Our Stolen Future - great book, great website

Having recently attended the fabulous, insightful, and inspiring Teens Turning Green annual conference in San Rafael, CA., I am full to bursting with new information that I want to research further, talk about, and share. One thing that really struck me was how confident the scientists were that the jury is in fact in when it comes to the negative health effects of common household chemicals. They aren't so much concerned with "well, it harms rats, so does it harm humans," as they with, "when do these toxic chemicals cause the most damage, how are they most likely to get in our system, and which chemicals are responsible for which health problems?"

Today, a woman came to my store who has spent her entire career in environmental health, and now sits on the board of Preventing Harm Minnesota, an advocacy group that raises awareness regarding the environment's impact on our children's health. We got to talk about endocrine disruptors, and she then told me about recent theories regarding thyroid disruptors and their possible contributions to that highly flammable topic, autism.

Have you read much about thyroid disruptors? I certainly haven't, so my next book purchase is going to be Our Stolen Future, by Colbrn, Dumanoski, & Myers. I stumbled upon their website for the book, and it is packed with some of the best information I've found thus far, such as a list of common thyroid and estrogen disrupting chemicals, and a piece on the difference between synthetic and plant-based estrogen.

What Price, Beauty?

It is my experience that fear fuels the beauty industry. We scrub, moisten, brighten, color, lift, and tuck not because we are excited to let our beauty shine for the world to see. Most women, and many men, do these things for fear of what might happen if they didn't.

"What if," I'm often asked by potential purchasers of natural cosmetics, "what if it doesn't work?" Well, I often want to reply, what if? Would your co-workers pretend not to know you and your pitifully pale cheeks, would your boyfriend leave you for someone with perfectly intact lipstick, would children run away screaming from your lackluster lashes? The fear in my customers' eyes when they ask this question would suggest that, indeed, something pretty horrible might occur should their eyeliner fail to deliver the critical beautifying function they believe is required for daily functioning.

And what, aside from fear, could motivate women to literally risk their lives in pursuit of aesthetic perfection? Next door to my shop, a tanning salon thrives, even though another busy tanning salon is located a quarter of a block away. Despite an announcement this past summer by international cancer experts that tanning beds are as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas, business remains steady.

Today I read about the death of a former Miss Argentina, mother of 7-year-old twins, during a butt lift. The chemicals that were supposed to firm up her backside leaked into her bloodstream, killing her on the table. In late October, a British woman suffered severe burns following an allergic reaction to Boots hair dye. And while her reaction was extreme, I have dozens of customers who stopped using chemical hair color after experiencing life-threatening allergic reactions. And yet, despite undisputed evidence that hair dye is toxic, it is almost always the last beauty product my customers are willing to give up.

What would life be like for women if we no longer feared facing the world as we are? How different would we feel if we chose a specific mascara because we loved how it looked and not because it lengthened our "too short" lashes, or a lipstick because we like the shade, and not because we felt the need to conceal "overly pale" lips? Every woman to whom I give a makeover recites a well-rehearsed list of all flaws she believes stand between her and true beauty. And I know I do the same.

Tomorrow, as you apply your makeup, try reflecting on how great your jawline is, or how amazingly blue your eyes are. Choose a lipstick you believe bring out the fullness of your lips, or an eye shadow that draws attention to your bright and sparkly eyes. It might change your whole day.

Feelgood for the Holidays (the Budget-Friendly Edition)

Originally written for FeelgoodStyle.com

by Terri Bly

December 15, 2009

Yesterday I heard a series of interviews with Americans about their holiday gift plans. Responses included phrases like "Wal-Mart," "Gift Cards," and "one big gift instead of 10 small ones." Clearly, families everywhere are rethinking their gift-giving traditions. My own family has had The Talk about how this year we'll have to reign in the spending; some relatives will have to forgo gifts altogether. Always, the discussion is heavy with sadness, resignation, even guilt.

If you're in the same boat, there's no need to be glum, chum! Instead of filling your brain with which big-box store is offering the best sale on crap you're not even sure Aunt Deloris will like, use that cerebral space to get creative this season! I promise you, this year has the potential to be not only the most affordable, but also the most enjoyable one yet. How? By deciding as a family (or office group, book club, etc) on an eco-friendly/budget-friendly/helping people-friendly theme. Let me explain by throwing out a few examples:

1. Theme: Fair Trade Festivities. Thanks to companies like Arghand, WorldFinds, World of Good, and Ten Thousand Villages, there is an endless list of affordable gifts for men, women, and children. Even better, all of your purchases would benefit others who are experiencing the kind of hardships we will never know in this country no matter how bad the recession gets. From wallets to wall clocks, someone is making them to support themselves, their children, and their community. And how fun will it be to tell their story to the gift's recipient?!

