DeTox ... the devil in the details

Safe, Effective Cosmetic Companies

2011-11-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

You've read all about the problems with body care products and cosmetics.
Are you ready for solutions? Check out this list:

Compact For Safe Cosmetics Champions and Innovators

Many of these companies have a wide variety of products.

Two of my favorite companies:
Herban Lifestyles-

Herban Lifestyles

& Soap Walla Kitchen-

Soapwalla Kitchen at Etsy

What have you found that you trust?
-

Lessons Learned...

2011-10-03T13:13:00.001-04:00

Photo: pipiwildhead

Well. You know what they say about vacations: you go away, get disconnected from your routine and think about your life, your choices and how you're spending the precious time you have left in this life.

That's exactly what's happened with me. After only 6 months of blogging on this topic I'm not 'feeling' it anymore. The change of heart came for me about the 3rd week in September, but it's taken me this long to formulate my thoughts into words.

Some of it has to be because I've found what I needed to find for myself in the way of safe personal care products. Most of the products I use now I make at home for a fraction of the price I was spending before.

Some products I still purchase. Herban Lifestyles' Orange Ginger Beer Shampoo Bar is wonderful. SoapWalla Kitchens' Cream Deodorant beats all the rest. The 3-ingredient version of Kiss My Face Olive Oil soap - and only that version.

The rest I make from ingredients I buy online. Things like pure organic oils: jojoba, neroli, sea buckthorn, coconut and argan; bulk undiluted castile soap, organic golden flax seed and aluminum free baking soda. These are rounded out by my homegrown or farmers' market herbs and the vinegars and hydrogen peroxide available at the grocer.

My hair, skin and face have never looked better. My home is clean (enough... thank you very much...) and I no longer cough, sputter, have to take a break to keep from fainting from fume overload and feel like hell the next day from 'fragrance' and all the other additives.

So here I am. I can't say I'm not going to blog about safe products anymore. I'm sure I will. I just know the drive is gone and I'm moving on to the next phase. What ever that is ... I'll know when it happens.

I wish you all much success with your searches and journeys. Thanks for reading and supporting me on mine!

On Vacation... See You In September

2011-08-22T13:17:00.002-04:00


Rare Beatles photo

I'm on vacation ... see you in September!

Jillian Michaels Takes On Toxic Beauty Products

2011-08-18T15:06:00.000-04:00

Jillian Michaels photo

Here's a link to Jillian Michaels' take on toxic beauty products and covers several big name products.

Jillian wants to know....does your beauty routine need a detox?

Kristen Arnett & The Green Beauty Team

2011-08-12T13:26:00.013-04:00

The Green Beauty Team photo

Do any of you follow Kristen Arnett and/or The Green Beauty Team?

I'm a fan. Yeah, I'm completely hooked. I follow them all on Facebook, the Green Beauty Team Newsletter and the Twitter feed.

Kristen, the founder and Editor-in-Chief
is a make-up artist who learned first hand the value of safe simple ingredients. While living and perfecting her skills in make-up and the Italian language in Italy she followed the advice of a model friend and tried olive oil as a moisturizer. She's been finding and sharing green beauty solutions and techniques ever since.

Her make-up skills and advice are sought after in the fashion and entertainment industries, but it's her recipes, solid information and tips that prompted me to make her the subject of this post.

A few weeks ago she suggested introducing sizzle & spice into my beauty routine with recipes including cinnamon, turmeric and honey. Just reading the post made me feel relaxed and happy... and a little hungry. A quick check around the house showed me I already had all the ingredients for two of the three treatments in my cupboard and refrigerator This is part of what I really like about her ideas. You can put her yummy ingredients on your face, hair and body. And if some gets on your lips... well that's yummy too.

Another thing that's really great about the team is the amount of information shared. For the Introducing Sizzle & Spice Into Your Beauty Routine recipes there was background information on the main ingredients as well as a link to an entire page on the history and benefits of Turmeric The Age & Acne Fighter.

Ceylon Cinnamon photo

My first instinct- to go for the cinnamon, turmeric and honey facial scrub was based on how happy I feel whenever I smell cinnamon.

Sweet, yet a little spicy and hot it reminds me of so many things I love: crisp winter days, roasting spices for the traditional Chana Dal on Christmas Eve, chocolate chip oatmeal dough transforming into cookies in the oven and steaming mugs of cocoa after ice skating on frozen ponds all day.

Although I tried both the face mask and foot scrub and both were really wonderful, the mask was my favorite. Here's why...

