scrub, scrub, go away

Something we've all known for a while, but an interesting read none the less! Seems "...federal regulators, consumer advocates and soap manufacturers are locked in a battle (concerning safety) over the active ingredient in Dial Complete and many other antibacterial soaps, a chemical known as triclosan." A bit from the article:

"The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the safety of the chemical, which was created more than 40 years ago as a surgical scrub for hospitals. Triclosan is now in a range of consumer products, including soaps, kitchen cutting boards and even a best-selling toothpaste, Colgate Total. It is so prevalent that a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the chemical present in the urine of 75 percent of Americans over the age of 5.

Several studies have shown that triclosan may alter hormone regulation in laboratory animals or cause antibiotic resistance, and some consumer groups and members of Congress want it banned in antiseptic products like hand soap. The FDA has already said that soap with triclosan is no more effective than washing with ordinary soap and water, a finding that manufacturers dispute.       

The outcome of the federal inquiries poses a significant risk to the makers of antimicrobial and antibacterial hand soaps, which represent about half of the $750 million market for liquid hand soaps in the United States, according to the market research firm Kline & Company..."

You can check out the entire article here! (And thanks to method's Facebook page for the link!)

new debuts!

Spring is just around the corner (March 20th!) and true to fashion, method has begun sneaking out some great new products for us! And we all lust new method products, right? Take a look at the first two photos which feature method's spankin' new bottle design! You can view the new clementine scented all-purpose spray bottle here!

Their all-purpose sprays have also been reformulated with something they are calling powergreen technology, which helps the cleaners work even harder at naturally tackling stains and messes! And the glass cleaner is now a glass and surface cleaner. So you can use it all over your house, it's not just for glass anymore! (Mint scent everywhere? As the Kool-Aid man would say, Oh Yeah!)

Next up is a nifty new scent for their antibac line (oddly enough still in their old bottle design.) The new scent, which will be added to the lemon verbena kitchen line, is orange zest!

And finally, we have a-freakin-dorable new kids hand washes shaped like Mickey and Minnie Mouse heads (with official Disney logos on the bottle!) These will be available in lemonade and strawberry fizz scents! I'm not sure if these are Disney park products, or if they'll show up in stores; but they are available on method's online shop right this very minute (along with everything else I've mentioned here!)

And this is just the beginning, because in just a couple of weeks (mid-April) we'll also be seeing four, yes four, new limited edition hand wash scents hitting shelves (including lemon mint! Yes, you heard me right! And I've already announced another of the scents in a recent post here on method lust, so if you're a good little reader, you already know two of the four!) And speaking of limited edition scents, I noticed recently (this obviously passed me by) that their waterfall scent is now permanent (no more limited edition wording on the bottle!) Mandarin mango and waterfall are here to stay, while violet bloom and red currant are currantly currently still limited editions.

Are you excited for these new products? What will you snap up? (Cause it's all about the snap!)

clean sweeps

UPDATED

+ Be sure to check out your newspaper this Sunday, as method has a nice and nifty $1. off coupon for their new anti-bacterial cleaning line inside!

+ method lust reader Jason let us know he's recently found all-surface cleaning spray in lavender and pink grapefruit, at his local Big Lots! For a mere $1.50! Other readers have also found squeaky green laundry detergent (64 load bottle!) in sweet water and free + clear for $5.00; and almond flower creamy body wash for $3.00! So head on out this weekend and see if your Big Lots has some new method goodies! And let method lust know what you find!

HOLIDAY UPDATEI took a stroll into Target today, and discovered some of the "competition" aircare lines are hitting shelves now. method's holiday hand wash line hasn't shown up yet (it should hit early-November) but the Glade line is out in around five scents, including candles and aroma spray. I gotta say though, I think Glade is pretty much bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality (and it's definitely not green) so I'd have to take a pass on their holiday line. But they do have a peppermint crush candle that smells a lot like method's peppermint vanilla scent.

