We’re going to tell you about that later this week, but first we want to tell you about a woman we met named Wendy. She lives in South Africa, and she wrote us an email with the subject line “Vaseline shmazeline!!” Who could resist replying?
She said:
Three weeks ago, Vaseline convinced me with their new television campaign in South Africa that Vaseline is the way forward—you know good ol’ fashioned petroleum jelly, only now it’s even better for you because you can have it with healthy vitamin E, or cocoa butter or aloe…
So off I head to the shops so excited that I think I have found the cure for dry skin, I spend three weeks lacquering it on…and then I start noticing little red dots on my legs!
I’m getting pimples, kind of ingrown hairs, that I never had before. Duhhhh of course my poor skin is suffocating, and hence I have stopped using it. Thank you for making me put two and two together. I suspected it but doubted myself, but when I read your blog I realized exactly what was going on.
So, couple things. Wendy is awesome, clearly, and she knows how to title an email. Second, we totally get that feeling she describes where you know something is just off with a product, but the marketing dragons get you anyway, and then you end up with some nasty rash or whatever. And finally, we need to have a serious chat about petroleum jelly.
In the meantime, have you had an experience like Wendy’s?
Image (cc) from Flickr user Hellabella
That’s right, this week over at GOOD we’re talking about your face—and what you don’t want near it. For those of you who have read the book, this top-10 list of bad chemicals will likely be familiar. Hey, nothing wrong with a little refresher, right? Here’s the repost:
A quick skim of this list reads like a prescription from Dr. Obvious. Clearly nobody wants lead or petroleum on their faces, right? But if you’ve been reading this series, our blog, or our book, you know that the cosmetics industry uses all kinds of ingredients in its products—some dangerous, some just plain confusing. What many of them have in common is that that don’t belong anywhere near our largest organ.
Here’s why: Many of them have pretty damning scientific data on record. They’re also not doing anything for your appearance—and in some cases they may be making matters worse. And thus, here is our mantra: If you can’t be sure a product is safe, and it isn’t doing your looks any favors, why bother using it? With that in mind, here’s a top-10 list of common ingredients, contaminants, and byproducts that are bad for your health and duds for your face.
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1. Petroleum and related petrochemicals The danger risk for this group of ingredients ranges from a mellow yellow to code red. Petroleum distillates are toxic solvents used in mascara, hairspray, and callus treatments. But your run-of-the-mill moisturizer probably contains something like mineral oil or paraffin in it, which are not considered dangerous per se, they’re just really, really bad for the environment and they suffocate the skin and may interfere with perspiration. |
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2. Lead-tainted lipstick In 2009 the FDA discovered that of 20 lipsticks it tested, 20 were contaminated with lead. In many cases, the lead levels exceeded those set by that same FDA for candy—and since they don’t set restrictions for cosmetics, this feels like a fair model of comparison, right? Not so according to the FDA, which claims that we don’t eat our lipstick. Lead is a neurotoxin and lipstick goes on our mouths, which combine to make this debate officially ridiculous. Go for organic small-batch lipstick lines, or kiss a beet instead. |
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3. Formaldehyde-leaching preservatives Our crusade for clean cosmetics started after the discovery of formaldehyde in a hair treatment (and later in our nail polish), but this known carcinogen is also “donated,” as the pros like to say, by preservatives such as quaternium-15, DMDM-hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, and diazolidinyl urea. That means it’s both pervasive and often unlisted, not appearing as an ingredient on labels. It’s considered a human carcinogen by many health agencies worldwide, and when it’s not giving rats nose cancer, it might still be giving you a rash. |
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4. Fragrance It’s broken-record time, but here goes: Fragrance is in everything from your fancy perfume to your face wash. It represents a concoction of mystery ingredients, whose secrecy is protected by industry-ass-kissing trade laws. Lab studies by the EWG have shown them to contain a whole cocktail of hormone disruptors(among other things). Which is nice, since our hormones regulate, oh, everything: genital size, fertility, weight, acne, and beyond. |
See the next five Images by Brianna Harden |
5. Parabens This popular preservative group used in more than 10,000 products became very controversial when their presence was discovered in the tissue of breast tumors. What that data actually means is hotly debated but studies have shown that certain parabens mimic estrogen, the female sex hormone. This could be bad news for both men and women. Look for ingredients on the label with “paraben” as a suffix to avoid these bad boys. |
It’s been almost two months since that fated explosion off the coast of Louisiana, but the horrors of the BP spill are relentless. Predictably, the conversation around our nation’s “oil addiction” is getting louder as Obama tries to rally for clean energy. It’s hard not to feel a bit cynical about this—as in, where the eff was this conversation on March 31, when the president reversed the ban on offshore drilling. But it’s more productive to just seize the opportunity and talk about ways to reduce consumption. So here goes.
Did you know that most of your cosmetics probably contain petroleum-based ingredients? It’s not to take anything away from cars—driving less and using public transport more is one of the most effective ways for individuals to reduce their impact. But your carbon faceprint is probably way larger than you think, as this Huffington Post piece also points out.
Unless you’re really picky about your clean products, everything from your lip gloss to your face cream and concealer contain some version of oil. It’s just one more reason—health being the obvious other—to start making the switch to clean beauty. And of course, to read our book when it comes out in July: our guides will feature a wide array of petroleum-free products that you’ll love.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for ways to boycott BP in particular, check out this recent post from our friends at Eco Stiletto.