As a reminder of my lost battle trimming holly bushes two weeks ago I was wearing quite a few stubborn scratches across my face. No matter what I did they just wouldn't heal. This meant every morning I awoke to blood on my pillowcase and pajamas.

Not only did the cinnamon, turmeric and honey mask close up the scratches completely, i could barely see where they had been! This was after one 20 minute treatment. The rest of my face felt soft and smooth and looked somehow more firm. It was just short of incredible.

I didn't come up with these treatments so I'm referring you again to Kristen and The Green Beauty Team's page for the background and recipes. Don't forget to look around for lots of good ideas and information while you're visiting.

André Pipa photo

A quick warning.: turmeric has been used as a dye for centuries. It will stain/dye your hair clothes and towels.

If you're not interested in turning your hair, clothes and linens bright yellow remember to use the same precautions these gorgeous women have employed.

Keep the mask away from your hair and clothes and don't use that precious snow white, 100% Egyptian cotton spa towel you love to dry off or wrap up in while you allow the mask to do its work.

Chemicals That Make You Fat?! Obesogens

2011-08-09T14:27:00.003-04:00

That's the claim...
Here's a good explanation of the problem:

To see how that relates to body care products check out these links...

armykat photo

'Obesogens' Lurk All Around Us

Chemical of the Day: Parabens

Chemical Exposures: Exploring Developmental Origins of Obesity

OrangeCounty_Girl photo

Holistically Haute

Parabens In Beauty Products

Counterfeit Estrogens & Your Metabolism

Yet more reasons to Support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011!

Please 'Tweet My Senator' & Campaign For Safe Cosmetics- Get Involved

Formaldehyde

2011-08-05T11:51:00.003-04:00

Kerapure photo Kerapure is a NON-Toxic Alternative

My dad used to make all his wild kiddies laugh with this silly joke,

"Knock knock!
Who's there?
Formaldehyde!
Formaldehyde who?
Formaldehyde-ing places came the Indians...."

But there's nothing funny about the chemical that's found its way from the funeral parlor into air fresheners, furniture, nail polish and other cosmetics.

The following paragraph is taken directly and intact from I Am Not a Guinea Pig 's Chemicals of Concern Series. Here's the link to the article in it's entirety.

Week 1: Formaldehyde

Posted on March 8, 2011

Part of our Chemicals of Concern series.

Why the chemical is considered of concern:

Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)—the United Nations authoritative research body on cancer—has classified as a “known carcinogen”, (i.e., a substance that causes cancer.) Epidemiological studies have shown an increased risk of cancer among people regularly exposed to formaldehyde in the workplace. In addition, studies in rats have found that exposure to formaldehyde causes nasal cancer. IARC concluded in 2009 that formaldehyde causes leukemia in people.

Not so funny.

Wallet Pop photo

Something else not so funny is that formaldehyde is often not listed as an ingredient on product labels but is still leaching into your system through chemicals called formaldehyde donors.

Many thanks to Bubble and Bee for their Chemical Of the Day series and for providing the names of the following formaldehyde donors:

DMDM Hydantoin
Tetrasodium EDTA
Diazolidnyl Urea
Urea
imidazolidinyl urea

Want to know more? Here are a few links with really good information and some alternatives to products that contain formaldehyde and/or formaldehyde donors.

FDA: US Food And Drug Administration FDA Receives Complaints Associated With the Use of Brazilian Blow-Outs

Bubble and Bee Chemicals to Avoid, Part 4: Formaldehyde Donors

The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics What's In Your Products?

Kerapure The Dangers of Formaldehyde

L.A. Times Sources of Dangerous Formaldehyde

AOL Daily Finance Five Products That Contain Formaldehyde: Is Your Health at Risk?

Everyone Is Affected By Toxic Chemicals

2011-08-05T10:20:00.001-04:00

The sad truth? Many very good products and solutions have been created through sophisticated manipulation of chemicals. Unfortunately many very bad things have inadvertently been created as well.

This short video from I Am Not A Guinea Pig, a program run by the Environmental Defense Fund clearly explains some of the problems as well as the beginning of a solution.

I Am Not A Guinea Pig also provides a Chemicals Of Concern Series for those of you who want more details.

FAQs: Sunscreen Questions, EWG's Answers. 2011 Sunscreen Report From EWG's Skin Deep

2011-08-04T17:50:00.000-04:00

David Madden photo

Environmental Working Group (EWG) posted the link below on my Facebook page. It's contains really good information about sunscreen. No surprise there. They asked it be passed along. So I am. Please do the same!

