BIG fan of Loma right now. Like some of my faves (here’s looking at you, Phantogram), Loma is a mix of two different groups, Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, plus the just-divorced duo Cross Record. The story is that they all went on together and couldn’t avoid collaboration– or the demise of marriage, evidently. But at least the artistic product is great. Each one of the tracks on their self-titled album creates its own intimate space that has kind of a wonky, beautiful topography. Black Willow in particular is geat-great-GREAT for pensive moments; it couches you in its warmth, gently rocking you back and forth with the occasional unexpected rhythmic variation. You want this in your February, trust me.
I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the natural deoderant market is booming. Cashew-milk-> sustainable-clothing-> natural-deoderant is kind of the standard progression, right? Just to give you a snapshot of the current market, indie brands Schmidt’s and Native have just been snapped up by Unilever and P&G respectively, in response to an uptick in sales– in a shock to what was cool in the 90s, 25% of people wear natural deodorant now. Not for any particular functional reason, though there are those (chemicals in actively open pores = questionable)– a majority of people surveyed just vaguely think it’s important for their deoderant to be natural. Great, now who can define ‘gluten’ for me?
GREAT question, and apparently there is no legal answer. In a world where “one person’s “natural” is another person’s methylisothiazolinone,” courts are having a field day; while ‘natural 7 UP’ is also a natural eyebrow raise, some sneakier brands in legal trouble over the label include Tom’s of Maine, Honest Company, and– gasp– Annie’s. Back on the 90s thing, the word ‘organic’ wasn’t regulated for a long time either, until Whole Foods became a household name. So maybe the government will make some decisions now that we, like, care.
You might also be into something called ‘Aura Premium,’ a meditation app that caters specifically to stress and mood (because WHAT IF REGULAR DEODERANT CAUSES ANXIETY). Since you can’t sit still in the first place, their meditations are only 3-7 minutes long, and the app uses AI to serve you the right meditation based on your mood. You can get one 3-minute session a day for free, or upgrade to paid for longer meditations and the option to do more than one per day. Click here for a massive discount on a lifetime subscription.
