Here at Eucalypso, we absolutely love podcasts. It's no secret that we are constantly listening to podcasts; whether we are commuting to work in the morning or doing the weekly grocery run at Whole Foods, we always have a good podcast on. It's a wonderful way of staying in tune with current events, learning more about your favorite topic, or getting deep into an interesting story.

We had a few people reach out about hearing about Eucalypso in their favorite podcasts over the past few weeks! Naturally, we were ecstatic and downloaded the episodes right away.

From wellness to mental health to murder, the variety on these podcasts were far ranging; however, the one thing they all had in common was their love for our silky soft eucalyptus Tencel sheets! The podcasts are interesting, insightful, and engaging - we enjoyed their depth in covering the subject matter. It truly made our days when we were listening along to the story, and we heard snippets of how much the hosts love Eucalypso! 

Here's a weekly roundup of some of our favorite podcasts. Want to hear their personal thoughts on Eucalypso sheets? Give it a listen!

 

SELFIE:

Let's talk self-care. Sarah James, a lifestyle blogger and self-help aficionado, is joined by bestie Kristen Howerton, a writer and psychotherapist, as they tackle the tricky and often elusive aspects of caring for ourselves. Their weekly conversations explore questions like: Why don’t I eat the way I should? How do I get enough sleep? What aspects of my personality make self-care tricky? And what’s the best way to deal with pubic hair? From the silly to the serious, Kristen and Sarah are taking a vulnerable and often humorous look at body, mind and spirit . . . and maybe a touch of the random, all while looking at the distractions and defenses that keep us from caring for ourselves like we should.

 

 

- We absolutely loved the Selfie podcast and hearing Sarah and Kristen talk about their daily struggles, from health to wellness to taking care of a new puppy. This podcast is hilarious, and listening to their banter makes us feel like we are best friends with them! 

 

Moms & Murder

Moms and Murder is a true crime podcast hosted by Mandy and Melissa, two friends who deep dive into a new case each week. Conversational in tone and heavy on the levity, you’ll enjoy their original takes on both the well-known, and those lesser heard of true crime stories.

 

 

- We love a good crime story, and we seem to get enough of these Moms and Murder episodes with Mandy and Melissa! We ended up binge listening to an entire reason of these murder podcast, and are still eagerly anticipating the upcoming episodes. Mandy and Melissa are great to listen to - they are entertaining and hilarious, while providing a very detailed account of the murder cases. This is one of our favorite podcasts, and we can't wait to hear more!

 

 

Let's Talk About It

On the Let’s Talk About I‎t podcast, Taylor Nolan gets candid with various celebrity guests and experts. The podcast focuses on mental health, relationships, and personal development. Taylor's unique perspective comes from her studies in psychology and counseling, as well as her time spent on The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise reality TV shows. Join Taylor each week, and let's talk about it. 

 

 

- We've been a big fan of Taylor Nolan since her Bachelor days, so we were super excited when we heard that Taylor was releasing a podcast talking about mental health. We knew that this Bachelor alum has a background in psychology and counseling, and it really comes through in her podcasts. She brings celebrities and other Bachelor alums on to the show, and interviews them in a way that is sincere and insightful.

 

The Simple Sophisticate

The simple sophisticate is someone who prefers quality over quantity, sensible living over mindless consumption, personal style instead of trendy fashions, has an insatiable curiosity for life’s endless questions and a desire to live a truly fulfilling life rather than being led around by the nose. Inspired by her lifestyle blog The Simply Luxurious Life, Shannon Ables (the original Simple Sophisticate) shares with listeners tips on how to live a refined life on an everyday income. From achieving your goals, preparing a memorable meal, creating a capsule wardrobe, traveling the world (Francophiles tune in as Paris is a favorite destination), and living life to the fullest without breaking the bank, living well is really quite simple.

 

 

- From elegant home decor to living a more fulfilling life, we love listening to Shannon's tips and advice. She has great insights about living a more refined life, and shares very realistic goals. We found this podcast to be a very easy listen, whether you are doing the dishes or running errands. It's a quick and simple way to improve your life a little everyday. 

Expensive skincare creams not helping your acne? Eucalyptus sheets can help.

