Pure Mavens

In a quest to try and limit the amount of chemicals my body is exposed to, I started to analyze my personal care products. More specifically the deodorant I use.

The Beginning

The search for a natural deodorant started when I began using deodorant.  I developed rashes from many forms of deodorant. I tried numerous stick deodorants (gel and dry) without avail. Then I took to spray deodorants (which still caused irritation but much less sporadically) when I was 16 and have used them ever since. I knew there had to be a better product out there…and so my search began.

Research

I ran the product I use by a couple of rating sites and found:

Results of Findings: Not That Good

EW’s [cosmeticdatabase.com] Rating: 5 (scale is based on level of toxicity 0-10, 0 being the best)

The Good Guide Health Rating: 7.0 (scale is based on ‘goodness’ for you 1-10, 10 being the best)

Both ratings expose butane and fragrance as the main ingredients to worry about in that the ingredient ‘fragrance’ could contain a multitude of bad chemicals and that butane causes surface irritation and is currently banned in the EU(European Union) for use in personal care products. Which brings me to the question: Why am I paying to put these bad chemicals in my body??

Choices

I’ll tell you first off, I am not a health guru or a doctor, but I know that many chemicals can get absorbed through the skin and stay in your body. Since the under arms or arm pits contain many pores (see link: skin anatomy) it’s especially easy for the chemicals to enter your body there.

I made the obvious decision to stop using spray deodorant. I lead an active lifestyle so I needed a product that could be effective against body odor while containing no harmful substance and skin irritants.

My search led me to three choices:

1. Crystal Deodorant Stone

2. Arm & Hammer Essentials

3. A home remedy of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and water.

Blake of TOMS Shoes and Me

Blake Mycoskie’s story is one of passion, love, and excitement. As the founder of TOMS shoes, Mycoskie has helped provide over half a million pairs of new shoes to children in need.

I wrote a post in October on the One for One Movement, and last week I had a chance to meet face-to-face with Blake, Chief Shoe Giver at TOMS. He’s a sharp guy, and has a ton of innovative ideas that can (and should) be leveraged to help advance the pure and natural products industry to create cleaner, safer homes.

Customers can be a company’s best marketers.

Blake told a story about the first time he spotted someone in public wearing his shoes. The young girl was wearing a pair of red TOMS, and when Blake inquired about the footwear, the girl proceeded to tell Blake all about the One for One movement and even recited his own story to him.

This kind of evangelism is at the core of the extraordinary success that TOMS shoes has experienced since its inception three years ago. Imagine how this viral word of mouth, if properly channeled, could inspire and inform the world about natural and pure products. With the passionate community of pure product evangelists, I can see the mainstream of the future being excited and enthusiastic about using only the best natural skin products.

It’s important to have a brand you can stand behind.

Blake Mycoskie

Leaving it up to customers is a great idea, but people aren’t going to spread the word if the product isn’t exceptionally good (unless of course it’s exceptionally bad, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole). TOMS has created a durable, comfortable product that comes in so many different patterns and colors that it’s almost impossible not to find a shoe that fits your style.

Companies need to hold themselves to a higher standard of quality if they want to succeed. Online natural cosmetics stores like sephora.com have created their own rating systems and seals of approval. But what, exactly, does that mean? Who’s going to hold them accountable? The modern consumer is savvy to tricky marketing techniques that can sneak their way into a companies messaging.

Innovation is the only way to grow.

TOMS is not a non-profit. Mycoskie has found a way to innovate upon the traditional business model to create a win-win-win situation. The children who receive free shoes win, the customer that gets great footwear (and feels good about) it wins, and the company that turns a small profit wins.

The shoe company also constantly innovates on its product by re-engineering the original shoe design from Argentina and offering new styles like the laced Cordones (I have a pair, and they’re ridiculously comfy!).

Who is going to design the next line of safe, natural products? I’m confident that in the next three to five  years, companies will find ways to produce safer, more natural cosmetics, clothing, and other every-day items, at lower costs and with greater confidence in their purity. How we’ll get there is through social responsibility and innovation, and by putting the power back where it belongs — in the hands of the consumer.

What are your thoughts? How can we reinvent traditional business to create massive, positive change?

As I endeavor to find ever-purer products for use on my person, home, family, and even pets, a major tension has become biting the bullet on the higher price the right products command. It feels better knowing I’m not being snowed, my confidence bolstered by EWG/SkinDeep and GoodGuide as non-denominational advisors.

As I recently trolled the baby section at Target, I found one of the most lauded “pure” brands the world has to offer. California Baby sunscreen. I literally exclaimed: “they have California Baby!” My wife said: “you’re acting like a nerd.” She was right, but the excitement in that Target aisle was palpable.

I lifted the tiny tube like a precious Fabergé egg. I caressed it – I’d never been this close before. It was like petting a unicorn. I prepared to gingerly place several tubes in the cart, certain that a red-vested assistant manager would appear at any moment and scorn “what’s that doing here?” and take it away. It then occurred to me to glance at the price. Roughly $20 for 3 ounces. I was sure it was a misprint. But my wife’s disapproving grimace – both at me and the price placard – confirmed my fears. I felt like I was ten years old and my mom had just issued the worst word in the English language in response to pleading and begging: “maybe.”

I’d pay to have a photo of the look on my face. In fact, it may be worth scouring the Target security footage to score an instant YouTube classic.

Here I had found a near-fabled pure product – in an actual store, no less – and it was so expensive you’d need a credit check to buy it. And I’m no coupon cutter. I live the “you get what you pay for,” “at least I’ll get miles,” “work hard, play hard” compensatory mantra of consumer spending.

