Cosmetics Reviews - Alternative Products We Have Tried

This is a very simple page of some of the cosmetics products (Selected from the Environmental Working Groups Cosmetic Safety Database) I have tried and how I feel about their effectiveness for their stated purpose. This does not mean they are safe or unsafe. These cosmetics reviews are my opinions. I know there are many women out there who would rather die than give up their favorite brand of cosmetics. But that’s a bad idea. Your skin is pourous and chemicals in your cosmetics readily penetrate the dermal layers. These chemicals are now in your body as easily as if you had consumed them as food. Our cosmetic reviews consist or short opinions about our experiences. We review each cosmetic product by company name then product.

Cosmetic Reviews: Terressentials Brand Products

I chose Terressentials products because in general they are found at the bottom (meaning least toxic) of the EWG (Environmental Working Groups) Toxicity Lists. In short, they have the least amount of dangerous (at least as far as science knows for now) substances. I have no idea how big an operation Terressentials is and if they distribute any otherway than through their website (I bought online). I also do not know if they really make this stuff or if they just buy it and repackage it. For now I don’t care, I tried some of their products and here are my thoughts:

Terressentials Bills themselves as “Organics for Smart People”. And while that’s flattering I do not know if the people seeking these products are any smarter than anyone else, but I do know they (like me) are concerned about their health and the enormous amont of toxins being mixed in with our food supply and the environment in General. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that the world we live in is becoming increasingly poisoned. What it does take is for people to WAKE UP and RECOGNIZE the dangers that are posed to their own personal health.

Extra Large Fragrance Free hair wash (16 oz). I don’t know what is “extra large” about 16 ounces? It’s a standard size and if anything it’s average size (The “Brand Name” shampoos are typically 13 to 20 ounce). Size aside the product was listed lowest on the Toxicity from the EWG “Skin Deep” report. The product is basically a clay mixture with the texture and look of chocolate pudding. This is “Hair Wash” NOT Shampoo. It does not lather, rather you work a couple tablespoon sized dabs throughout your hair for a minute or two then rinse. It does get your hair clean, but I doubt women with longer hair will like this product as it is unlike shampoo making it more difficult to work through the hair. 16 ounces of non-lathering product lasted me about a month or 30 showers, so I guess if I’m doing the math right I used about half an ounce per wash. My hair is only 1″ long at most so it worked for me. My hair did feel clean, but it didn’t feel like it was easier to comb or style or more shiny or anything like that. It was just clean, which is the intent of the product. You should also note it’s Fragrance Free which is what I like. Conclusion: Good product, does what it advertises, women probably won’t like it. Price Paid: $20.50 plus shipping. Will I buy this again? No! Reason: I simply can not afford to pay this much. I am currently just washing my hair with vegetable oil based soap. Not quite as good, but effective and much much cheaper. Update: JR LIggetts Shampoo bars are so much cheaper and so much better and they do lather!

Citrus Tee Tree Hand Soap 16 ounce refill (They don’t call this one “Extra Large”). You can read about the benefits of Tea Tree Oil elsewhere. This product is a lot like washing your hands with thick syrupy lemonade. I was my hands frequently so this didn’t last me very long. Several studies have shown that just plain old soap and water (Non Bacterial) is the best way to wash your hands (and you should do it for 30 seconds, not 10). Is this a good product? Sure. Is it expensive - very! Will I buy it again? NO. Price paid: $10.95. Recommendation. Use organic bar soap!

Natural Unscented Glycerine Soap 6-Pack. Works just like any good glycerine soap. Priced like any good Glycerine soap. No smell, lathers on and rinses off. Very non toxic. Good product. Fair price (except I can buy similar local and avoid the shipping costs). Price paid: $11.25 for 6 bars. I also purchased one bar with oatmeal for $2.25 to see if it made any difference. And actually it does - it costs more. Skip the oatmeal.