“Getting a set of the organic eucalyptus sheets was the best thing that ever happened to my skin. My skin was able to breathe better and stay free of acne!”

 

My love for skincare

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve spent a LOT of money on skincare – probably hundreds if not thousands of dollars. I am no stranger to the skincare aisles at Sephora, and I’ve read probably an endless amount of skincare articles on Refinery29 and Allure. Like a lot of you, I care about what I put on my skin and want to make sure I’m making informed decisions about how to treat my skin well.

 

Like most people, acne was something that I struggled with a lot during my teenage years, when my young adolescent hormones were out of control and fueled the patches of pimples that grew like vines on my face. My rampant breakouts would often times lower my self-esteem, and I always felt like I was in a constant battle with my skin. Every once in a while, we would find tentative peace, but more often than not, I felt like I was in despair over my acne.

 

I’ve spent so much of my life pouring over reviews and advice blogs, so it should come as no surprise that I’ve also bought lots and lots of skincare products. It always seemed that having this incredible skin was only just one more product away! Yet even as I moved out of my teenage years, I was still constantly breaking out. I didn’t understand why it felt as if my skin was fighting me: I was spending so much money on skincare, but the state of my skin was in constant fluctuation. Some days, I would find my face smooth and radiant; other days, I would wake up and find the pimples back in their usual spots like a nightmare that never went away.

 

So I went to see a dermatologist. We had an in-depth conversation about things that might affect my skin condition like diet patterns, stress, family history, and skincare routine. Everything seemed fine, until she asked “have you considered changing your sheets?”

 

 

The Criminal

It all started making so much sense. My cotton bedding was breaking me out, from my face to my back, and my sheets were the one common denominator.

 

I went home and started doing a lot of research about cotton sheets. It was during my internet sleuthing that I discovered troves of information about the damages of cotton and how awful it could be for the skin, especially while you’re sleeping.

 

The nature of cotton fibers isn’t conducive to extensive wear for sleeping, as cotton can breed bacteria and trap sweat. These properties cause breakouts and night sweats. The way cotton is woven doesn’t allow for breathability, which is crucial for good skin and preventing breakouts. Cotton ranks low on the hypoallergenic and breathability scale, and that even includes the expensive ‘luxury’ cotton sheets like Organic and Supima cotton.

 

Because it’s so easy for cotton to trap all the sweat and bacteria while you sleep, you would essentially have to be washing the sheets constantly to make sure they stay clean. Not only is that incredibly hard to maintain, but it’s very difficult on the environment. I needed a better solution – for the environment and my skin.

 

If you’re like me and spending so much money on skincare products, why would you offset all that progress by sleeping in something that breeds bacteria on your skin every night?

 

 

Putting the beauty in “beauty sleep”

Eucalypso was the best decisions I ever made for my sleep and my skin - I switched from my cotton bedding to Eucalypso’s organic eucalyptus sheets last year, and I haven’t looked back. These sheets are so soft and gentle on my skin, it feels like I’m sleeping in a cloud made of silk. They’re a total game changer.

For starters, Eucalypso sheets are hypoallergenic. That means that these eucalyptus Tencel sheets are perfect for people with sensitive or acne-prone skin. They're ideal for preventing breakouts or inflammation of skin problems. They're very gentle on all skin types - even for babies. 

Not only are Eucalypso sheets hypoallergenic, but they are 2x softer and 3x more breathable than cotton. This has been super helpful in helping clear my breakouts, because my skin can finally breathe while I sleep. They are super gentle on my sensitive skin, preventing breaking out from any irritants. They also wick moisture 70% better than cotton, allowing me to sleep comfortably all night long.

 

A close-up look at my skin texture now after having switched to sleeping on Eucalypso sheets.

In my year of sleeping on Eucalypso sheets, my skin was able to breath better and stay free of acne. I found that when paired with a good skincare routine, sleeping on my eucalyptus sheets helped minimize my breakouts. I feel so relieved knowing that my sleep routine is helping amplify the effects of my skincare products, rather than working against them.

