Safe Skin Stocking Stuffers

Beautiful skin is always a great gift! Just make sure to avoid any "treatment" products, because that might come across as an insult to your recipient. These are a few Boston Green Blog approved, ethical, safe skin products that will make great stocking stuffers this holiday season.

1. Organic Bath Drenched, $29
EWG SkinDeep: Not yet rated.
ThinkDirty: 0 (best rating available)
GoodGuide: Not yet rated.

Made right here in Boston from fairly traded USDA organic ingredients. Drenched has quickly become Boston's favorite body moisturizer. It is rich and luxurious, and totally non-toxic! Bonus: Organic Bath Co. partners with 1% for the Planet and the Global Soap Project - so using their products is both healthy for you, people in need, and the earth.

2. Glossier Balm Dotcom, $12
EWG SkinDeep: Not yet rated.
ThinkDirty:  Not yet rated.
GoodGuide: Not yet rated.

Glossier is a brand new skincare company by Emily Weiss, author of Into the Gloss. Her products are designed for the busy modern girl and use awesome natural ingredients like beeswax, rice bran and rosemary leaf extracts. The balm is free if parabens and fragrances, making it a healthy choice.

3. All Good Organic Coconut Oil Skin Food, $14.99
EWG SkinDeep: Not yet rated.
ThinkDirty: Not yet rated.
GoodGuide: 10, Health (best rating available)

This USDA organic coconut oil balm is super nourishing and is scented with calming lavender essential oil. In fact, coconut oil and lavender essential oil are the only two ingredients - it doesn't get more pure than that! Your skin will love this simple, but highly effective moisture this winter.

4. Belli All Day Moisture, $17.00
EWG SkinDeep: Not yet rated.
ThinkDirty: Not yet rated.
GoodGuide: 5.6 (average)

Belli All Day Moisture cream fully moisturizing, but also refreshing with lemon oil and chamomile. This product is safe for the whole body since it does not contain parabens, phthalates, or artificial fragrances!

5. 100% Pure Body Butter, $22
EWG SkinDeep: Not yet rated.
ThinkDirty: 1 (Excellent rating)
GoodGuide: 6.2 (slightly above average)

This rich body butter is perfect for sensitive skin since it does not contain sulfates, chemical preservatives, or artificial fragrances. The blood orange scent is deliciously revitalizing and great for the winter!

6. Mad Hippie Face Cream, 25.99
EWG SkinDeep: Not yet rated.
ThinkDirty: Not yet rated.
GoodGuide: Not yet rated.

A fun, nontoxic face cream packaged in a BPA-free, recycled bottle. It was recently awarded Best Facial Moisturizer in Natural Solutions Magazine’s Beauty with a Conscience Awards. It is one of the best day creams for winter!

The Dirty Dozen for Skincare

Image courtesy of Safe Cosmetics

The Dirty Dozen was a term coined for a list of twelve fruits and vegetables that are contaminated by the most pesticides and herbacides - the list is a handy guide for consumers so they know what to buy organic. However, toxic chemicals aren't only found in our food. Harmful chemicals can be found in all sorts of consumer products - including the soaps, moisturizers, and makeup we put on our skin everyday. So, health experts have created a Dirty Dozen list for skincare! Print this list and keep it with you when you shop for cosmetics and make sure to read ingredient lists and avoid all of the above chemicals. Or, download an app to do the work for you. I love the EWG SkinDeep app and the ThinkDirty app. both of which have great information on the safety of skincare products. 

Boston's Eco Activities for this Week

image courtesy of Flickr

MONDAY

• First 70 degree day of spring! Head to Follain to pick up some earth-friendly, chemical free sunscreen. 

TUESDAY

• Check out the Sea Change: Boston Exhibit

WEDNESDAY

• Net Impact Sustainability Breakfast
• Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink Forum at the Museum of Science

THURSDAY

• Green Justice Coalition Energy Efficiency Summit
• Invasion of the Lionfish Lecture at the New England Aquarium

FRIDAY

• Last chance to check out the Museum of Science before the craziness of April Vacation begins. Why not check out their live presentation on climate change?!

SATURDAY

• Save some $$$ while cutting your environmental impact by turning off your heat and committing not to turn it on again until November or December.

SUNDAY

• Enjoy a vegetarian Easter celebration. 

Think Dirty App Simplifies Makeup Shopping

I am obsessed with this *free* phone app. Simply type in a cosmetic product you use and the app will instantly tell you if it is safe or not and why. It is as if you have the entire Skin Deep Database at your fingertips! Think Dirty also has a mechanism for favoriting products so you already have a list of safe products handy next time you hit the drug store!

