I blame Kerry. She brought this on by doing three things in quick succession:
1. She hired this great makeup artist for her wedding who only used natural/non-toxic make-up, and she was awesome AND the make-up looked/felt really good.
2. She then gave me a Tata Harper sampler kit. (Tata makes all her natural skincare products on a farm in Vermont. Seriously.)
3. And then to top it all off, she sent me this book:
(Yes, I realize this all makes Kerry sound really, really nice and not someone worthy of blame. It's true. She's the nicest.)
No More Dirty Looks explains what's going on in all our beauty/cleansing products and to summarize: it's really scary and super-toxic and a lot of the ingredients should be illegal.
I will paraphrase the most disturbing part I've read so far:
Nicotine patches work because you put them on your skin and they give you weird dreams and make you not want to smoke. Birth control patches work because you put them on your skin and it changes your hormones so you don't get pregnant. When we put any product on our skin it gets absorbed into our whole bodies. Ah! Guys, we super need to watch what we put on our skin!
Sigh. I wish I could go back to being ignorant. But I can't! I know too much. :(
I've decided not to react by immediately throwing out everything I own but, as I run out of things, I'll replace them with well researched non-toxic alternatives. I will keep you posted along the way. (Fun, right?)
Quick tip: If you start to do some Google-ing to get to the bottom of this and start to get scared, don't freak out! The book said the easy "quick fix" you can do this week is to replace your body wash/soap since that touches the most square inches of your body daily. (Ditto if you slather yourself in a full body moisturizer.)
I personally really like Dr. Bronner's. You can buy it everywhere (Target, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods), it's relatively inexpensive, and it smells nice, too!
I got on a nontoxic body product thing while taking anatomy with a teacher who was super into natural health, so I feel you. Chemicals go straight in through your skin!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest changes I made were with my face wash (I now use the neem and tea tree oil soap from Chagrin Valley Soaps and LOVE it, totally helped clear up my skin), shampoo (I use Onesta brand from my salon), moisturizers (face moisturizer from Chagrin Valley, virgin coconut oil for body) and makeup, though not completely.
I also switched to an (expensive!!) mineral-based sunscreen. There is a common ingredient in most sunscreens that mimics estrogen and I discovered the sunscreen I had been using daily since high school contains it. Ugh. Lots of info here: http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/
Um...thanks for letting me share my diatribe. Not that you had a choice.
Ooh... great info! I added your Chagrin Valley recs to my non-toxic beauty Pinterest board (ha).
DeleteWhat is your amazing but expensive mineral based sunscreen?
Joanna, I am on the same kick as you! All the hormone-altering substances are really messing with us girls and that makes me so mad! I am doing the same thing as you--replacing the particularly nasty stuff when it runs out. I am excited for us!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I love your blog! Paul and I had so much fun hanging out with you all a few months back! Hope you are doing well :)
Mary!!! Hi!!!! Together we will be AMAZING non-toxic women :) Let me know what products you like and hate as you explore. Say hi to Paul!
DeleteI really want to hear more about the changes you make. I haven't had a problem changing to more natural soaps and shampoos (though I often dip back into the pantene well!) and sunscreen. But make up is the hard part for me. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteWill do, girl! I have some hot tips on makeup, so I'm excited to start that part. In the meantime, I've been using some Bare Minerals stuff I often went on-and-off with. I think I need a refresher lesson on application, because it can easily look heavy/chalky, but I generally like it. (I'm very scared to try mascara, PS.)
DeleteOooh, I love this, and not just because I look like an awesome friend and you linked to my blog!
ReplyDelete1. Yay Megan. She rocks.
2. To be fair, everything I know about non-toxic makeup is from my sister-friend-wise owl Coco.
3. That Onion piece is hilarious. LMFAO.
4. need to buy that soap. they had it in my yoga studio.
5. I know, it's annoying to care about all this and be that person, but someday when those multi-millionaire chemists are honest about all they know about the beauty industry, it's gonna be huge.
6. and yes, much like calorie counts, i can't un-know what we know.
The soap is the best. I'm just finishing up the citrus, and I just borrowed Travis's Tea Tree. I liked them both. I bought a new bottle today of Rose Hemp that I haven't smelled yet, but it sounds exciting.
DeleteYou knowwwww, I started thinking about this recently too... I use a bunch of Aveeno products and I always was like "yay natural!" but I realized that is total BS when I recently took a really close look at the ingredients.
ReplyDeleteIs there a quickie list somewhere of "ingredients to avoid"?
OK now I'm confused... this Method stuff, for example, has tons of chemical-y sounding things but they all say "non-toxic"--is that wrong? Do I just need to read that book?
ReplyDeletehttp://methodhome.com/shop/pure-naked-moisturizing-body-wash/
Blech. I know. There's a LOT to learn, and I'm no expert (at all at all at all) yet.
DeleteTwo things:
1. Most stuff Whole Foods is basically okay. So that's a nice shortcut.
2. You can look up a lot of products here: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
Also, how do you plan to deal with the hair product issue? I have spent my entire life (slight exaggeration, but only slight) searching for the right hair products that can tame the crazy. I highly doubt I will be able to find natural products that work... and I'm sort of unwilling to try.
ReplyDeleteBut maybe... I can at least use natural shampoo and conditioner? The other styling products probably don't really get on my skin THAT much...
I've been warned that hair products are a challenge. (As is mascara...) I'm going to give it a try, though, but I have a lot of DevaCurl products on hand to finish first.
DeleteI have found lately though that I can use "eh" products with pretty good results... I think a lot of it is getting your hair into good shape (and I think maybe using cleaner products will help with that), and then a lot of it is the technique with how you style your hair and apply the product (and the cut, too). Supposedly aloe products are great for curls, but I will keep you posted, Curly Lady!
Hi Joanna,
ReplyDeleteSorry it has taken so long to write this comment. Have you tried Virgin Coconut Oil? I have recently started to use the Dr Bronner brand of Coconut Oil and it is amazing. I use it as an eye makeup remover, I find it to be the best remover I have come across. They also say it has anti-aging properties to it (win, win).
Also, I have suffered from Keratosis Pilaris (red bumps) on my arms and legs forever. It is a very common condition that in my experience doctors really don't care to find a solution for because it is cosmetic. They would always give me prescriptions for lotions that didn't make a difference and once I was pregnant and breastfeeding I didn't feel comfortable using it. Well I decided to try Coconut Oil. I kid you not after using it for about 2 weeks my skin has improved about 90%.
I think you have convinced me to start making the big switch.
xxoo, Lindsay
Hi Lindsay! Isn't it amazing how well natural products seem to work sometimes? I hope I can find some that are miracle workers for me too. So glad you've had such good luck with Coconut Oil. I'll have to give it a shot! We have a jar that Travis sometimes takes a spoonful of as a filling quick snack. (I haven't tried that; it weirds me out.)
Delete