 

Oh and as an added bonus, if you’re lazy like me, not having to do laundry so frequently is a wonderful hidden benefits! Since eucalyptus sheets doesn’t trap heat and breed bacteria, you don’t have to put it through the wash as often as you do with cotton sheets. Not having to wash my sheets every week has really freed up my time for me to do things I actually find enjoyable.

 

Who wins in the war to the softest, most comfortable and ecofriendly sheets?

 

 

Not Your Grandma’s Bedding

 

For as long as I could remember, my mother would pull out her blue-and-white printed floral cotton bedding and preach to me about the benefits of cotton sheets with a high thread count. Much like almost everyone I know, I grew up sleeping on cotton bedding, indifferent to how it felt or its impact on the environment. Cotton bedding, I thought, was the only means to a good night of sleep.

 

Cotton had long been the popular crowd favorite for bedding, as it had been the only options available for a long time. However, early into my adulthood, the green movement took off, and people began to branch out from their stuffy cotton bedding in search of something that was softer, more versatile, and more eco-friendly.

 

It was around this time that bamboo bedding began making a splash as the new innovative and eco-friendly bedding material. People were keen to try these new environmentally sustainable, natural, silky-smooth sheets. These bedding sheets were flying off the shelfs, and people were enthused that they could actively support something that was helping the environment. As I would later come to discover, most of these words used to describe bamboo sheets-“eco-friendly, natural, organic”-were all a marketing gimmick.

 

In reality, bamboo sheets did not hold up to a lot of these eco-friendly qualities they boasted.

 

 

Bamboo: Wolf in Grandma’s Clothing

 

If you closely examine the fibers of bamboo made fabrics, you will find that there is virtually no trace of the bamboo plant in the sheets. The process of breaking down bamboos to the creation of bedding is so intensive that the final product is essentially stripped of all the benefits of the organic bamboo plants.

 

While the mechanical process of creating bamboo bedding is environmentally friendly, the chemical process adds so much toxic chemicals to the fibers that is could hardly be considered green. The process of creating bedding from bamboo is composed of using 12 toxic chemicals. These chemicals are incredibly harsh and harmful not only on the bamboo fibers but also on the environment.

 

These chemicals are just as damaging as they are hard to pronounce - are composed of multi-syllabic words that are classified as corrosive, and its chemical composition drastically alters the beneficial qualities of bamboos. Furthermore, there is no way for the chemicals to be recycled after usage, so they are dumped into the environment. About 50% of them find their way back into the environment, polluting the earth, dirtying the air, and contaminating the water.

 

Once the Federal Trade Commission caught on to this, they began mandating companies to list the product as made from Rayon rather than bamboo. Since the chemicals so harshly altered the bamboos fibers, they couldn’t list the product as bamboo but rather as Rayon.

 

 

 

Happily Ever After with Eucalyptus Bedding

 

I am a big proponent of making things in a more sustainable way - that is gentle to the earth and also better for you. After hearing about these detrimental qualities of bamboo bedding, I began seeking out alternatives for cleaner, greener linens.

 

All Eucalypso products are made from 100% Tencel from organic eucalyptus fibers, milled sustainably and produced in small batches to produce the growth of Eucalyptus trees.

 

The best thing about Tencel bedding that sets it apart from bamboo bedding is that it uses absolutely no (that’s right - 0) harsh chemicals, as opposed to the 12 toxics chemicals bamboo uses. Tencel lyocell uses simply one solvent in its creation, and it 100% organic and is not toxic. In fact, the process of creating Tencel allows the solvent to be recycled and reused. This is called a closed-loop process, in which the transformation process recovers and reuses 99% of the organic solvent and water used in this process.

 

On top of all of these great environmental benefits of eucalyptus bedding, the fibers are incredibly soft and durable. This meant that the fibers are less prone to wrinkling, so you don’t have to put as much time into caring for the sheets. The sheets are also super silky, cooling, and perfect for sensitive skin. To read more about the benefits of eucalyptus bedding, you can click here.

 

We live in a world where we are always striving to do better and be kinder to our Earth. So take a deep breath and dive into your comfortable eucalyptus sheets, knowing that you’re making the right choice for both you and the environment.

