Did you know that cancer-causing chemicals have been found in the skin care products you use every day? In fact, they’ve even been found in those labeled as natural and organic! Cancer has been the second leading cause of death in the U.S. for many years … and it still is. Even children are getting cancer, and their rate is increasing. It’s time to find out how to protect yourself and your family.

Now, you may be wondering …

Are you kidding me? How is that possible? There are so many rules and regulations in this country, surely there are some laws to protect the consumer from cancer-causing ingredients in skin care products, especially those that claim to be natural and organic!

Well, the truth of the matter is there are NOT!

The cosmetics and skin care industry is unregulated. The FDA cannot tell them what chemicals they can use and which they cannot. The ingredients used, even in skin care products labeled as natural and organic aren’t even required to be tested for safety. In fact, a study on the safety of 7,500 personal care products, done by the Environmental Working Group in 2004 found that 99.6% of the products tested contained one or more ingredients that had never been tested for safety by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, the industry’s self proclaimed watchdog!

So, how do you find products that are safe and healthy?

Read more…

Yours in health,

Are You Sure the Ingredients in Your

Natural Skin Care Products Are Safe?

Every day, we use soaps and body washes, creams, lotions, makeup and other products, one on top of the other, to make ourselves look prettier (or more handsome), younger, erase blemishes, smell better, feel sexier and to attract, or keep, the perfect partner. Looking well-groomed and attractive is important. It’s good for your self esteem too. But not all the ingredients in the products that make you beautiful and sexier are good for your health.

 The cosmetic and personal care product industry is a multi-billion dollar a year industry … and growing. New products are coming onto the market every day. Manufacturers play to your emotions in their advertising and packaging, frequently misrepresenting products as healthy which really are NOT.

Read more …

Yours in health,

 Announcing … the quickest, simplest, easiest way to choose safe and healthy, natural and organic cosmetics, skin care and personal care products NOW … without ever having to read a single ingredients list!

I know you want to use safe and healthy, natural and organic skin care and body care products because you’re reading this page.

Choosing the safest and healthiest products just got easier.

You may be among the many people who are frustrated with reading ingredients lists, or just choose not to. Or maybe you just want a little easier way to pick your products.

Now you don’t have to read ingredients lists when you want to buy natural or organic products for your skin care. You don’t have to wonder any more if the products contain cancer-causing contaminants. That work has already been done for you.

Dying To Look Good “Best Brands“ lists the safest and healthiest natural and organic cosmetics, skin care, body care and personal care products on the market. They have been thoroughly researched to make sure their ingredients are truly pure, natural, safe and healthy.

It’s a 3-month membership program. You’ll receive weekly product lists, every week for 12 weeks. Each week, you’ll also get information on one company whose entire product line is exceptional. In fact, there are more than 12 companies that have been identified as having superior healthy and safe products. So, there will be bonus “Company Spotlights” coming to you every once in a while, between your regular weekly product lists.

Many companies in this program are offering discounts to Dying To Look Good “Best Brands” members. And the best part, many of the discounts can be used more than once and some will even be in effect after your membership expires.

Learn more about how you can make choosing healthy, organic and natural skin care products for yourself and your family quicker and easier, and how you can save money in the process.

Yours in health,

Christine H. Farlow, D.C.

The Ingredients Investigator

Protecting you from harmful ingredients

www.dyingtolookgood.com

www.dyingtolookgoodbestbrands.com

dr.cfarlow@dyingtolookgood.com

I’ve been researching the safety of ingredients in food, cosmetics and skin care products since 1991. My research turned to identifying healthy, natural and organic cosmetics and skin care brands in about 1999.

While some of my research has been done in stores, copying ingredients from product labels, most has been done online. The reason, frankly, is because most of the best products are available only online and some products that are potentially good are not available in stores in my area.

That said, another factor to take into consideration, which I’ve mentioned many times before, but which was just blatantly demonstrated to me yesterday, is to make sure you buy from companies committed to producing safe and healthy  products.

There are a number of companies on the market who are committed to the ultimate in purity and safety. A great many of them are USDA certified organic. There are some who are just as committed who don’t have the certification. These are the companies I search out.

There are other companies, probably most of them, who are in it for the profit. They claim to be natural and organic and some even get marginal organic certifications even though they don’t really qualify to be certified organic by “true” organic standards.

So, what happened yesterday?