But this was a new frontier. I looked at my wife with, I’m sure, a pathetic expression of panic. “Should I get it?” I muttered. She shrugged: “If it’s that important to you.”

Mind you, she has been a willing passenger on my march to purity, but more tolerated it than wholly endorsed it. As much as I believe that you do get what you pay for, this moment caused a micro-epiphany, right there in Target.

I won’t even ponder “the meaning of life” in a blog. Please. But there’s no question that one cause worth investing in is the health of one’s family. The nuance can be debated, but what’s that they say about your health?…

My mind reeling, I made my decision – a purchase decision so involved it rivaled that of my first house – I did not buy the blasted sunscreen. $20 for 3 ounces?

But my brush with the most expensive semi-liquid known to man has caused me to loosen up and keep in perspective the fact that, when it comes to what’s best for my kids, it’s simply worth spending more.

Oh yeah… we’re currently enjoying a tube of Neutrogena Pure & Free – a bargain at about $11 for 3 ounces (purchased at Toys R Us).

So it’s early summer which, for a lot of people, means getting the yard back in shape. I’m no maniac, but I take care of my modest parcel with a certain degree of pride. With two kids and two dogs, my grass takes a beating. So I generally spend April through June engaging in my hybrid form of urban agriculture whereby I transform a veritable dirt patch back into some semblance of a lawn. Generally through half-hearted hose work and a healthy portion of cursing. And lots of hands-on-hip inspection. Oh, and sunscreen.

And what’s the first piece of advice the paternal elders in every family will give when it comes to domestic agriculture?

“Fertilize,” they told me.

Isn't that kind of the point of a lawn?

So fertilize I have. And while I suppose it works, it’s another chemical I’m literally spreading in my immediate environment. And having my family play on. And as I walk through my neighborhood, I notice my neighbors who have upped the ante with a professional service. Those little black sticks with the picture of kids and pets crossed-out underscore my anxiety about this suburban napalm.

Woody Tasch’s recent book, Slow Money, confirmed my concerns. He points out the degenerative effects of industrial farming and chemical fertilization over time. The statistics are sobering. A couple that caught my attention:
•    “Global pesticide use has increased more than 50-fold since 1950, and most of today’s pesticides are more than 10 times as toxic as those used 1950’s. Less than 1 percent of these pesticides reaches its target pests.”
•    “Global application of nitrogen fertilizer has increased 8-fold since 1960, to more than 80-million metric tons.”

A pretty good summary of the book is at http://blog.eatwellguide.org/2009/06/slow-money-cultivating-a-culture-of-peace-and-prosperity/

As all of this was occurring, I revisited my lawn reforestation initiative. I had my bag of grass seed, ready to patch up the bare spots. My best yard helper, my 2-year-old boy, was at the ready to lend a hand. So we went to spreading the seeds – just by hand – and I thought nothing of giving Mac a pail full to spread himself. I looked up at him as we spread the seeds – his little hands were turquoise blue. And he had some of the color around his mouth. Panic shot through me. I grabbed the bag and the warning advised the user to wear waterproof gloves, long sleeves, keep away from eyes and face, and essentially avoid all human contact with these… seeds.

We rushed to the shower, and then called the 800-number provided beneath the tiny warning on the bag – literally filled with dread that I had exposed Mac to something really toxic. Apparently that particular seed is only “treated with a very small amount of dyed fungicide,” so I needn’t worry.

But the fact remains that my experience was, basically, really messed up. Planting something as seemingly natural as grass seeds led to an encounter with a harmful chemical. And I had inadvertently exposed my baby to it. So in my quest to make the world a purer place, it appears my lawn is another frontier. I’m sure someday soon Lowe’s will sell “all-natural grass seeds” at a 20% price premium. Talk about messed up…

Hello – my name is Hunter, and I’m a junkie. My juice of choice is sunscreen. Like many, I dabbled at first in my teen years. Rubbing it on just because “everyone was doing it” – urged by my friends. It went on harmlessly enough. Then, one relatively mild sunburn a few years back, and I became obsessed. And not just some cut-with-lotion recreational balm. I was on the hard stuff. 45 SPF and up. Sweatproof, waterproof, non-stinging, spray-on, rub-on, comfort grip bottles… you name it. I knew where to score the high grade, PABA free for the best price.

I started hiding it from the people in my life. Putting it on in private before joining everyone at the pool. “Running to my car for a minute” for a quick re-app. Then, one day, I found myself using alone. It got so bad I needed a hit of 15 SPF just to get my day started…

Finally my family tried to intervene. “It’s too much,” they said. “Just cut back a little and see how it feels,” they urged. “If for nothing else, you’re going broke on Coppertone,” they pleaded. Nothing worked. I only retreated further into the bottle. Or tube. An ugly, greasy addiction.

But unlike most addicts, I never had a dramatic wake-up call. Rather, one day as I lathered up for the umpteenth time with that intoxicating cocoa-scented elixir, I pondered “This has got to have chemicals in it. What’s the downside of all this ‘protection’?” I shrugged it off, and lathered on.

Then my son was born. And I faced the sobering choice of either getting smart, or raising my boy to follow in my pasty footsteps. So I made a half-hearted attempt at self-help by googling “chemicals in sunscreen.”

And that was the beginning of my new obsession: seeking products that are pure for myself and my family. But that’s no easy task. There’s a ton of information – and misinformation – out there. And, while I’m keen on living a healthier lifestyle, I have a career and family, too. So the hours of confusing research to sort out the pure from the Pewr (TM) is a handful.

I could’ve just waited for the next media-driven craze, but I decided this needed to stick. So my friend Matt and I proclaimed ourselves PureMavens and began educating ourselves and taking on the pursuit of making the world a purer place.