Safe Cosmetics: Five Tips for Frugal Shoppers

If you’ve kept up on the latest news about toxic chemicals in cosmetics, you may be wondering if it’s possible to find safe products without breaking the bank. The good news is, you can protect yourself from toxic exposures while saving money too – it just takes some creative accounting and a willingness to look at the big picture.

I like to think of money as energy, and I want to put my energy into creating the kind of world I want to live in. So I buy all my personal care products from companies I trust; companies that share my vision of a healthy world. These tend to be small, independently owned operations that don’t use air-brushed celebrities to hawk their toxic anti-aging creams.

All of us have the power every day to make a positive impact on the world by spending money in ways that advance our values and offsetting the cost by refusing to spend money on the things that don’t. In this way, I actually spend less money than I used to on products that are better for my health and the planet. Here’s how:

Less is more – Companies love to make us think we need a different lotion for every part of our bodies, a different cleaning product for every room in the house. Better to buy one high-quality, non-toxic product from a company you love. An advantage to getting to know your local manufacturers is that sometimes you can get a great discount! (Thanks Grateful Body!)

Bye-bye hair dye (and other expensive toxic stuff) – Hair dye, relaxers, perms: Anything that changes the shape and color of hair tends to be quite toxic chemically, not to mention messy and expensive. Giving up the hair dye saves hundreds of dollars a year, and this is where I save the most money. Sometimes I miss the highlights, but my theory is that most women actually look better with their natural hair color. (Check out my Bye Bye Hair Dye page on Facebook.)

Make your own – Coconut oil and sesame oil make great lotions, and baking soda and vinegar are excellent cleaning agents. Here are some cheap green cleaning recipes and ideas for making your own cosmetics. I also love these ideas from the Zero Waste Family lady.

Just say “No” – to gratuitous products that add unnecessary expense and chemical exposures to our lives: perfumes, body sprays, vaginal sprays, air fresheners, dryer sheets, bubble bath.… It feels great to discover how much we actually don’t need! And after taking a break from all these synthetic fragrances, you start to notice how gross they actually smell.

Get political – No matter how smart we shop, we can’t avoid toxic exposures as long as companies continue to pollute the environment with toxic stuff. So we need to get behind laws like the national Safe Cosmetics Act that will shift whole industries to safer products.

Extra bonus points: Save lots of cash by turning off the TV! How much do people spend on cable these days? I have no idea because I don’t even own a TV. Most shows I like run for free on the Internet without all the brainwashing ads that try to make me think it’s a good idea for the scent of laundry detergent to last for seven days!

For more savvy tips, visit Stacy at notjustaprettyface.com

Photo credit: eyeSPIVE

What’s in that Pink Ribbon Product?

It’s that time of year again, when we can’t walk five steps without finding some new opportunity to spend money for breast cancer. We can “Kiss for the Cause” with Revlon lipstick, dust our cheeks with Estee Lauder’s Pink Ribbon Shimmer Compact, or hydrate our feet with Foot Works for the “Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.”

Before I rush out for a pink-ribbon makeover, I have some questions for these companies: How much money are they actually contributing to breast cancer charities, and what is the money being used for? And most importantly, are they willing to stop using chemicals linked to cancer?

The big beauty companies don’t want such questions raining on their pink parade. Revlon, Avon and Estee Lauder generate lots of goodwill and positive press with their signature pink-ribbon products and events. Yet ironically – outrageously – many of their products contain chemicals linked to cancer.

Revlon, for example, makes more than 20 hair dyes that score a 10 (for most toxic) in the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Just one hair-dye product, Revlon Colorist Expert Color & Glaze System, contains more than one dozen chemicals linked to cancer!

Avon and Estee Lauder make various products containing PEG compounds and other chemicals that undergo a nasty chemical process called “ethoxylation,” which uses ethylene oxide (a known breast carcinogen) during processing and often leaves products contaminated with 1,4 dioxane (a carcinogen and serious groundwater contaminant).

The True Cost of Your Shiny Smooth Hair

Beautiful, shiny, frizz-free hair? Count yourself lucky to have hair at all! I first heard about the Brazilian Blowout from Susanne Harvey, who called to tell me she’d lost huge chunks of her long red hair¹ after using the popular hair-smoothing product that is all the rage with celebrities.

Turns out many women have had the same fallout experience, including actress Mary Louise Parker² and scores of others who have been complaining to FDA for years about hair loss, blisters and rashes they experienced after using certain hair treatments.

