Medicine Cabinet Mayhem

One night last week, Victoria had an upset stomach and woke me in the middle of the night complaining that she was nauseous.  Instead of propping her up in the bathroom and crawling back into bed myself (which I seriously considered…aren’t I compassionate at 3 a.m.?), I offered to go downstairs and find something to settle her stomach.  I remembered that I had bought a medicine specifically for nausea a while back.  Surely this would do the trick.

Now, fifteen months of reading labels apparently has a subconscious impact because even though I had no contacts in my eyes and was rummaging through my own cabinet, I clumsily grabbed the bottle and flipped it over to read the label – out of sheer habit.  And am I ever glad I did!!  Having purchased this medication prior to my knowledge of ingredients, I am unsure how it escaped being dumped during the last medicine cabinet cleansing.    What I read made my groggy eyes spring open and my mind race into action.   “FD&C Red #40,” “Methylparaben,” “flavorings.” (Seriously? They call “flavorings” an appropriate ingredient listing????) These things have no place in my home, much less my child’s body.  I tossed the bottle into the trash and returned to tell Vic that we were S.O.L. on tummy meds.

I don’t know where her nausea came from, but it was gone by mid-morning.  With no meds – thankfully.   And I vowed to reclaim my medicine cabinet so that minor medical maladies creeping up at ungodly hours of the night can be resolved without me going into a fit of rage aimed at the Food and Drug Administration.

Because, really…who wants to go back to sleep thinking about the FDA?  Eewww.

Last summer I ditched a whole slew of medications because they contained the certified artificial colors (the ones with name and number) that I was avoiding in our foods and products.  I can’t help but think of the irony…petrochemicals are dangerous to our health – maybe not in the supposed 0.2% maximum recommended/allowed by the FDA in a single specific product, but the cumulative impact of multiple products is never addressed.  I believe the consumption (orally or topically) of these chemicals is responsible for a significant amount of our health woes in the first place.  Is it not ironic that our protective agencies allow those same petrochemicals to be put in the formulations of our medications whose purpose is to heal?  Is there not something fundamentally wrong with this picture?

Happy Birthday to The Story of Cosmetics!!!

In case you couldn’t tell, I love anniversaries, milestones, and special celebrations.  So I was super-pumped when I checked my email this morning and read that today is the FIRST BIRTHDAY of The Story of Cosmetics.  You may recall that I featured the video on this blog a mere 364 days ago.

Here is the email message I received:

One year ago today we released The Story of Cosmetics to build support for national legislation to regulate personal care product ingredients.

For years, the multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry had been largely left alone to decide what was safe to put in their products. You know, things like lead in lipstick, neurotoxins in body spray and carcinogens in baby wash.

Now, one year later our partners at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics are making significant progress.

One big reason the Campaign is more hopeful than ever about our chances for getting this serious public health threat addressed is the increasing support for reform coming from this country’s community of small personal care product companies.

We’ve posted a blog today about the incredible work the Campaign has done to incorporate the concerns of this community-among the best actors in the market already-into the newly introduced Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.

This groundbreaking bill would eliminate the most harmful chemicals from cosmetics (as Europe already does!), and ensure that personal care products are reviewed for safety before they end up on store shelves.

If that sounds reasonable to you, why not help us celebrate The Story of Cosmetics’ first birthday by sharing The Story of Cosmetics with your friends and family and then letting your elected officials know that you support the Safe Cosmetics Act.

You can watch and share the movie on our site. Let’s get that viewcount up to 1 million!

Then make sure to visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics site to send a message to Congress.

Thanks for your support and for all you do to make this a better world.

Onward!

Annie, Michael, Allison, Christina and Renee
The Story of Stuff Project Team

So, why is the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 so dog-gone important?  Well, I learned in the blog post that is mentioned and linked above that the current law governing cosmetics was last updated in 1938.  NINETEEN THIRTY-EIGHT, people!! My grandmother was younger then than Victoria is now!!  The current law basically says the cosmetic companies do not have to test their products for safety, and they don’t have to tell us all the ingredients. (That’s one of the reasons the ingredient “fragrance” is so dangerous…it can be a combination of literally dozens of harmful chemicals and no one is required to disclose those chemicals!)  As the post states, “[The FDA] can’t even require product recalls—as we recently learned when a popular hair straightener, called the Brazilian Blowout, was found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde.” 

It is my sincerest hope that this message will spread to consumers everywhere, and that everyone will begin to read and understand labels…and cast those increasingly-important votes at the checkout in favor of safer products.  