I got an e-mail from a DyingToLookGood.com member who had just purchased Zuzu Luxe mascara, which is a brand I recommended in Dying To Look Good. I just finished researching mascara for the new Dying To Look Good Best Brands project that I’m working on right now. I checked the Zuzu Luxe ingredients online just the other day. They were perfectly fine, so it was my intention to include them in the new program.

However, I was asked by this member about the ingredients in this product because the ingredients label on the product she bought contained titanium dioxide, which I do not recommend.

I asked her to send me the list of ingredients on the label for the Zuzu Luxe mascara she bought…

It looked like two totally different products.

Here’s the list of ingredients that were on the actual label:

Zuzu Luxe Mascara
Agua, Cellulose Gum, Sorbitol, Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Alcohol, Lecithin, Panthenol, Melia Azadirachta(Neem) Leaf Extract, Tocopherol Acetate, Euphrasia Officnalis (Eyebright) Extract, Iron Oxides, Hectorite, Titanium Dioxide, Potassium Sorbate.

Here’s the list of ingredients that were listed on the web as the complete ist of ingredients in the product:

Zuzu Luxe Mascara
Deionized Water, Carnuba Wax, Stearic Acid, Panthenol, Tocopherol Acetate, Iron Oxides, Ultramarines, Cellulose Gum, Grapeseed Extract.

Whether you know what these ingredients mean or not, I’m sure you’ll agree that these two sets of ingredients don’t look like they are for the same product.

Bottom line. Know the companies that you purchase products from. Make sure they are truly committed to producing safe and healthy products AND they operate with honesty and integrity. The mainstream companies starting to create organic lines to get a piece of the organic pie are NOT going to give you the quality of product that the truly committed companies will.

I’ve been chastised by some for being too strict about the way I check ingredients and evaluate products. However, not only does this experience confirm my committment to the best, safest and healthiest natural skin care products and ingredients, I may just tighten the reigns a bit more here.

Zuzu Luxe, you are OUT!

Yours in health,

Sunscreens are controversial. The mainstream says you absolutely must slather it on every time you go out into the sun. However, sunscreen prevents your body from making vitamin D. You need some exposure to the sun, without sunscreen … during the time of day when the sun is not at its hottest, before 10 am or after 4 pm, in order for you body to make vitamin D.

With natural skin care growing in popularity, there are a lot of sunscreen products claiming to be natural. However, not all of them live up to the claims when you read their ingredients lists.

There’s also the discussion about the so called natural sun protective ingredients zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Are they micronized? Are they nano size? Or are they larger particle size? In the non-micronized larger size, they go onto the skin leaving a white film. Most sun products contain the micronized or nano sized particles.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified titanium dioxide as a possible carcinogen. Some companies now leave it out, but still use the zinc oxide.

Recent research is reported to say that micronized zinc oxide is not absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream if it is greater than 100 nanometers in size. That is not true for particles less than 100 nanometers. 

Soleo Organics recently introduced their All Natural Sunscreen with 22.3% zinc oxide. The rest of the ingredients include oils and botanical extracts.

The zinc oxide is well above the 100 nanometer size, according to the company.

One other ingredient caught my attention… vegetable oils. They specifically named four other oils. Why is vegetable oil listed as ingredient instead of naming the specific vegetable oils? It usually means they’re hiding something. When I contacted the company they did admit that the vegetable oils included soy oil and canola oil, both undesirable oils. However, they said it only makes up about 1% of the product.

Compared to the majority of the sunscreen products on the market, this is definitely a better choice.

However, here is an even better choice … without the vegetable oil.

Yours in health,

From what I could find, MAC does not claim to be a natural skin care line. They do claim to be cruelty free. However, since I received a call asking me about the ingredients in the MAC Cosmetics, I will review one product here and provide the link to the ingredients for the rest of their products.

Finding the ingredients for this product line was not easy. Below I have listed the ingredients for one of their skin care items. The ingredients in red are the objectionable ingredients and the reason why I do not recommend MAC Cosmetics.

Green Gel Cleanser:
Water (Aqua Purificata) Purified, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, TEA-Lauryl Sulfate, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, Cocamide MEA, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Extract, Laminaria Saccharina Extract, PPG-5-Ceteth-20, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Pantethine, Butylene Glycol, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Benzophenone-4, Octyl Salicylate, Sodium Chloride, Octyl Methoxycinnamate, Fragrance (Parfum), Sodium Citrate, Trisodium HEDTA, BHT, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Blue 1, Yellow 5

What you put on your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream. So you want to make sure that your skin care products are truly natural, preferably organic. The skin care products you use should feed and and nourish your skin with the same kind of healthy ingredients you would find in your kitchen. The best natural skin care products are made from food-grade organic ingredients and are certified by the USDA National Organic Program.