The reason why was made clear by several recent studies³: Many salon products that promise straight, frizz-free, “healthy” hair — even those marketed as “formaldehyde-free,” like Brazilian Blowout – actually contain significant levels of formaldehyde, a potent allergen and known carcinogen.⁴

The revelations prompted Health Canada⁵ to pull the products off the market six months ago. But here in the United States, where it’s legal for hair products to contain unlimited amounts of carcinogens, FDA has taken no action to protect consumers.

Finally this week, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration stepped forward to warn salons⁶ to stop using formaldehyde-containing hair straighteners, and the state of California requested an injunction against the LA-based manufacturer of Brazilian Blowout.

“Workers have the right to know the risks associated with the chemicals with which they work, and how to protect themselves,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels in a statement.

Yes indeed! Unfortunately, workers and salons are not getting the straight story from manufacturers, who continue to insist these products are safe. According to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) survey, 95 percent of top manufacturers claim their hair-straightening products contain little to no formaldehyde, when they actually contain substantial amounts.

Obviously, these companies can’t be trusted and the FDA is failing to protect public health. The “Brazilian Blowup” is the perfect example why we need to reform national cosmetic regulations to bring American consumer protections up to standards that are already in place in Canada, Europe and elsewhere.

The federal Safe Cosmetics Act, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives last year by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (and soon to be re-introduced into the new Congress) will make it illegal to put cancer-causing chemicals into personal care products in the first place, and will require companies to be fully transparent about their products.

Take action here to support the Safe Cosmetics Act.

In the meantime, what’s the best option for hair straightening? EWG’s assessment found possible health risks associated with all the longer-lasting chemical hair straighteners. The safest route is to use a flat iron, or – like this Sesame Street video we love – learn to love your hair just the way it is.

Photo credit: Claudio Mancilla

Sources:
1. Not a Pretty Picture. http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/not_a_pretty_picture/ Accessed April 18, 2011.
2. Mary-Louise Parker of ‘Weeds’ claims Brazilian hair straightening caused her hair to fall out. http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2011/04/12/2011-04-12_mary_louise_parker_of_weeds_claims_brazilian_hair_straightening_caused_her_hair_.html Accessed April 18, 2011.
3. Still waiting on FDA to do something about Brazilian Blowout. http://notjustaprettyface.org/blog/still-waiting-on-fda-to-do-anything-about-brazilian-blowout Accessed April 18, 2011.
4. National Academy of Sciences: Formaldehyde Still Causes Cancer in Humans. http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jsass/national_academy_of_sciences_f.html Accessed April 18, 2011.
5. Brazilian Blowout Contains Formaldehyde. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2010/2010_167-eng.php Accessed April 18, 2011.
6. Hair Smoothing Products That Could Release Formaldehyde. http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/formaldehyde/hazard_alert.html Accessed April 18, 2011.

Dear President Obama: Stop the American Cancer Epidemic

How many carcinogens did you put on your body today? Probably more than you’d guess, since many popular brands of shampoo, body wash, soap and even children’s bubble bath contain cancer-causing chemicals that are not even listed on labels. How can this be?

Right now, it’s perfectly legal for body-care products and other household goods sold in the U.S. to contain chemicals known to cause cancer and other diseases, with no warnings to consumers. This has been the story since the advent of synthetic chemistry in the mid 20^th century. Since that time, American industries have released billions of tons of unregulated synthetic substances into the environment  – chemicals that are now all over our homes and inside our bodies.

Since that time, we’ve seen the dramatic increase of unexplained cancers – to the point that 1 in 2 American men and 1 in 3 women are now expected to get some type of cancer in their lifetimes.

Is there a connection here? The President’s Cancer Panel thinks so; and this week, environmental health groups are calling on President Obama to heed the advice of his own panel and take action to regulate chemicals in order to protect Americans from cancer.

The President’s Cancer Panel issued a strong warning and urgent call to action last year. “The true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated,” the panel reported. “With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread.”

The panel urged President Obama “most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives.”

Add your voice to the call by signing the petition to President Obama.

“The American people—even before they are born—are bombarded continually with a myriad of combinations of these dangerous exposures,” warned the cancer panel.

That’s you and me, and our kids in the tub.