What a wonderful reason to celebrate!

Day 348: Purely Cosmetic

You know I had to ditch my Mary Kay, right?  After 22 years of wearing it and 20 years of being a “consultant” (all so I could buy my own products at cost) I finally threw in the towel and mailed all my stock back to the company.  Once you make that final decision to return your stock, there’s no going back.  Ever.  So says the contract one has to sign.

But Mary Kay, Inc. gave me NO indication that they would ever give two hoots about chemical ingredients and women’s health in the same sentence.  I held onto my product for eleven months before finally succumbing to the bitter truth and beating the twelve-month return deadline.  And I have to say, the more time that passed, the more convinced I  was that I could never, ever use those products again.

My purpose for this blog begins with my daughter, as you are likely well aware.  She’s nine now, and when that day comes when she is ready to start wearing makeup, I have to be ready with products that are safe for her.  So I have to start with myself now, in order to be her example (and know where to shop.)

Meet Lisa at Style Essentials.  A while back Lisa had tweeted about some awesome natural mascara, and I decided to snoop around her shop for a while.  She sells makeup, skin
care, and jewelry… what a cool find!  To start with, I bought a mascara, an eyeliner brush, and a mineral primer.  Lisa even threw in a sample of some mineral eye color.  And I love them all! (That eye color sample?  Really great!!)

The mascara is seriously awesome.  No junk in it.  You know the ingredients I’m talking about…parabens, DEAs, petro-chemicals, sulfates, and on and on.  None of that is in  this mascara.  I use two coats of it, and I’m good to go.  And it doesn’t smudge or smear or flake during the day, but it removes easily when I’m washing my face.  I don’t ever wake up with raccoon eyes because my makeup didn’t all wash off the night before.  I am LOVIN’ this!!

I have turned to Lisa for advice on colors, products and how-to’s.  And she has responded like SuperWoman by dropping samples in the mail to me.  She offers to help with color choices, answers any questions I have, and is super-quick to assist in helping me find what I need.  In short, Lisa rocks!!  I recently purchased a new foundation, concealer and blush, plus got another eye color sample, a lip color sample, and a free handcrafted lavender lip balm.  (Do you hear the angels singing the Hallelujah chorus?  Listen…)  I have loved every sample she has sent me, and I have a growing wishlist of items in her store.  I can’t say enough good things about Style Essentials.  When I wasn’t sure if I was using the mineral primer correctly, Lisa pointed me to her video files where I saw her and fellow tweep Alison (aka Warrior Woman from Wednesday’s post) together.

{smile…}

You can find Lisa on Twitter and Facebook to stay connected on specials, new products and key ingredient commentary.

But in the meantime, would you like to try a mascara?  How about a free one?  Comment here and I’ll randomly select a winner.  Then I’ll buy you one and have Lisa send it right to you – just let me know if you prefer Black or Espresso Brown.  I’ll draw tomorrow morning.  Sound good?  Come on…let me help move you in the right direction, cosmetically speaking.  Whaddaya got to lose?  I mean, besides all those nasty chemicals… 😉

MASCARA WINNER UPDATE: Saturday, May 28 8:48 a.m. (Toldja I was gonna sleep in!)

Alright folks, this drawing was facilitated by my nephew with my son supervising.  I was going to do one of those random comment pickers on the web, but it got complicated and time was ticking.  I figured you’d trust an 8-year old boy who really has no vested interest in who wins mascara.  True?  So I wrote everyone’s name down twice, folded up the papers and let him draw from a literal bucket.  I would have videoed it if only my batteries were charged.

Aaaaaaaaaand, the winner of the mascara is Jessica.  Congrats! I’ll direct message ya and find out what color you prefer.  🙂

Day 254: The Manis and the Pedis

Nail polish has been one of those Do-I-Really-Have-To-Let-It-Go? kind of things.  The only times in twenty-five years that my toenails weren’t painted were the durations of my two pregnancies.  And now that Victoria is pushing 9-years-old, she’s a nail polish freak too.  (She likes wild, alternating colors…lime green and eggplant purple at the same time.  Heaven help me!)

When we began the vamoosing of our chemical-laden beauty products, I knew nail polish had to be a goner.  What I didn’t count on was the difficulty in finding suitable replacements for nail polish and nail polish remover.  We had just fallen in love with OPI brand and my primary concern, of course, was artificial colors.  And OPI had us at “hello,” for the most part.  They have voluntarily removed the three primary toxicants from their nail polishes in accord with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.  So now, most all of their cutely-named colors score an impressive “4” in the Cosmetics Safety Database. 