FAQs: Your sunscreen questions. Our answers. | EWG's 2011 Sunscreen Report | EWG's Skin Deep

Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) Moisturizing Lipstick in Caramel Cream

2011-07-29T16:46:00.007-04:00


Jeremy Brooks photo

'Search keywords' is a section in my Google stats. It shows me the word or phrase people entered into their search engines that linked them to my site. Today I saw someone had entered, "are bwc moisturizing lipsticks safe?" The question really caught my attention. I decided to find out the answer.

The BWC website very admirably gives a full list of the ingredients in their products- although several of the spellings and ingredients are not recognized by the Skin Deep's database. Maybe that's a holdover from when BWC was a British company. I googled the ingredients in question and got synonyms.

I choose to investigate the first lipstick I found in the BWC list, Caramel Cream.
Here's what Skin Deep's database had to say...

BWC Moisturizing Lipstick Caramel Cream

Score:

	Data: Limited
Health Concern	HIGH
Product Type	lipstick
Made by	Beauty Without Cruelty by Lotus Brands, Inc.
Data last updated	July 2011
how to read the score

Ingredients:

ricinus communis (castor bean oil), oleyl oleate, candelilla cera (plant wax) synthetic beeswax (blend of plant fatty acids/esters & alcohols), caprylic/capri triglyceride, ozokerite, glycerylhydroxystearate, carnauba (plant wax) octylmethoxycinnamate, isodecyl neopentanoate, prunus armeniaca (apricot kernel oil) tocopherol (vitamin E), benzophenone-3, propylene glycol, bha propyl gallate, citric acid, [+/-(may contain) ci 15850, ci 15985, ci 16035, ci 17200, ci 19140, ci 42090, ci 45370, ci 45380, ci 45410, ci 47005, ci 73360, ci 77007, ci 77491, ci 77492, ci 77499, (iron oxide), ci 77510, ci77742, ci 77891 (titanium dioxide tin oxide, mica (crystallized minerals)].

Health Concerns of Ingredients:

About the ratings
Overall Hazard
Cancer
Developmental & reproductive toxicity
Allergies & immunotoxicity
Use restrictions
Other HIGH concerns: Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Multiple, additive exposure sources, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes
Other MODERATE concerns: Contamination concerns
Other LOW concerns: Ecotoxicology, Data gaps, Enhanced skin absorption

BWC photo

Final Thoughts:

BWC photo

Having never seen a hazard rating of 10 before I was
impressed. I'm still finding it pretty hard to accept that it's accurate. I even reread the ingredients and ran them into the database a second time. But the results were the same. Maybe it has something to do with the different spellings and the synonyms I found. There was one ingredient, capri triglyceride for which the database could not find a match so I had to leave it out...

Please remember this is just a preliminary report.
Here is the Skin Deep disclaimer:

"PRELIMINARY REPORT: The information on this page was entered by a Skin Deep user and has not been verified by EWG."

Maybe one of you would like to copy the ingredients, follow the Skin Deep instructions and see what you can find. If you do please let me know. I'd love to update this post with better news.

Emotion Drives Cosmetic Purchases More Than Utility Of Product: New Study

2011-07-26T15:13:00.002-04:00

Landsbókasafn Islands photo

Researchers* at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) report emotional responses are the primary reason for cosmetics use.

Cosmetics Trends' reviewed the study and here's a quote:

"Consumer satisfaction is greatest when the cosmetics brand helps to strengthen positive emotions through the perception of 'caring for oneself' and removing feelings of worry and guilt about not taking care of one's appearance".

But here's the real kicker folks,

"This raises concerns as it suggests that in order for the brand to provide this positive emotional experience, it must first cause consumers to have negative feelings about themselves, such as concern about and dissatisfaction with their appearance."

Anyone surprised to hear this? I'm sure you'd like know more.

Here are a few options for reading a review:

Cosmetics Design

Science Daily

PsyPost

Thanks to The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for bringing this study to my attention.

And below is the information on the study and the scientists involved...

*Apaolaza-Ibañez, Vanessa; Hartmann, Patrick; Diehl, Sandra; Terlutter, Ralf. "Women satisfaction with cosmetic brands: The role of dissatisfaction and hedonic brand benefits". African Journal of Business Management 5(3): 792-802, 2011.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Clearing Up Misinformation About the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011

2011-07-25T16:10:00.002-04:00

CoolHairCare photo

There's a lot of misinformation about the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.
Here are the facts: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics : Clearing Up Misinformation About the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011

Safer Chemicals Healthy Families

Not all chemicals create problems. Want to learn more about the ones that do?

Click on the link under the cartoon to read about them and watch the video.