The time for action is now. Europe is already far ahead of the United States in regulating chemicals. Just last week, the E.U. announced the first set of chemicals to be banned under Europe’s REACH chemical policy – including three phthalates, musk xylene and other chemicals that are found in various American products from medical devices to nail polish to fragrance.

Will America become the dumping ground for chemicals that are being banned in Europe? Or will we stand up and demand the same safer products that companies have already figured out how to make?

It’s time for the U.S. to step up; it’s time for President’s Obama and Congress to prioritize cancer prevention and responsible regulations that will shift the market to safer products and bring American industries into the 21^st century.

Take action: Sign the petition to President Obama

Support these bills:
Safe Chemicals Act will reform the Toxic Substances Control Act and regulate industrial chemicals under the Environmental Protection Agency.

Safe Cosmetics Act will overhaul the 70-year-old cosmetic regulations under the Food and Drug Administration.

Photo credit: Josh Kenzer

What’s in that pink ribbon product?

It’s that time of year again, when we can’t walk five steps without finding some new opportunity to spend money for breast cancer. We can “Kiss for the Cause” with Revlon lipstick, dust our cheeks with Estee Lauder’s Pink Ribbon Shimmer Compact, or hydrate our feet with Foot Works for the “Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.”

Before I rush out for a pink-ribbon makeover, I have some questions for these companies: How much money are they actually contributing to breast cancer charities, and what is the money being used for? And most importantly, are they willing to stop using chemicals linked to cancer?

The big beauty companies don’t want such questions raining on their pink parade. Revlon, Avon and Estee Lauder generate lots of goodwill and positive press with their signature pink-ribbon products and events. Yet ironically – outrageously – many of their products contain chemicals linked to cancer.

Revlon, for example, makes more than 20 hair dyes that score a 10 (for most toxic) in the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Just one hair-dye product, Revlon Colorist Expert Color & Glaze System, contains more than two dozen chemicals linked to cancer!

Avon and Estee Lauder make various products containing PEG compounds and other chemicals that undergo a nasty chemical process called “ethoxylation,” which uses ethylene oxide (a known breast carcinogen) during processing and often leaves products contaminated with 1,4 dioxane (a carcinogen and serious groundwater contaminant).

All three companies make products containing parabens and other chemicals that act like estrogen in the body, which is problematic because higher estrogen exposures are associated with higher breast cancer risk.

Revlon, Avon and Estee Lauder owe it to us to do better. As leaders in the pink-ribbon parade, they have a responsibility to stop buying carcinogens from the chemical companies, and they have the opportunity to be real champions for women’s health by using their leverage with the chemical companies to demand safer, non-toxic alternatives.

Instead, we get cute pink-ribbon products with an undisclosed portion of proceeds going to breast cancer research, almost none of which is focused on environmental causes of the disease such as cancer-causing chemicals and pollution. They want us to “hope for the cure” rather than having a serious discussion about how to prevent breast cancer – because prevention requires changes to the status quo.

For more about the not-so-cute history of the pink ribbon (which was co-opted by a beauty magazine) and Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which was started by a pharmaceutical/chemical company), see chapter 6 of my book “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.”

After reading these stories, you’ll never look at a pink ribbon the same way again. But the good news is, we don’t have to put up with this, because we get to decide which companies we support with our money and which products we put on our bodies. Here are five things you can do today to take meaningful action for change:

Learn About Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer: Share this important resource about the causes of breast cancer, State of the Evidence 2010 by the Breast Cancer Fund, the only national breast cancer organization focused solely on prevention of the disease. Consider donating to Breast Cancer Fund this October as a way to support prevention.

Think Before You Pink: Check out this website by Breast Cancer Action and encourage your friends to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions. Another great resource on this topic is the book and film No Family History, by Sabrina McCormick.

Just Say No to Toxic Beauty Products: Choose products that are free of carcinogens and other harmful chemicals by using the Skin Deep database. Spend your money on companies with products consistently in the green zone (0-2 toxicity score).

Demand Cosmetics Without Carcinogens: Join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in working to pass the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 that will require companies to eliminate cancer-causing chemicals from cosmetics. Visit our website and join our email list to get involved. Together we can give the beauty industry a makeover!

Pass the News: Educate your friends and networks about this topic by sharing this free short video, The Story of Cosmetics by Annie Leonard. Post it on websites, Facebook, listserves and help us get to one million views!

This article was originally published by Crazy Sexy Life in November 2009 and was updated for October 2010.

Photo Credit: tanakawho