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

Monday, September 8, 2008

Just Plain Irritating


This my friends, is a strange product. Have you ever heard of a conditioner that you mix with water? Well, Dr. Bronner's Citrus Conditioning Hair Rinse does just that. Per the directions, you "Stir 1-2 capfuls of this rinse into a cup of water, close eyes and slowly pour while massaging into hair. Keep hand combing hair feels entirely sleek (~30 seconds. Rinse out well. Repeat if necessary in extra hard water conditions or with longer hair."
As far as I'm concerned, who has the time to do all that?? I tried to use it per directions but I have to tell you: after bringing in a squirt bottle into the shower and mixing this product with water and combing my hair whole doing all of this... this was a lot of effort for my hair to not feel conditioned or sleek. I then decided to cheat and just throw a dollop of this product on my hair while sticking my head under the running shower water to continue adding water, I kept combing and combing and you know what....My hair STILL didn't feel the least bit conditioned or sleek. No matter how I use this product, my hair just didn't feel good.
I also noticed every time I got a drop of this full strength product on my skin, like the back of my neck, it burned like crazy (hence the reason they tell you to dilute with water I am assuming). So I decided to read the label to figure out if there are any warnings about irritation and saw it: "Concentrated Keep rinse out of eyes and wash out with water. Consult a physician if irritation persists. The lemon juice may slightly sting abrasions of the scalp & skin but goes away with rinsing." OUCH!!
I'm all for organic, non toxic and non synthetic, but this product just didn't do it for me in the least. This product is irritating to skin, and considering my short hair still felt tangled, I can't even imagine how long hair would feel after using this product. I'm sorry Dr. Bronner but I have to give this product 1 out of 4 stars for performance and value. I just didn't like anything about it.
*Dr. Bronner's is a Campaign for Safe Cosmetics signer— of which EWG is a founding member — is 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.
*Per the EWG website, this product scores a 1 on the EWG scale.
*The Dr. Bronner's website is: http://www.drbronner.com/
*I paid $9.99 for an 8 oz bottle. *If you purchase $20 worth of products from the Dr. Bronner's website they offer free shipping.

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Posted by Julie at 9:31 AM

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