But you know I couldn’t just stop there.  I wanted to know what the “4” was all about.  After all, a four is within the “moderate hazard” range.  So I checked in on the database to learn that the only really harmful ingredient in any of OPI’s nail lacquers (since 2006) is Triphenyl Phosphate, an ingredient listed as a “high hazard” cited for reproductive toxicity and neurotoxicity.  Egad!

Putting the nail polish on is not the only problem.  Removing it is even more dangerous.  I studied the ingredients of EVERY BOTTLE of nail polish remover in Wal Mart last week and did not find a single one without FD&C Blue, Red and Yellow colors.  Even the “clear” ones.  Come on, people.  Really?????  Add that to the plethora of hormone-altering parabens, and I was ultimately disgusted.   I’ll be honest with you – it’s going to take a literal team of scientists and physicians well studied in the matter to convince me that toxins are not absorbed through the nail bed.  (If you are one of the people who can do such convincing, bring it on, PLEASE!)  If I don’t want Vic ingesting these petroleum-based artificial colors that promote hyperactivity, do I really want her soaking her hands in them?    

Mint and Berry to the rescue.  I found Aquarella and Scotch Naturals, both non-toxic water-based nail polishes and corresponding water-based removers.  The problem is that each bottle of nail polish is $15, so it’s less likely Vic will have a rainbow of colors to choose from.  But I bought some for Christmas for her, and I have to give kudos to the companies who made these products.  True, the remover takes about four times as long to use (it suds up and works like a cleanser) and the nail polishes, because they are not oil-based paints, tend to chip by the second day.  But they are safe. 

And pretty.  🙂

Day 114: Lights, Camera, Lashes! Really???

Yes, really.  That’s the name of the new natural mascara I’m currently trying out.  It is made by Tarte and sold at Sephora, among other places.  And so far I am impressed with it. 

The other natural mascaras I had tried were no good for me.  The first one, Physician’s Formula Organic Wear, smeared too much.  The second, Almay Pure Blends, had a killer-brush.  Oh…not killer like “way cool,” killer like “will eventually require you to seek medical attention.”  And I didn’t feel like the mascara did my lashes any favors either.

So on Saturday when I was beating myself up for makeup shopping instead of focusing on Dom’s birthday, I found the Tarte line at Sephora.  I bought two items for $50.  I know, I know…it nearly killed me to pay that much.  But I was desperate.

The second item I bought was a disappointing pressed powder, which I wore for three days before determining my skin might burn completely off.  As I mentioned before, I wasn’t in the mood to shop on Saturday, so finding anything that might work with as little effort as possible was high on my priority list.  When I read on the powder box “Formulated without parabens, mineral oil, petrolatum, phthalates, SLS, or synthetic fragrance,” I thought this HAD to be a winner.  I do not know how I managed to NOT read the ingredients it DOES contain…formaldehyde, chemicals I can’t even pronounce, and nylon-12. 

Nylon-12?  What the heck is that???

The first evening that I wore the powder was Dom’s reunion party.  My eyes watered so much that my eye shadow smeared right off.  That should have been a clue, but I really kept thinking I had just gotten something in my eyes.  This goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway…I was not terribly bright on Saturday. 

I continued to wear the powder on Sunday and Monday, and by Monday night my lips hurt so badly that even my best moisturizing gloss couldn’t save them. Plus the skin around my eyes felt like it was on fire.  That’s when I decided to look closer at the ingredient list and read the horrors for which I had spent hard-earned money. 

The upside to this whole crazy story is that Sephora refunded me the $30 for the powder, no questions asked.  So I went next door to DSW and spent the cash on a new pair of shoes.  Heh, heh, heh…yeah, that’s how I roll!  🙂

Day 109: More on Makeup

I ran out of my all-natural face powder yesterday.  Thought I ran out of it the day before, but I managed to shake enough out yesterday morning to face the day again.  But today I was literally scraping the bottom of the barrel, and now I HAVE to go out in search of something new.  Something better. 

While I liked the Almay Pure Naturals loose powder, there were times during the day when I felt like you could see my makeup.  I don’t like that.  I need general smoothing, not an overall mask.  But with this idea that the powder may not be working like I wanted it to, I decided to use the Mary Kay mineral powder again just to remind myself of the look I was going for in a new powder.  I returned to using the Mary Kay for about four days. 