2. Theme: Christmas by Etsy. Search "upcycled" on Etsy's home page, and over 3,000 items appear. Like this children's wall clock, made from an old record (for you young pups, a record is like a CD, only bigger and way harder to play in the car), and available for a mere $18. Etsy has unleashed America's creative side, and the result is a limitless inventory of truly one-of-a-kind gifts.

3. Theme: Goodwill To Men (and everyone else in the family). Last week, I shot a commercial for ARC Value Village, a non-profit second hand store akin to Goodwill, where all items are donated and all profits go to help Americans with disabilities. After we wrapped the shoot, I decided to go shopping and see what they might have in the way of holiday gifts. I stopped when my cart got too full to hold anything more. Both Goodwill and ARC receive top-notch donations not just from individuals, but also retailers needing to unload inventory. At ARC, one of the wealthiest families in the Twin Cities had just donated a bunch of high-end clothing; were I a size 4 I could have had a field day with those donations alone. From vintage dishes to enormous, brand-new stuffed animals, you and your family would have a ball challenging yourselves to purchase all gifts from a Goodwill or similar shop.

4. Theme: Give the gift of talent. At our house, the last thing we need is more stuff. What we do need is some DIY assistance. We would be overjoyed if, instead of receiving more things, a family member offered to refinish our daughter's antique dresser, or remove the psychadelic wallpaper in our bathroom. Consider a Christmas evening spent with each family member giving the gift of time and talent. Not into taking down wallpaper? Offering to watch your sister's children overnight: Priceless. Or spend a day playing Scrabble and baking cookies with Grandma. Make fun cards describing your gift as an added touch.

Of course, we may have run out of time for you to coordinate this kind of an effort. If your family is like mine, trying to coordinate anything with the family would be like attempting to get cats to line dance. In that case, consider adopting one of these themes on your own, and regale your family with tales of how you chose their gifts. Perhaps you will inspire them for next year.

The Debate Over Phenoxyethanol: Bubble & Bee's Stephanie Greenwood Stands Her Ground

I love mouthy women. You know, those who refuse to back down when people with big companies or lots of letters behind their name belittle her stance on suspect chemicals found in cosmetics. Since entering this industry as a natural beauty product retailer, I have met some of the coolest, smartest women ever. Stephanie Greenwood is one of these women, and I hope we meet soon, as I'm pretty sure we would be BFF's.

Recently, she wrote an exceptionally well-research piece on the potential for harm posed by phenoxyethanol, an oft-used preservative found in products touted as "natural." A favorite of many Australian natural product companies, phenoxyethanol offers us little reason to embrace it as a panacea in the preservative war. Personally, I think it's one of those strong preservatives best reserved for things like mascara, when broad-spectrum preservatives are crucial to our safety. When it comes to skin care, however, it's hard to justify its use, as so many companies have found innovative ways to use natural preservatives and air-tight packaging to forego the need for preservative systems.

Greenwood's piece, and the rebuttals to it, are packed full of data, chemistry, and opinions. I encourage you to read through the comments, too, as this entire piece is an excellent encapsulation of the synthetic vs. natural product debate.

Thank you, Stephanie, for standing your ground! Mouthy women unite! (call me, so we can be BFF's, K?)

The Nature of Beauty wants you to toot your own horn!

The Nature of Beauty is holding its first Facebook Contest. They (ok - we - since PGB and the NOB are indeed linked) know you've done something this year that you're proud of, and we want to hear about it! Just join The Nature of Beauty Facebook fan page (if you haven't already), post a comment telling us what pro-health and/or pro-environment move you've made this year you're most proud of and you'll be entered to win a $50 gift card to Natureofbeauty.com.

So whether you finally made it to the gym 3 times a week, started a compost pile, or replaced your whole makeup kit with our non-toxic cosmetics, we want to hear about it! Winners will be chosen randomly, so no worries about the quality of your prose. Well, OK, I should add that "don't know," or "I did some stuff" or "can't remember" do not count.

Only one entry per person, and the contest ends when the month does, so hurry!!

Natural Shampoo Can't Clean, and Other Green Hair Care Myths Debunked by MGA's Wil Baker

This year's edition of US Hair, published by US Weekly Magazine, included a one-page feature on natural hair care, based on an interview with one cosmetic chemist. My initial optimism was quickly snuffed out when I read that apparently my hair was dirty, because I needed synthetic cleansers - specifically, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - to effectively cleanse the mop. Say what now?

