such-thing-2/413/</link>
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		<title>Solid Lotion&#8230;Who Would&#8217;ve Thought!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This month we have tried something a little different. Instead of having a soap for the soap of the month, we are selling our regular Shea Lotion Stick for the soap of the month price. A solid lotion stick is very different than what most people are used to. One of the differences is that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/solid-lotion-who-wouldve-thought/406/</link>
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		<title>What&#8217;s Going on at Alabu</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The past year has been really busy around Alabu. We spent quite a bit of the year at craft shows which we really enjoyed. There are few things that make us happier than being able to meet our customers, or talk about our soap. We take a great amount of pride in everything that we [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/whats-going-on-at-alabu/379/</link>
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		<title>Need More Input!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On January 1st, we sent out our monthly newsletter with a link to a survey in it. We are looking for input on how we can better serve all of our customers. This is very important to us. One thing that we have seen already is that a lot of you would like to see [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/need-more-input/397/</link>
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		<title>Newsletter&#8230;How Do I Get That In My Inbox?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday we shared several ways to make every dollar and bar go a little further. One of the way that we suggest to saving money on your purchases was to read our newsletter. At the beginning of every month we send out a wonderful newsletter filled with photos from around our farm, stories about what [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/newsletter-how-do-i-get-that-in-my-inbox/390/</link>
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		<title>Make Your Dollar and Bar Go Further</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This past year has been very difficult for a lot of people. Economic conditions have made it difficult to continue purchasing your favorite products, and lately we have received a lot of emails asking about sales or how to get your soap to go a little further. We have decided to post the some tips [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/make-your-dollar-and-bar-go-further/386/</link>
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		<title>Saturday at the Coop!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This past Saturday Matt spent a few hours (2pm-5pm) at Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany New York, promoting our products. He had a great time and handed out a ton of samples at their demo station near the specialty food items. The store was busy most of the time he was there. People were [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://thealabublog.com/soap-archives/general/saturday-at-the-coop/377/</link>
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