Yours in health,

Decleor is described as a natural skin care product line that “combines Aromatherapy to purify the skin, and Phytotherapy to protect it from environmental damage” resulting in “high-quality products that support the skin and delight the senses.”

Looking at the ingredients in a couple of these supposedly natural products in this new skin care line quickly demonstrated that their definition of holistic and natural skin care was NOT natural and holistic at all.

Take for example the ingredients in the Decleor Cleansing Gel:

Water (Aqua), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Water, Sodium Lauroyl Oat Amino Acids, Acrylates Copolymer, Triethanolamine, Cananga Odorata Flower Oil, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Fragrance (Parfum), Propylene Glycol, Tetrasodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

The ingredients listed in red should never be found in a truly natural product. The best natural skin care product lines will contain truly natural ingredients. The ultimate best natural skin care brands that are those that are also certified organic.

Don’t be fooled by misinformation about the healthfulness of organic and natural skin care products. It is abundant. Protect yourself by learning the simple basics of reading product labels.

Yours in health,

Tooth Soap® Freebie – Earth Day Special… a little late

Buy one bottle of Tooth Soap® and get one free. You can choose the same or different flavors. Put both in your shopping cart and you will be charged only for one when you use your coupon code when you check out.

Choose from:

 - Tooth Soap® Shreds

 - Tooth Soap® Liquid

 - Tooth Soap® Liquid with Raw Organic Honey

…any flavor you want.

Use coupon code: EARTH when you check out.

Act fast because this offer ends on April 27 at midnight EST.

Click here to get your Tooth Soap®.

Then click “Shop Online” on the top bar. On the “Shop Online” page, click “Dentist Recommended Tooth Soap®.”

Happy brushing!

Christine H. Farlow, D.C.

The Ingredients Investigator

Protecting You From Harmful Ingredients…

www.dyingtolookgood.com

www.dyingtolookgoodbook.com

Earth Day is a great time to remind ourselves that we need to take of our earth if we want it to be inhabitable for future generations. What are you doing to help protect Mother Earth? Here are five things you can do to make a difference.

• Buy natural skin and body care products in recyclable packaging from companies that are conscious about protecting our environment.

• Choose USDA certified organic natural skin care products where possible. These are the cleanest, purest and healthiest products on the market.

• Use baking soda and vinegar for household cleaning or choose products that are made from safe, non-toxic ingredients and are biodegradable. Don’t fall for the “green” ads by companies promoting environmentally friendly packaging for their chemical-rich toxic products.

• Read ingredient labels on all the food, personal care and household products you purchase for your family and your home. Not all products that say natural or organic on the label really meet true natural and organic standards.

• Reuse or recycle your containers and packaging. Don’t throw away materials that can be put to another use. Take your own reusable bags when you shop.

When we each do our part, it will make a huge difference for the environment and the world our children, our children’s children and all future generations to come will live in.

Christine H. Farlow, D.C.

The Ingredients Investigator

Protecting You From Harmful Ingredients…

www.dyingtolookgood.com

www.dyingtolookgoodbook.com

Coconut Oil - Pure, certified organic, unrefined, non-hydrogenated, unbleached, unfermented, undeodorized coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils to use, both internally and for natural skin care. It’s anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal.

Coconut oil does not have to be refrigerated. In fact, it’s a solid at room temperature and will start to melt around 76 degrees F.

To apply it to your hands, feet or other parts of your body, just scrape a small amount with a butter knife or spoon and let it melt in your hands, then rub it in where you want it. I find it leaves a little oily feel on my hands, so I generally use it on clean feet, morning and night and then put socks on.

Since the health of your skin is affected not only by what you put on your skin, but also what you put into your body, I also recommend using one to three tablespoons a day internally. You can melt it and use on your salad with a little lime juice or raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar and Celtic Sea Salt. It’s also the best oil to cook with and makes great stir-fry veggies. Some people just eat it by the tablespoon too!

Besides being good for your skin, unrefined coconut oil is good for your heart, helps improve thyroid function, revs up your metabolism, increases your energy and helps you to lose weight. Yes, it is a fat, and yes it does help you to lose weight.

Yours in health, 

Christine H. Farlow, D.C.

The Ingredients Investigator

Protecting You From Harmful Ingredients…

www.dyingtolookgood.com

www.dyingtolookgoodbook.com