Febreze also has a holiday line of candles and spray out, including cranberries and frost, which reminds me of method's frosted cranberry scent. And finally, Target has gotten in two of Mrs. Meyer's candles from their holiday line (orange clove and Iowa pine.) Now they have four in the line, as well as dish soap, spray cleaner and hand wash. So I'm not sure if Target will be getting the remainder in later, or if this is all we get. - Which would be a huge disappointment. Except, the candles are already a disappointment (as far as I'm concerned.) They're tiny, I'm talking 4.9 oz. tiny! method's candle line was 6.5 oz at $7.99, and people complained about that price. Mrs. Meyer's holiday candles are 4.9 for $6.99! Once you see them, you might understand. I simply can't justify the price, so I won't be buying these. And the orange clove scent, totally not what I was hoping for. A couple years ago Old Navy put out an amazing orange clove candle that smelled 200% better than the Mrs. Meyer's candle. So I'll be passing on these as well.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks once they've had a chance to check out these lines, so drop method lust a comment or email! Here's to wishing yet again, method would give us our great holiday line back! Cause the other brands don't seem to be cutting it.

new product lust!

Now that the new products are (well, ok, in some places) starting to hit (Target) store shelves, as you have a chance to pick them up and give'em a try, what do you think? (Wow, that was one big run on sentence, wasn't it?)

I'm talking about anti-bac spearmint and lemon verbena spray cleaner, anti-bac lemon verbena wipes, fresh currant limited edition hand wash, fresh air fabric softener, sweet pea baby detergent, and sea minerals, clementine, and cucumber dish soap.

Throw us a review (you can email me one! And I'll post it here on methodlust!) Compare the new products with their old counterparts (ha ha, get it, counterparts. Oh yeah, I'm good!) Love the new scents/products? Hate the (ok, ok, mom always did say you should never hate something. How about greatly dislike?) the new scents/products? Lust everything! Let method lust know!

new, new, new!

So I got a little confession to make. I adore Christmas. Oh that festive holiday season (hopefully) full of snow, brightly wrapped presents, and gleeful music! In fact, I have an obsession with Christmas music. Christmas records, to be exact. (Psst, I'll let you in on a little secret. I own one hundred and twenty seven Christmas records. Yes, I realize at this point I need an intervention. Feel free to stop by my house anytime, and start one. No, but really.) They're mainly from the 50's thru late 60's/early 70's. I love, love, lust, and lick them! (Ok, I don't really lick them, cause that would be real dirty like. So dirty in fact, I'm not even sure method could clean my tongue properly after that. So no, no licking. More imaginary licking. Ok?) And this week we've had our yearly Hospice Flea Market in town, and I've been stocking up on ho ho ho, Christmas records! And of course, when I get them, I have to play them to see what they sound like. So... it's sorta been Christmas in August for me. Actually, you could take that back to the last few weeks in July as well, cause I bought some at Goodwill, and those had to be played too. Just ask my dad, he was loving it (and no, not in the loving lusting licking way I was, trust me. More in the sarcastic not loving lusting or licking at all way.)

So walking into (here's the point! Whew!) Target today, it was like Christmas came early, what with all the music I've been listening to, and on top of that, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but all new method products! They've arrived! Yay!

No, really, Nathan. You did that entire Christmas intro just to bring in the idea of finding method products like Christmas presents? You did all that, for this? My word, you need help... but you digress, third person voice, you digress...

Here's what you'll be finding (hopefully this week!) at your nearest Target! All the knowns - the new antibac line in spearmint, lemon verbana, and lemon verbana wipes (see photo above!) As well as the new dish soap in those laundry shaped bottles, in clementine, sea minerals and cucumber! And what's this, some surprises! A brand spankin' (Christmas colored! So there, ha, third person voice! I got you back!) new limited edition gel hand wash in fresh currant! (It's sorta a really light berry/cherry-ish scent, or at least that's what I got from sniffing the bottle.) And method luster Bradley was right, they've put out a 25 load laundry detergent in lavender cedar! And it smells really nice! Earthy, but with a little floral, I can't explain it, but I'm liking it! Not sure if this is a Target exclusive, or limited edition, or what, as it had no labeling as such.

I'm gonna hold off on any reviews of course, until I've had a chance to try out the products properly for myself. So the only thing I can give you right now is my first impressions/bottle sniff tests. The antibac line smells really... how do I say this properly? - Medicinal. It's just, it's made with thyme oil (which I think is a big part of what makes it antibacterial) and I think that's what is giving it this scent. I could barely smell lemon verbena or spearmint over that heavy medicinal smell. But, I haven't tried it, so perhaps it will come off differently when you actually spray and use the product! I will be picking up a bottle of the spearmint to give a try, even though I have my concerns over the use of antibacterial products, and see what I think.

The clementine scent is nice. I wish it were a bit stronger, and more fresh. It sorta reminds me of a generic orange scent at the moment. But again, I didn't like the scent of mandarin mango when it first came out, and I gave it a sniff test in the store. Then I purchased a bottle, and tried it out, and really liked the smell! So who knows, that's why I want to wait and give these all tries before I really get into any nitty-gritty.