 

 

It's not everyday that you get called the The Beyoncé of bed accessories - so when it happens, naturally we were very excited about it! And if that wasn't compliment enough, So Yummy has deemed our sheets to be even better than a grilled cheese sandwich. We can't think of a higher compliment than that! (For a life hack, we suggest trying grilled cheese sandwiches while in bed - double your enjoyment).

Thank you So Yummy for featuring us! You can read more of the article linked here, or see below for the feature.

 

These Bedsheets Are Better Than A Grilled Cheese Sandwich

There are a couple things in life that are better than a grilled cheese sandwich. Discovering you’ve inherited 20 million dollars from an aunt you’ve never met is one (this hasn’t happened to me yet), and a full eight hours of sleep (also hasn’t happened to me in awhile) are the two I can think of off the top of my head. What more could compete with a buttery, crispy grilled cheese sammie?

While I won’t be mega-rich anytime soon, I probably can achieve a full night’s rest…with some help. Enter Eucalypso sheets, the crème de la crème of sheets. The Beyoncé of bed accessories. These sheets, made of Tencel lyocell from organic eucalyptus trees, are soft and stay cool no matter what. On Eucalypso’s website, they accurately describe the sheets as the “lovechild between silk and cotton,” a fabric that is neither slippery, nor dense. It’s just right.

The first time I used them (pro-tip: wash them first — the more you wash them, the softer they get!) I fell asleep within minutes, which is rare for me. I have a whole bedtime schedule prepared: 15 minutes of face masking while I drink a relaxing tea, and at least 30 minutes of reading – no phones or laptops allowed. I fell asleep with my face mask on, mug half empty. The sheets felt so soft, so comforting, and cool against my skin, it felt like I was cocooned in one giant kitten ear. I woke up eight and a half (!!!!) hours later feeling completely and utterly recharged.

 

 

The cool thing about these sheets, is that you don’t have to compromise. You can have the most wonderful rest in your life and your grilled cheese, too. Eating a grilled cheese sandwich (or any kind of food) in bed = the best kind of grownup luxury.

Get your own here, started at $129.

Eucalypso has been published in Living Better 50 and we are so excited to hear about how much people have been loving our 100% Organic Eucalyptus sheets, especially for how cooling and breathable they are! If you are a hot sleeper or feel like your sheets aren't very breathable, read about our of our customer's experiences with Eucalypso sheets!

You can read more of the article linked here, or see below for the feature.

Some things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season:

1. A staycation with your family. There’s no better way to spend Thanksgiving than with your mom fussing on the Turkey, Uncle Steve who has already started drinking before noon, and your grandma who won’t stop asking you when you’re getting married…
2. Episodes of Haunting of Hill House. Because there’s nothing scarier than spending time with crying children running around the house…except some scary shown on Netflix.
3. Stuffing and Gravy. Turkey is always the shining star of the show (like your brother Jim), but we all know that stuffing and gravy is where it’s really at. In fact, you’ll take another helping, please.
4. Naps. One after breakfast. Another before the family arrives. Maybe one more after lunch. Annnnd definitely one after the food coma sets in.
5. Wine of every kind – bottle of Merlot for you and Chardonnay for that uncle whose name you can never remember (who is he related to??)
6. A Good Book - like Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Nothing like a good book to tuck into bed with, especially one focused on family that traces the roots of a family and follows the parallel paths of sisters through eight generations.
7. A great night’s rest with Eucalypso’s silky soft sheets. Silky soft, gentle, breathable, sustainable . . . lights out.

This Thanksgiving season, give thanks to the ones you love with the gift of sleep. Giving Eucalypso's 100% eucalyptus sheets are the perfect way to say thank you. They're silky soft, gentle on the skin, breathable, hypoallergenic, and sustainably made. That way, you can the ones you love and rest well at night.

There once was a girl who loved to nap…

While I absolutely love the benefits of a good night’s sleep, what I don’t love are some of the things that come with snoozing, like scratchy sheets and night sweats - no thank you! What I dislike even more are the damaging effects of producing some of the more traditional forms of bedding on our environment.  

