We are located on the main street of Richmond, at 6018 Perth Street (just outside Ottawa - click for map/directions). We are primarily an internet-based store, so we don’t have regular store hours; we do however have a lovely showroom with all of our products on display and testers for customers to see and use. Since we do not have set hours, if you’d like to come visit us, simply email us and let us know what time and what day you’d like to come by – we are pretty flexible so most times work (and if it doesn’t we do have a large mailbox outside of our showroom door where we often leave orders for customers to pick up if they prefer a quick errand!).

Good quality organic products are made with natural, chemical-free, and pesticide-free ingredients. These products are gentle on the skin, free from toxic carcinogens, and considered by many to be more effective.

Any company can put 'natural' or 'organic' on their label. What most people want is a product that is both as organic as possible and free of carcinogens and/or synthetic chemicals. At Lilou Organics, we try our best to only carry products that fit both these criteria; most of the lines we carry are both organic and toxin-free, but when we can’t find what we want that offers both those criteria, we choose lines that use high quality natural ingredients and are also free of toxins (don’t forget – MANY organic and natural products are still full of toxins….we’ve done our homework and only carry high quality lines that are not full of harmful synthetic chemicals!).

Most people feel that quality organic products are more effective than mainstream products. Mainstream products are usually made with inexpensive, synthetic ingredients. Quality organic products are made with pure, natural ingredients and are therefore, excellent for both normal and sensitive skin types.

Good quality organic products do not use synthetic preservatives, but there are a number of natural ingredients that can be used for the same purpose. Since they are not synthetic though, their shelf life is not as long; most organic products have a shelf life of about two years. It's also important to note that without chemical preservatives, care must be taken to avoid the growth of bacteria. Make sure to either always use freshly clean hands when using a product, or to use a small cosmetic spatula to take product out of a jar.

Whether reading labels for organic or mainstream products, it's important to look for possible carcinogens in the ingredient list. Some of the most common ones include any type of paraben (methyparaben, etc), or sodium lauryl sulfate. For a more complete list of ingredients to avoid, see Ingredients to Avoid.

Some governments have taken strong steps in the right direction; for example, many ingredients that are allowed to be used in North America are banned in other countries (such as Formaldehyde being banned for use in personal-care products in Sweden and Japan). As with many other areas, it's up to consumers to tell their governments what ingredients they don't want used. There is currently a coalition of various groups trying to get companies to sign The Compact for Safe Cosmetics; so far there are over 300 companies who have signed - we encourage you to visit the website: www.safecosmetics.org.

That's a personal decision. You may want to start living healthy now and just throw them all out (chances are many of them are old and rarely used anyway), or you may want to give them to someone in need, or you may want to use up your old products first and then start buying quality products. It all depends on your comfort level using the products you already have.

You can read some of the books or sites from our Interesting Reading section, or do some research on your own - you may be surprised about how much information there is on organic and toxin-free living.

That's your decision, but some things to consider include:

1. We only sell quality organic and toxin-free product lines, so you don't have to worry about reading labels here; you can be sure that any product you buy from Lilou Organics is of the best quality.
2. We have a great selection; many of the products we carry are not found in your local stores.
3. Depending on where you have to go to buy the various products you want, the shipping may be less expensive than the gas you'll use (or perhaps worth the convenience of one-stop shopping).
4. We offer free shipping on Canadian orders over $100 and free shipping on American orders over $150.

We try to carry product lines from a variety of price points, however some things to keep in mind are that because our product lines do not use cheap, mass-produced, chemical ingredients, they are more expensive to manufacture. Even with that in mind, most of our products are no more expensive than those found in department store cosmetic counters. Another aspect to consider is that because these products have such pure quality ingredients, you do not need to use a lot of the product as it's quite concentrated; a bottle or jar should last quite a long time.