To be sure, these misconceptions aren't limited to one magazine, making it that much more important to dispell these urban legends whenever possible. So after running my fingers through my hair to make sure I hadn't been sporting dirty tresses for the last year (my head felt quite clean, I'm pleased to report), I called Wil Baker, co-founder of the award-winning Max Green Alchemy line of natural hair care, to see if perhaps he could help set the record straight.

"First of all, why Sodium Lauryl Sulfate?" Baker reponded when I told him of the comments made in US Hair. "Well, there are basically many detergents available with wide-ranging characteristics. The industry's love affair with SLS is partly beacuse it is effective but also [because] it is cheap. And this is important in profit-conscious enterprises."

Despite the US Weekly article's insistence that SLS does the best job of cleaning hair, Baker wholeheartedly disagrees, and also points out a number of trade-offs that make SLS less than a panacea for greasy locks. "We [at Max Green Alchemy] believe that the strong degreasing action of SLS can irritate and dry the skin, hair and scalp. Sodium Laureth Sulfate is somewhat milder than Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, yet either used in shampoo can lead to episodes of dandruff or a dry flaky scalp."

Natural shampoos use a number of sulfate-free surfectants that are easier on your hair and your skin than SLS, not to mention better for the environment. And yes, they still manage to get your hair clean. To be sure, there is yet to be a surfectant that everyone can agree on as completely safe, non-toxic and environmentally friendly. But to argue that SLS is the only effective surfectant and therefore "natural" brands won't work is just plain silly, and a bit of a red herring. Natural hair care companies like Max Green Alchemy partner their surfectant of choice with a who's who list of healthy, natural and organic ingredients. This is rarely the case with commercial brands.

When it comes to overall performance of hair care, the cosmetic chemist argued that synthetic technology was necessary to deliver the results we have come to expect from our shampoos and conditioners. Baker, when asked what is necessary to achieve "great performance," boiled it down for me.

"A good shampoo will contain a combination of detergents that clean effectively, provide a satisfying foam and remain non-irritable to the scalp. [You also want] proteins and vitamins to strengthen the hair, and herbs and essential oils to maintain good scalp and hair health."
"The current trend has conditioners based solely on plant oils like Jojoba and Shea butter. I think this is a good start with providing the hair with the nutrients for good condition." Baker acknowledges combining these ingredients with a semi-synthetic conditioning agent like quaternary ammonium salt delivers the best results. Many commerical brands, however, rely on synthetic silicones - essentially wax and plastic fillers that smother the hair - to impart shine. Natural and organic conditioners use vitamin-packed plant and vegetable oils to actually give us healthy hair, rather than merely mimic it.

Finding natural and organic hair care that delivers stellar results has never been easier, despite what US Hair would have us believe. Max Green Alchemy's Scalp Rescue Conditioner won Elle Magazine's Green Beauty Award this year, and both are an equally stellar $15. Other top picks include Rare El'ements, John Masters, BeeCeuticals, and Intelligent Nutrients.

The moral of the story? Don't be deceived by magazines who are under pressure to heavily promote their sponsors, perhaps at the expense of smaller companies that don't have million dollar ad budgets. When it comes to clean, healthy hair, synthetic ingredients are designed to mimic natural ones, not the other way around. As Baker put it, "the fact remains that nature is the greatest inspiration to personal care ingredient researchers. However, when nature has pointed the way, profit-driven enterprises will always perfer the ingredients to be made synthetically and, therefore, more cheaply."

Fat Perfume: The Link Between Chemicals and Obesity

I used to work with gastric bypass surgery patients. That was back when I was making my living as a clinical psychologist, in case you were wondering why someone who sells green beauty products winds up in a bariatric surgery program. Anyway, it was while I was studying obesity that I first learned of the potential link between endocrine-disrupting chemicals and obesity. I knew from the countless hours I spent talking with my patients that diet and exercise were only part of the equation. After all, when more than half the general population is suffering from the same thing, it is by definition no longer an individual problem. It has to be something in the environment, whether it's a cultural shift, the food supply, ubiquitous chemicals or, as I believe it to be, a combination of all of the above.

For the past 3 years now, I have voiced these opinions whenever and wherever I had the opportunity, but usually they were met with skepticism and, at times, anger. Blaming fat people for being fat is a popular approach to this epidemic. And yet, research continues to emerge linking obesity to a number of other factors unrelated to laziness and gluttony.

Sharon Begley recently published a Newsweek article outlining the connection between fat and chemicals they are calling obesogens - in other words, chemicals that mimic estrogen and, consequently, cause an increase in fat cell production (estrogen is stored in fat cells). Anyway, I'll let her explain it. And you are pregnant, or planning to get pregnant any time in the future, this should be required reading. It's way more valuable than anything I read in What to Expect When You're Expecting.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/215179?tid=relatedcl