So that's that! I'm so excited! And we can also expect to see the new fabric softeners showing up this month, very soon (in similar scents to the current laundry line.) And, if that wasn't enough, the new kitchen hand wash line comes out in September, along with the naturals dish soap line. And since Bradley got the lavender cedar perfect, I'm going to bet he's right on these two lines as well, scent wise. He says the hand wash line will carry basil and lemongrass (yum! yum! yum! Lemongrass!) and the naturals dish soap line will carry basil and ginger yuzu.

Let method lust know when you've seen these new items on your store shelves, and what you think of them! Initially, and after you give them a big ole' method try!

+

While we're at it, method has released a press release on their new antibac line, to give everyone some more information into what makes it, well, do it's antibac thing! Via csrwire.com:

"Method, the leading innovator in premium, eco-friendly household and personal care products, introduces its first line of botanical household disinfectant sprays and wipes. The Method Antibac assortment of antibacterial, antiviral and antimicrobial products is registered by the Environmental Protection Agency and consists of two cleaning sprays, one formulated especially for the bathroom and the other for the kitchen, and all purpose cleaning and disinfecting wipes.

Method has partnered with CleanWell Company, makers of the thyme-based disinfecting technology, to create a patented botanical formula that kills 99.99 percent of household bacteria including E.coli, salmonella enterica, influenza A and H1N1 virus on hard, non-porous surfaces.

"In the past, we were unwilling to develop or promote antibacterial cleaners because we had not yet found a technology that met our strict ingredient standards and aligned with our principles," says Adam Lowry, Method co-founder and chief greenskeeper. "We recognize that some people prefer to use antibacterial cleaners for high-contact surfaces like toilets and sinks, and we're excited to offer a line of disinfecting cleaners that utilizes CleanWell's botanical technology."

The bathroom spray is optimized to target soap scum and hard water stains while the kitchen cleaner is designed to cut through grease and grime. Both of these products are effective at killing 99.99 percent of household germs on hard, non-porous surfaces throughout any room in the home.

With vibrantly colored bottles and nature-inspired scents of lemon verbena and spearmint, Method stays true to its unique design + fragrance differentiation with its antibac line, which starts appearing on U.S. store shelves this week at Target and other retailers across the country.

About CleanWell Company
CleanWell Company's mission was born over a decade ago from a family's need to find cleaning and disinfecting products that could be used around the founder’s severely immune compromised son. The CleanWell scientific team was the first to discover how to blend thyme oil to kill 99.99% of germs naturally. CleanWell is passionately committed to developing innovative solutions that offer consumers a way to clean and disinfect without compromise."

+

PS - (Are you still with me?) I have a feeling this is why the tub + tile cleaner has been discontinued, as the new antibac line is formulated for bathroom (and kitchen). I would have preferred they just left them antibac without specifying an in-home area, but alas. I really liked the eucalyptus mint tub + tile cleaner, so I'm surprised it's gone (or at least gone from Target.)

And again, let me know what you think about all the new products! I can't wait to give them all a try! Ho, ho, ho, merry method (in August!) Yeah, I had to tie up the ending with the beginning. I realize it was a stretch, but come one, give me a little credit here, ok? Ok, well, maybe next time...

soap dish!

The New York Times has just ran a (very to the point) article both in print and online touting some of method's awesome new products (appearing soon at a store near you!):

"Method’s Single-Handed Soap Dispenser | By Tim McKeough

The cleaning-products company Method is updating its range, aiming to keep every corner of the home spotless — and equipped with sculptural bottles. The new line of dishwashing soap ($3) is notable. “We had been trying to crack dish soap for years,” said Eric Ryan, one of the company’s founders.

Method’s new pump bottle is designed to appeal to people who apply soap directly to a dish or sponge as well as to those who fill up the sink with suds. It has a beefy base and a pump with a wide top so it can be used with one hand, without being picked up.

Method is also introducing its first antibacterial products, with cleaning sprays and wipes ($3 per container) that the company said kill household germs with a patented botanical formula; another addition is kitchen soap that removes food odors from hands ($3)."

+

look for the new products to start hitting Target shelves (hopefully) this weekend!

eric (sorta) live - video!