Now, we all know that it is ragweed season.  And I usually suffer from ragweed allergies so profound that I can mask the symptoms with Zyrtec only until I am bombarded by a sinus infection and all hell literally breaks loose inside my face.  I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year.  But, unlike any year prior to this one, while the pollen count was jumping off the charts I was virtually unaffected.  No Zyrtec necessary.  Zip.  Zilch.  Zero.   I was immensely surprised by this, and afraid to voice out loud (or put it here in writing) that I thought my turn-towards-the-natural had positively impacted my typical sufferings.  I felt like this was one for the books, if only for my personal chart-happy, habit-tracking books. 

But then I started sneezing (like seven times in a row – very not me) and my eyes were watering and my nose was itching like crazy.  The symptoms started one day, and the next day they were so bad that I left in the middle of work and headed to Walgreens for some Zyrtec.  I managed my symptoms that day and the next two, and on the fourth day decided my symptoms had subsided so that I really didn’t need any more Zyrtec, and wasn’t that just the weirdest episode???

Sometime during the next ten days I had one more attack of allergy symptoms, took a Zyrtec and returned to normal within the day.   The randomness of this while the pollen count remained high seemed very curious to me, so I started mapping out anything I had done differently during those days where my allergies were out of whack. 

Then it hit me.  Those were the days I was wearing the Mary Kay. I vowed to never touch the stuff again, and have been symptom-free while the pollen count remains high.  I am completely amazed. I am also ready to find a new powder.  It’s gotta have the finished look of Mary Kay, but the ingredient integrity of Almay.  I have a feeling it’s not going to be cheap. 

If the ingredients in my facial powder were so powerful that they altered so noticeably my natural reactions to my environment, what else did they do to me?  What are they doing to you?

Day 64: Can We Talk?

OK, folks. This is where it gets ugly. The gloves are off. I am in an all-out battle with – of all things – are you sitting down? – my deodorant.

Yeah, you heard me. Flip to another bookmark if you don’t think you can handle this conversation. I will keep it as genteel as possible. IF it’s possible.

Natural deodorant. Good freaking grief!!! I swear, it’s all the chemicals that keep us from stinkin’ up the place! The skinny on this is that I have tried three brands of natural deodorant since I trashed my Secret Clear and I am praying this latest brand cuts the muster!

This latest brand, by the way, is for men. I am past the point of caring whether there are horses or halos on the bottle. Just give me something that works! Because Saturday during Mass I had my arm around Victoria when she looked up at me and said, “Um, Mommy, your deodorant isn’t really working that well.”

HORRORS!!!

Granted, it was a 106 degree day and we were in a church with a dying air conditioner. Whose deodorant could withstand that? Really?….

But the fact of the matter is, no matter how unappreciated Victoria’s comment was, she speaks the truth. I immediately assumed the stance: elbows permanently imbedded in my hip bones. And I vowed to find a functional natural deodorant if it is the last thing I do!

So far the Herban Cowboy deodorant is working fine (does that name crack you up, or what?!!), even at my office yesterday where we had faulty A/C and I thought I was experiencing hot flashes. But I have been tipped off to the Jason line as a potential success, so I will be investigating that too.

Changing deodorant is the pits!

Day 7: Vamoosing the Parabens – Cosmetics

I have begun the very painful process of ditching the bad beauty products. I spent considerable time yesterday researching the ingredients in my Mary Kay products. Ouch. Naturally, I discover this a month after purchasing a 6-8 month supply of all cosmetics, moisturizers, lotions and lip balms that I am accustomed to using.

This is a hard thing to change. I have used these products for 22 years. I don’t want to stop using them, but the risk is just too great. Last night, I threw away several items I had been holding onto. Lip balm – out. Eye shadow samples (in some really cool colors) – out. Eye cream and lip gloss – out.

It will be a while before this process is complete. First, I will need suitable replacements for the stuff I use every day. I won’t be heading into work with a bare face, I can guarantee that! But, after learning the ingredients on several different “most unwanted” lists, and then finding those ingredients in EVERY SINGLE product I use on my face, my desire to continue their use is hanging on only by the last thread of vanity. I have stopped using most of my moisturizing products. You know those photo booths that take your picture and show you all the hidden sun damage on your face? I imagine these products doing similar unseen damage to me, and I just can’t bring myself to slather them on my face like I used to. They sit sadly on the tray on my bathroom countertop. They’re like little lepers of my skin care routine now.

I will continue to seek natural products for my face. I have yet to actually find a cosmetic line that does not contain harmful ingredients. When I do, it will be posted here as a side note, with a permanent link to their site at the right.

Inspiration for the day: You must do the thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt