Pure Mavens

Here’s a Healthiness Report Card for a female friend of mine. The report was complied using The Good Guide and Environmental Working Group’s (cosmeticdatabase.com). There are some good low toxicity skincare products in the group, such as Jason Moisturizer, as well as a bunch that contained Methylparaben. She received a average toxicity rating of 5.72 out of 10, notably worse than the guys personal care products.

We have all seen the individual with cucumber slices on their eyes in hopes of removing the bags. This along with eggs in hair to make hair shine, rubbing oranges on skin, etc. have been (somewhat) proven natural beauty remedies. I found another that has seemingly good results…the tomato skin face shine.

Tomato Scrub

Another natural way to enhance your skin. Although no one will be around when I try this….

Watch the EWG’s take on the harmful potential of fragrances in your everyday consumer products here:

EWG on Fragrances

The Pure Deodorant Search has led me to bigger things…..

I decided to conduct a investigation about the ‘healthlyness’ of personal care products I use. The purpose was to identify the products that contain harmful chemicals in order to replace them with more pure alternatives.  The most common toxin on the list is Fragrance followed by Methyl Paraben. List was complied using The Good Guide and Environmental Working Group’s (cosmeticdatabase.com)

I think I’m late to the party on this, but it appears that the beloved aluminum SIGG bottles are not what they’re cracked up to be. Disconcerting since I spent about $75 switching all my toxic plastic bottles to these purportedly non-toxic vessels. The link below provides a pretty good overview – apparently they now offer non-BPA-lined versions. And, if you bought yours at Whole Foods (like our family did) they’ll replace the bottles with the new versions.

The crumbiest part is the company’s response of “we never said they didn’t contain BPA, only that it would not leach BPA.” Talk about exceptional corporate responsibility – per our last post, I’m not feeling the “pure gratitude” for Sigg right now… I’m so disappointed each time I try to make a better, purer choice only to discover I’ve been mislead yet again. Well, off to Whole Foods for my new bottles. I wonder what they’re lined with…

http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/08/27/the-big-sigg-bpa-letdown/

Pure skincare, pure makeup, pure cosmetics — these purer standards of living didn’t exist only a decade ago. I’m grateful to live in a time of empowerment. I’m excited that, every day, people collaborate to support and create higher quality products, health standards, and lifestyles.

Thanks for showing up, for being here and supporting healthier living with the Pure Mavens. You inspire me.

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.

Life’s full of decisions and, let’s face it, it’s not always easy to do the right thing.

Think about all of the things you have to keep in mind in any given day: eat healthily, exercise right, even breathe correctly… It’s a little ridiculous.

It seems that, in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle these days, you have to be a bit of an expert on everything.

Of course I have my go-to resources for natural and pure products, workout plans, lifestyle design, and just about every other category that’s related to mental and physical health. The real trick is, not only to identify those opportunities to make the right choice and do the “pure” thing, but to have the confidence that your ultimate decision benefits your overall well-being.

This Saturday morning, I made my weekly run to the Target.  As with any grocery run, there were a couple of things that I really wanted to get. But, there was one thing that was definitely near the top of my list — lotion. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the Midwest during November-February, but it’s the dry season ans when I say dry season, I mean dry season. Red, chapped, cracked skin is not uncommon, so I try to stock up for the winter to avoid the pain of lizard-like hide.

I found myself completely lost in the personal care section of this Target store.

Photo by by pinjarasultan

As I stood about four feet back from the rows of shelved products, I began to weigh my options.

Top shelf?… Bottom shelf?… No shelf?

I was frozen like a deer in the headlights, trying to remember everything I had read on blogs like NaturalNews. I even attempted to use my handy Good Guide app, but it was painfully slow and wasn’t getting me where I needed to be.

So what did I do?

I walked out without buying any kind of moisturizer. It’s worth the extra day or two of dry dermis while I order online and get the pure product that I really want and need. Can’t wait to get my hands on, or rather get on my hands, my personal favorite lotion.

My Opinion?

It’s the little decisions we make every day that direct our lives. While something may seem insignificant or small in the grand scheme of things, it’s the conscious effort to do the pure thing that perpetuates a naturally healthy lifestyle.

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?