I hope you enjoyed watching the video on the story of cosmetics. If you haven’t watched it yet, you should.
So, what did I do after I saw the video? Well I surfed around the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Website. I read about the chemicals of concern and read the FAQs. Go on, check them out. I’ll wait right here.
Pretty scary, isn’t it?
I got scared. Really scared. Scared about what I washing my hair with, slathering on my body and putting on my face. It just makes sense to me to do whatever we can to minimize our exposure to cancer causing products.
So I went to Skin Deep. Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group. They have a cosmetics database where you can enter your product and it tells you on a scale from 0 (least hazardous) to 10 (highly hazardous) how toxic your beauty products are.
My, oh my. Do I really want to know?
So I started entering all of my products. Here are some of their scores:
- Aveda Brilliant Spray on Shine – 6
- Avon Foot Works Therapeutic Cracked Heel Cream – 6
- Matrix Biolage Color Care Shampoo – 7
- Matrix Biolage Color Care Conditioner – 9
- KMS Flat Out – 9
That’s just some of the product scores my beauty stash had. I threw away everything that was a score of 3 or higher. Yes, really. Poof – gone!
I then added up how much each of those shampoos, hair products, lotions, make-up, etc actually cost me. In this case, ignorance was bliss. It was enough for a weekend away…
$500 in beauty products gone – because they were too hazardous to my health to keep using
I had mixed emotions doing this. I felt guilty. I felt sad. I felt duped. I felt dumb. I also felt relieved. Relieved to know that I was now aware of what I was actually putting on my body. Awareness allows us to make informed decisions.
So how did this all come to be, anyways? How did a former product junkie get to the point where throwing out $500 worth of products was somthing she wanted to do?
It’s the yoga. Yoga affords me the opportunity to invite awareness into my life. It has allowed me the opportunity to consider what I put in and on my body. Your yoga may be walking. Or Zumba. Or meditation. Really, at a very basic level, its whatever allows us to reconnect with ourselves.
But, we are still left with the million dollar question.
What do I use now?
I didn’t have a master plan for replacing my products. I saw they were hazardous to my health and got rid of them. But I still had to wash my hair and look presentable. So I started with looking at the products in the health food section of my grocery store and checking my products against the database. I’m still learning. Labels and advertisements mean nothing.
Just like food, you cannot trust the labels.
I also bought Meghan Telpner’s Natural Body Care Guide. I haven’t yet graduated to making my own products in my kitchen, but I am slowly getting there. Don’t worry, I don’t get a kick back or anything from Meghan for this recommendation – I just really like the guide.
$500 is alot to throw away (well, recycled actually. Please, no hate mail about the environment. I’m with you). I think it boils down to this…
Protecting ourselves from toxic, hazardous beauty products does not have a price.
What we put on our bodies is just as important as what we put in our bodies.
You are worth it.
Now go check out your favourite product’s score in the database and leave a comment below with the product name and score!
.
Wow! I can’t believe Aveda has such high scores. And Nature’s Gate! Thanks for the enlightenment.
Maggie – thanks for your comment! This is why its so important to check the database. Labels mislead.
Yes to Carrots day cream with SPF 15: 3
Almay One Coat mascara: 4
Stila eyeshadow: 5
Clinique superbalanced makeup: couldn’t find
Clinique blush: couldn’t find
Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Tingle shampoo: 4
Trader Joe’s conditioner: not listed
Pureology antifade complex: 6
I’m a minimalist when it comes to beauty products, even more so since the first time I saw that video you posted in part 1. I used handmade vegetable based soap that my sister-in-law makes and I almost never wear nail polish anymore.
The extra challenge I have is finding products that are safe AND weren’t tested on animals, which is very important to me. Once my Clinique makeup is gone I plan to switch to the mineral makeup again. I’ve used it before and liked it but it sure does make a big mess in the bathroom–powder everywhere.
I’m curious to see what other people are discovering.
Hi Cheryl! Yes – I am a huge fan of painted toenails. I am currently researching and considering the “SpaRitual” line – vegan nail lacqeurs which are DBP, formaldehyde and toluene free. They are not in the database. I’m not quite ready to give up my painted toes!
I like Jane Iredale mineral make-up. What brand do you use?
I use Bare Minerals and I do like it, except it makes you look ghostly in photos. I think they have a new formula now that minimizes that flashback effect.
Hi Jen! Thanks for the follow on Twitter.
I also recently dumped most of my cosmetic products in favor of healthier products. It feels so good to know that I’m taking care of my body as a whole (or at least I’m trying to move towards healthier choices). Cheers!
Hi Leili
It’s a process this journey towards a new lifestyle. Be patient and kind with yourself!
I love this blog post, Jen! My new favorite make up: BareMinerals foundation w/ spf. BUT, not all the BareMinerals products are safe. It’s so deceiving, isn’t it?!
It’s a tricky world out there in the cosmetics industry!
Wow, I am looking up the various things I use and being more and more aggravated. So much for label reading. I’m incredibly aggravated that there are no safe sunblocks over 30SPF. I might as well not wear sunblock — I burn right through 30. Blargh. I can, at least, work on reducing everything else. That’s something. But given a choice between practically-guaranteed melanoma and potential subtle harm, I’m sticking with my 70SPF sunblock.
It is aggravating at first, isn’t it? I quickly moved on to gratefulness though. Better to know than not to know I say. Its all about informed decisions, so you can decide for yourself about products like SPF30+ sunscreen. There is no right or wrong!
I have also seen the video you showed in part 1. My very good friend, who is a chiropractor, has done extensive research on toxins in food, beauty products, etc. She has found a line, created by a woman in Australia, called Miessence. They are literally no toxins or preservatives put in their products, so you could actually eat them with no ill effect. I am slowly adding more and more of their products to replace what I am using already. Through my friend’s research, she has found that there really is no regulatory body for certifying beauty products organic, which is very different from certifying food as organic. You can’t always believe a label that totes natural in their product line. Great post.
Here is the site if you are interested http://drbuffie.mionegroup.com/.
Andrea