Like a lot of people, I suffered through traditional cotton bedsheets for most of my life. My mother would show up first at my childhood bedroom, then college dorm, and finally my New York apartment with a new set of cotton bedding, reminding me to change my sheets with consistency. That is to say, we had no shortage of cotton bedding. Yet I found that with my cotton sheets, I would often wake up in the middle of the night, especially in cruel New York summer, covered in sweat - even with my AC on full blast. Furthermore, my cotton bedding was tough and often times harsh on my extremely sensitive skin. If I was paying hundreds of dollars on hypoallergenic makeup and luxury facial cleansers, why couldn't I find sheets out there that would also take care of my skin? I didn't know what to do; after all, I thought cotton was the only bedding option out there. 

“You need a higher thread count,” people would often recommend me. So I upgraded my bedding, first by thread count, then by cotton type - Egyptian cotton, Supima cotton, I tried it all. Nothing was helping. I looked further into what was causing all my issues and discovered that cotton bedding is prone to harboring breakout-causing bacteria in its fibers and causing night sweats in a large population of sleepers. After that, I went on an in-depth search of the damaging effects of cotton linens on the environment. This research further revealed how harmful cotton is to the environment (it is one of the world’s dirtiest and thirstiest crops), so I decided to produce an alternative – a fabric that would be gentle on my skin and kind to our Earth.
 
Down the yellow brick road…to AustriaAfter countless rounds of designing, redesigning, sampling diverse fabrics around the world, and learning from industry experts, my path led me to Lenzing Group, based out of Austria.

Lenzing prioritizes high quality and environmental soundness in everything they do. What really set them apart is their focus on creating fabrics that were not only incredibly well made, but also scientifically proven to work through rounds of research, development, and testing. The fact that their production methods focused on protecting the earth and following environmental standards completely sealed the deal for me.

Lenzing’s developed a new fabric technology called Tencel® lyocell made from eucalyptus fibers, which is what we used to create our sheets. It's incredibly well made and developed with the highest standards in luxury bedding. I knew as soon as I felt the silky soft eucalyptus fiber bedding that this was exactly what I was looking for. The fabric was super cool and gentle on my skin, it felt like I was running my hands through the bedding equivalent of water. I couldn’t help but want to dive head first into the bed.
 
The beginning of something beautiful…

Where cotton was dry to the touch, our sheets feel breezy and light. It is naturally gentle on your skin and exquisitely soft, all the properties that makes for a good night's sleep.
 
Even better yet, our eucalyptus sheets have been tested to enhance the quality of sleep as well. Its benefits are endless – in fact, you can read about them here. The Tencel® sheets are ultra soft and hypoallergenic, so it is perfectly gentle on sensitive skin. The quality of the fibers minimize the breeding of bacteria so it doesn’t cause breakouts on the skin. Eucalyptus sheets are also super breezy and naturally temperature regulating, wicking moisture away from the body so you can stay cool and dry for a comfortable night’s sleep.
 
As if that’s not dreamy enough, our Tencel® bedding is also super sustainable and kind to the earth, which was exactly what I had set out to do when I started my journey. Our product is No-Waste, so we reuse and recycle 99% of water, solvent, and fibers that go into the making of the product. Unlike most other fabrics, like cotton, bamboo, and synthetic polyester, which uses harmful chemicals that pollute our air and water, our eucalyptus bedding only uses one organic solvent that is 100% recyclable and ultra gentle on the earth.
 
To further keep up with the spirit of sustainability, we only make our sheets in small batches due to sustainable harvesting practices. Each sheet is make with a lot of love, since we harvest the eucalyptus fibers in small quantities in order to allow for successful rooting of eucalyptus plants year after year. To learn more, you can read more about safe earth practices here.
 
The dreamiest night of sleep yet.

I am so proud of the final product, because it is everything I had dreamt of and even more. It has qualities of all the things that I care about for a great night’s sleep – softness, comfort, gentle, breezy, and kind to the skin. What more, we can all sleep better at night knowing how wonderful Eucalypso sheets are for the environment.
 
We all know the traditional fairy taIes, in which the sleeping princess gets awoken after a long slumber...In this fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty is so comfortable in bed that even after the prince’s magical kiss, she asks “5 more minutes, can’t you see how cozy I am in my Eucalypso bedding??”
 
And that is the kind of happily ever after we can all dream of…