Did you miss Eric Ryan's live Q&A session this week? If so, no fear! You can now view it in full glory over at Inc.com! (I've also included some better shots above of the new product sneak peeks. Apparently the anti-bacterial products will be called method antibac (what do you think of the name?) and will of course use natural means to kill bacteria. I still can't read the fragrances on those bottles, though. Gosh darn it!)

Enjoy!

wake up time?

Well what do ya' know? That nasty antibacterial product could just be, well, nasty? As Gomer Pyle would say (you all remember him, right?) "Surprise, surprise!" Not.

I hope my mom is reading this post. Oh wait, she's not cause she doesn't read my blog. Or any blog. But I have a cute little story for you. So this past Christmas I went home for the holidays, and as usual I had gotten my mom some method hand wash as a stocking stuffer. Something I do a lot for the holidays. Until just recently there was no where to even buy method (we live IN the sticks, I tell ya!) Luckily now, though, they have a Lowes!

But she has a tendency to do this horrible deed. I'll come home a year later again for the holidays, and she's gone and replaced the method hand wash (she used it all up of course) with Softsoap! So I go out and confront her about it! And do you know what she says "They don't make an antibacterial version, and that's what I like to use." News to me! Especially since I've yelled and screamed about antibacterial products for years now. For years. Remember this. This will come in handy a moment from now.

So a day or so later, after this discussion/argument/screaming fight/gun duel (ok, well, no screaming fight or gun duel, but that would make a great movie!) we're in Walmart (cause again, we live in the STICKS!) and she's buying stocking stuffers and they're RIGHT out in the open cause my mom, well, she's not very stealthy; and right there, RIGHT THERE are two bottles of antibacterial hand sanitizer. One for my sister, one for me. In fact, during our soap confrontation, I think the following words came out of my sister's mouth to mom - "Yeah, don't ever get him any hand sanitizer. Cause he hates that stuff!"

Christmas day, stockings are emptied. I pull the hand sanitizer out (and I'm way too nice, so I literally just thank her while projecting this "what the fudge?!" look - cause cursing is so not allowed in our family) and she says "use it and stay healthy!" - I could feel the tiny dagger slipping into my flesh, ever so slowly.

She won't be getting anymore method hand wash from me, ever again.

+

PS - Did you know they even put this stuff in toothpaste?!? Toothpaste! I did not even know that! In fact I just bought a double-pack deal of Colgate Advanced Clean, and THAT'S the toothpaste it's in. I wouldn't have even guessed! Ugh...

Extra PS - I loves my mom, I really do. (Except for that part of her that likes antibacterial.)

+

As Nancy Reagan would say (did I just use Nancy Reagan in a blog post? What is this world coming to?!) "Just Say No."

bloody right!

Ok, that title? I had to! Because here is a great article from the method home UK blog (yes, Virginia, there is a method UK home office! How cool is that?!) concerning antibacterial soaps. Man, do I hate that stuff with a passion! So here is the article in full:

"Antibacterial soaps are pesticides. Meaning the ingredients in them are used to kill bugs.

When you use these soaps on yourself or your children, you could be absorbing pesticides into your system via your skin.

Many public bodies such as The American Medical Association do not recommend antibacterial soaps. They don't recommend them for use in your home. They don't even recommend them for use in pediatrician's offices. The only place they'd like to see these soaps is in hospitals.

Antibacterial soaps aren't effective at killing viruses that make you sick. The companies that make antibacterials have made a fortune pushing their “bacteria are evil” agenda. Through their marketing and advertising campaigns, they’ve created a sub-set of the population that’s compulsive about wiping down everything from grocery store carts to airplane armrests.

Antibacterial soaps claim to kill 99% of bacteria. But you don’t catch the common cold or the flu from bacteria. You get them from viruses. So is that antibacterial soap really making you less sick, or just exposing you to a dirty ingredient?

In addition, adding chlorinated water to some antibacterial products creates chloroform, which you then inhale. Chloroform is a suspected carcinogen. It’s also that stuff that bad guys use to knock out their victims in action movies.

Keep in mind that antibacterial products are designed to kill living things, namely bacteria. Guess what else is a living thing? You.

The Solution:

Wash your hands with good old soap and water. Done properly, it’s effective in getting rid of pesky germs.

Ideally, you’d wash with warm water and a good, paraben-free soap that is made from good stuff. Also, take your time with it. Your routine should take you anywhere between one and three minutes to really get the job done. Remember too that dirt you can see will come off right away, but the germs that you can’t will need some scrubbing before they go slip-sliding down the drain."

Now, go get some method Ginger Yuzu hand soap, and wash yourself clean!