Spotlight: Follain

source image courtesy of Follain

Are you a sucker for the "Whole Body" section at Whole Foods? Even just in that tiny subsection of the store you could spend hours reading labels before you find something truly healthy, environmentally-friendly, and, most importantly, effective. Enter Follain. Follain is a new eco-beauty boutique in the South End specializing in highly curated, non-toxic, locally made cosmetics and toiletries. All brands at Follain are "spa-grade" and domestically created. The boutique also provides refills of their fastest moving products (reusable bottles pictured above). Such a great idea! 

Review Wednesday: Should You Avoid Retinyl Palmitate?

image courtesy of www.annmariegianni.com

Today, rather than a product review, we are going to explore a common product ingredient, so you can make informed shopping decisions. I hope that the "ingredient spotlight" feature will become a monthly column, so let me know what you think! First up: retinyl palmitate. 

Last week while researching my review of Gabriel Moisturizing Liquid Foundation, I noticed that the main reason the product got a bad rating from the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep Database was because it contained retinyl palmitate - this got me curious.

Retinyl Palmitate is a vitamin A supplement often used in skincare products. It is also added to milk to add back the antioxidants lost during the fat-removal process. However, high doses of topical retinyl palmitate have been linked to cancer in lab animals. For this reason, EWG has rated the ingredient 8, or high hazard (on this 1-10 scale, the most dangerous chemicals are rated a 10). 

Adding to this concern, the EWG website explains that when retinyl palmitate is exposed to UV light, it can break down into toxic free radicals, which can also lead to cancer, or speed tumor growth in existing cancer. So when wearing this product, or other products containing retinyl palmitate, make sure to avoid sun exposure (check your sunscreen labels to make sure they don't contain this ingredient). FDA also raised a concern that extensive, daily skin application of vitamin A creams may build up in the woman’s body a high enough level of Vitamin A that may be toxic to the developing fetus. 

However, a 2010 study concluded that that retinyl palmitate is safe except for in very high doses. The American Academy of Dermatology has concluded that the ingredient does NOT cause skin cancer (even in sunscreens). 

Conclusion: There is still major confusion about this ingredient. I have decided that I will continue to buy products that contain this ingredient, but that I will use them sparingly (as indicated on the product label, or less), and will try to purchase retinyl palmitate-free sunscreens just in case! 

Glitter Guide's List of Earth-Friendly Cosmetics

A friend of mine (an avid blog reader) recently sent me this Glitter Guide post about eco-aware beauty brands. Expecting it to be the same-old list I always read on eco-beauty blogs, I was pleasantly surprised when the list featured some brands I haven't heard of (or tried) yet! I now consider this Glitter Guide post my new shopping list!! (Although, it looks like some of the products might not be wallet-friendly...but I at least need to hit Whole Foods and read the labels).

Look out for upcoming cosmetics reviews!

Review: St. Ives Deep Restoring 24 Hour Moisture Body Lotion

Pros                                                               Cons             

-Effective, long lasting moisturizer                    -Rated 5 (moderate hazard) on EWG SkinDeep

-Great price, $5                                              -Contains artificial fragrances

-Widely available                                            -Term "100% natural" used on packaging (greenwashing)

-Besides fragrance, all ingredients rated

    4 or below

-Large bottle, lasts a while

-Company has environmental commitments

-No parabens/phthalates

Conclusion: I am pleasantly surprised by this product. I am always wary of items that claim they are "100% natural" because the word "natural" doesn't have a standardized meaning - so its difficult to tell what this 100% claim is all about. This greenwash-sounding claim combined with the low price of the product had me ready to believe that it wasn't sustainable, but I was quite pleased with St. Ives after doing a little research. Though their products use artificial fragrance (grrr!), the company has a thorough commitment to health and the environment. St. Ives is committed to sourcing from sustainable vendors, using post-consumer recycled material for their packaging, and making sure all of their products are paraben free. This product may not be the absolute greenest on the market, but it is definitely the best choice for the price range! 

Review: Bio-Oil Scar Treatment

Pros                                                           Cons                                    

-Easy to use bottle                                      -Rated a 7 on the SkinDeep database (high hazard!)

-Contains lavender oil                                  -Contains artificial fragrance and retinyl acetate

-No parabens or palm oil                             -Marketing targets pregnant women

-Recyclable packaging                                 -No information regarding animal testing or green policies

Conclusion: This is a prime example of tricky product names. Just because the word "bio" is in the title does not mean that the product is green, healthy, or natural in any way. While Bio-Oil is paraben free and somewhat effective, its ingredient list contains some concerning substances. Small doses of artificial fragrance or retinyl acetate (which are both considered a high health hazard by the Environmental Working Group) may not do much harm, but the fact that this product is marketed towards pregnant women is worrisome.