Introduction

You've been dying to try that new shampoo that’s supposed to make your hair thick, lush and shiny. You can’t wait to use that new exfoliating scrub because the label tells you that it’s going to make your skin soft and glowing. You love that new cologne, every time you wear it you get so many compliments on how great you smell!

You love these products and how they make you look and feel, but did it ever occur to you that what you put on your hair or your skin could make you sick? Did you know these products contain chemicals, toxins and hormones that can cause anything from an unsightly rash to learning difficulties to birth defects and even cancer? Even though each product may contain a limited amount of these toxins, please keep in mind, most people use several products each day, from the moment they wake up ( soap, shampoo, conditioner, shave cream, deodorant, toothpaste, hand soap, make up) until they go to bed. After many years of daily use, these toxins accumulate in your body to cause the ailments I've listed above, among many others. If they cause these concerns for adults, just imagine the damage they can do to children who are smaller and weigh less. Although each product you may use may contain a restricted amount of chemicals, hormones and toxins, they can, and many times they do cause a myriad of damage to us all.

Not only are these beauty products toxic for humans, they are toxic to the environment, as well. Many of these products are made with petroleum based ingredients which contributes to global warming. Did you know that if you switch just one bottle of a petroleum based product for a vegetable based product we could save 81,000 barrels of oil in one year. How’s that for incentive to switch?

So now you decide it’s time to go “green”, you go to the health food store and purchase “Organic” or “Natural” products and you no longer have to worry about these concerns….or do you?

I have a favorite website: http://www.safecosmetics.org/, which is an online cosmetics-safety database for consumers, called "Skin Deep". Skin Deep highlights ingredients in beauty products that may pose safety risks in humans. Skin Deep is maintained by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG). It lists ingredients in over 27,000 products, a small chunk of the personal-care products on the market, considering most of us use 15 or more cosmetic and toiletry products each day. I recently found an online article from the Seattle Times which states "The personal-care products we use contain 10,500 different chemicals, according to the Seattle-based Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition." That's a large amount of chemicals in most of the products offered on America's retail shelves.

I think Skin Deep is a great tool. I encourage you to go onto this site and punch in any of the products you use. Skin Deep will tell you how toxic the product is on a scale of zero to ten, and what concerns these toxins cause. I went to the Natural Products Expo East, this past September and after I came home with my "goodie bag" full of products, I went onto Skin Deep to see how these “Natural” products rated and I was amazed how high some of these products scored on the scale. Just because a product claims to be "natural" or "organic" doesn’t mean there aren’t any toxins, chemicals, hormones or synthetic ingredients lurking among the "natural" goods you just purchsed .

A little bit about myself: My name is Julie and I am a product junkie (cosmetics, hair care and the like). I love beauty products and I love to shop. I'm a very young and immature 40, and I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful four year old daughter. I have been recycling for several years, my favorite home cleaning products are baking soda and vinegar and I try to buy organic foods (most of the time..unless the organic strawberries are $7 a pint). I have been concerned about toxins and hormones in our food for a long time, but just recently became aware of the same concerns in my beloved beauty products. I am concerned about the health of my family and my planet, and I am now obsessed with informing you and your family of the dangers of these seemingly harmless products.

The point of this blog: Now that I am committed to buying the least toxic products, how do I know if these low-toxic or earth friendly products work, how do I know if they're any good? Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how good or bad these products perform, until we spend our hard earned cash and buy it. With that being said, I thought I would make it easy for everyone and take advantage of my love of shopping. I am going to buy a couple of products per week, try them out for a week or two, then give you my critique about whether I think the product is worth purchasing or if I would not recommend the product to you. I will also keep price in mind, (some of these products are pretty expensive), so I will let you know, even if I like the product, whether I think it’s worth the price. I am going to focus on products that score low (0-2) or moderately low (3-4) on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics scale. I also hope that you feel comfortable sharing your opinions with me. I have added a space for comments so if you have tried a product that scores low on the Skin Deep/ EWG scale, please share your opinion with me. If you would like me to try a product, let me know what it is and I'll try it. The only thing I ask of you is that you are honest, if you are affiliated with a company, please disclose your affiliation to the company you are reviewing.

Thanks,
Julie

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Strong & Manageable???

As you know, mine is not the healthiest head of hair on the planet. I abuse my hair way too much, so I'm always looking for a shampoo that claims to strenghthen and repair damaged hair, needless to say, I was thrilled when I found Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo (a 1 on the EWG scale). According to the label, this is a natural formula "with Grapefruit Extract, Coconut and Sunflower oils, which creates a cleansing complex that is one of the most effective, gentle and richly foaming available". Guess what...I agree, this stuff lathers till the cows come home. Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo is free of Sodium Lauryl/ Laureth Sulfate, Parabens and Phthalates, but somehow, I still get the lather that I love. The label also states "Honey combined with essential oils of Orange, Lemon, Lime and Tangerine moisturize the hair, making it instantly manageable." Hmm, I'm a little iffy on that one. Yes, honey could help make hair manageable, but as far as I know, essential oils are added for fragrance, not to manage the hair. With that being said, I do have to admit the fragrance is fabulous. The Grapefruit scent really comes through and lasts for hours. As far as making my hair instantly manageable, I'm going to have to say, not! My hair feels extremely clean, but it also feels dry and tangly until I put on the conditioner. Lastly, the label states that "Sugar Beet Extract and Soy Protein penetrate to strenghthen and repair damage". This I believe to be true, after rinsing out this shampoo, my hair feels dry and tangly, it actually feels just like my hair does after I use a pure protein treatment.
As you may know from a previous post, I am a licensed cosmetologist. (I haven't worked in a salon in over 10 years) but I do know that products which are known to strenghthen hair normally contain protein. Pure protein dries out the hair, making it not only feel dry, but also unmanageable, even causing breakage. So, I have to admit I'm a little weary when I see a label that states you can have both strength and manageability in one product...that to me is an oxymoron. So, my opinion of this product is, if you like lather and you like your hair to feel squeaky clean, this is the product for you. If you like the long lasting scent of grapefruit and you don't mind using a conditioner after washing your hair, you will love this product. If you are looking for soft, smooth hair without having to immediately reach for the conditioner, use the Nurture My Body Shampoo Bar!
*Burt's Bees is a Compact For Safe Cosmetics signer— a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, womens, environmental, and consumer groups working on the ground in communities, in the halls of lawmakers, and directly with cosmetic manufacturers to encourage reformulations and safer ingredients. Over 500 companies have voluntarily signed a pledge called the campaign's "Compact for Safe Cosmetics," a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms within three years of signing. Read the Compact document or see a complete list of the signers. If you're a cosmetics company, find out how to get involved.
*This product is a 1 on the EWG/ Skin Deep scale.
*The Burt's Bees website is: www.burtsbees.com
*I paid $7.99 for a 12 oz. bottle at my local grocery store.

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Posted by Julie at 7:23 AM

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Julie,

I like what you are doing here. I too have been using the EWG site and trying to go organic/natural or at least low on the toxicity scale with the products I use on my body. I would be interested to see you rank these products -- with some sort of scale or star ranking with categories like: cleans well; would buy again; etc. We have been using the Shikai Natural everyday shampoo and been fairly happy with it. My boys dearly miss their Suave Green Apple Shampoo, but I believe it rated a 7 on the EWG scale, so we won't be buying that again. Anyway -- nice work -- I hope to see more! Thanks,Sandy littledove2@hughes.net

March 28, 2008 at 6:32 PM

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