Organic Fragrance Free Deodorant 3 ounce. The experience of using this product is about the same as rolling rubbing alcohol on your arm pits. I’ll pass. Price paid: $10. Advice - keep looking! It goes on very wet, is hard to apply and just doesn’t do a very good job.

Fragrance Free Moisture Cream 4 ounce. It works, it’s basically shea butter. Makes your skin feel a little greasy and will make you a little shiney. Price paid: $16. Will find similar product locally.

Organic Orange White Chocolate Lip Protector. Same size as a tube of Chapstick brand lip protector. This stuff doesn’t last as long, but it tastes great (and you don’t have to be concerned about accidentally swallowing trace amounts. Price paid: $3.75 a tube (Purchased 2). Would I buy again? Yes! I can find no other product like this locally, it’s spendy, but it works and it tastes great and it’s practically non toxic!

I spent $89.95 for my order. I did it to review the products and to help support a site which is making a difference in the lives of those who can afford to purchase organic cosmetics. Unfortunately the “economies of scale” in small operations drive up the costs of production. Organic costs more because its rare, and the products and manufacturing methods to insure purity involve more care. If you can afford these products then buy them and try them for yourself. if you can afford these pricesthen try to find the most similar ingredients at your local health food or vitamin store. But be careful, just because it’s Organic doesn’t mean it’s “Safe”.

Kiss My Face Cosmetic Products

Olive Oil Bar Soap. Purchased at the local health food store (Some Grocers with organic/natural sections also carry this product). It scored very well on the EWG “Skin Deep” report. I use it primarily to wash my face but I also use it to occasionally wash my hair (But I have very short hair). I like it’s texture and it seems to last as long as ordinary bar soap. I pay $1.29 to $1.99 per four ounce bar depending on if it’s on sale or not. Highly recommended. Be careful of other Kiss My Face Products because they contain many untested ingredients and actually score worse than some major and “regular” brand name products.

JASON Natural Cosmetics

Sea Fresh All-Natural Sea Sourced Toothpaste. After reading how dangerous Sodium Laurel Sulfate and Flouride can be when ingested I rushed out and tried to find a natural solution. At the time I had not heard of the EWG “Skin Deep” report. I purchased this product based on the packaging. Turns out there are better choices even Regular Colgate with Fluoride and Sodium Laurel Sulfate scored better. In my opinion this is not good toothpaste. I have since switched to the Weelda Brand and love their toothpaste!

Don’t be fooled by the “Natural” in Tom’s of Maine. Their tooth care products are full of the same poisons as the name brands. And while many of you may be fooled into thinking that chemicals like Sodium Laurel Sulfate are safe because you just rinse them back out, don’t be. And if you are then you really shouldn’t be reading this site. Go use whatever you want and good luck to you. The latest Government (and in USA Government) researchers are predicting 1 in 3 Americans will developed some form of cancer in their lifetime! I’m choosing to avoid being a cancer statistic I have enough health problems already

More cosmetics I’ve tried

I have become a fan of Dr. Bronners Soaps (I like it but it’s spendy), Weeleda Toothpaste (especially the “plant” flavor), Burts Bees Rosemary mint shampoo bar (Leaves a “wax” in your hair). and several others.

I believe in the future I’ll just write short mini reviews of products and give them their own review.

Dangers of Makeup - Are Your Cosmetics Safe?

When people think of illness they think inside the body, however most pathogens or illness are introduced to us from sources outside the body. Are your cosmetics safe? Please see our page titled Cosmetics Reviewed for information on products we have purchased and our opinions on not only the saftey of the cosmetics but are they as easy to use or “comfortable” as the brands you may be used to using. Just because it’s safe doesn’t mean it’s a good product. So read this cosmetics information and then read our reviews.

Quickly and Easily Compare the Cosmetic Brands You Use With The “Skin Deep” Report.

Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group. As part of The Environmental Working Group’s ongoing project to test and quantify the danger potential of your cosmetics, Skin Deep gets direct to the problem! Includes all the popular brand names of products including toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, bar soap, et el.

Just how dangerous your Shampoo, Bar Soap, Hair Coloring, etc? FDA May require warning on untested Products

By David Goldstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers- March 2005

WASHINGTON - Imagine reaching for a tube of lipstick or a can of shaving cream and finding this label: “Warning - The safety of this product has not been determined” Many popular cosmetics and personal care products could bear such warnings if the Food and Drug Administration decides they need them. The agency would act if it determines that their ingredients haven’t been adequately tested to assure their safety. It’s now working to decide that.

Last month the FDA informed the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, a Washington-based trade group, that manufacturers of untested products may have to add the warning. There’s no hard evidence of any health impact from long-term, low-dose exposure to the kinds of chemicals in cosmetics, said Lauren Sucher, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Working group, a private nonprofit research center. (Editors Note: That’s exactly why they need to be tested to see if they really are safe!)

Cosmetics Saftey: Dangers of Makeup Continued

Some ingredients in cosmetics, such as methylpentan-2-one, found in nail polish, haven’t been tested. Others, including triethanolamine, used in skin scrubs, are among the chemicals that researchers fear might cause cancer. Products that could be in line for FDA warnings, based on the Environmental Working Group’s study, include:

• Mascara, which can contain ingredients linked or potentially linked to cancer.
• Liquid hand soap, which may contain ingredients suspected of raising the risk of breast and skin cancer.
• Hair dye, which can contain coal tar, which has been linked to bladder cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“The bottom line is people don’t know what the health effects are of the many chemicals we’re putting on our bodies every day,” she said. “But consumers do have the right to know who’s looking to see whether they’re safe.” A study last year by the Environmental Working Group found that only 18 of 7,500 common cosmetics and toiletries had had all their ingredients fully tested for safety. “So we’re talking about over 99 percent that have never been fully assessed for safety,” Sucher said.

Companies often do tests of short-term acute exposure to see whether their products make eyes water or skin itch,” she said. “Often, however, they’re not looking at whether they might cause cancer or birth defects that are long-term and don’t affect the profitability of their products.”

Eric Kraus, the vice president for corporate communications at The Gillette Co., in Boston, which makes shaving creams and other personal care products, said: “Gillette products undergo rigorous testing, based on the best available scientific information, to assure that they are safe for use and for our employees to make. For us, this should not be an issue.”

Kraus said he believed that Gillette’s product-safety tests included determinations of whether they could cause birth defects or cancer. (Editors comment: Once again Corporate America to the rescue, we are being asked to put our faith and our health in the hands of a for profit corporation that’s not in the business of wellness, but in the business of profit!)

FDA Does NOT Require Cosmetic Ingredients be Tested for Safety

There’s no federal requirement that the ingredients in such products be tested for safety. But federal law requires that cosmetics with unassessed ingredients include an FDA warning label informing consumers that “the safety of this product has not been determined.” Until now, the FDA has relied on the cosmetics industry to police its products.

Dr. Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health at the Chicago School of Public Health at the University of Illinois and the chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, called the FDA’s recent letter to the cosmetics trade group “the first glimmer of responsibility in several decades.”

Janet Bartucci, the vice president for global communications at New York-based Estee Lauder, the cosmetics and personal care products company, said in an interview that she saw no need for FDA intervention. “Because there is so much testing done by individual companies, they haven’t had any need to step in.” (Editors Comment: Got to throw up the bullshit flag on this one, the only testing that’s being done is how well the product will sell. These people are not funding medical research - if they were they would be citing it in their sales literature. This is exactly the type of comment you should expect from a company representative, and the kind of comment that could lead you to the grave if believed).

The FDA declined to comment for this article because it’s still reviewing a petition by the Environmental Working Group seeking recalls or warning labels on a wide variety of personal-care products.

The FDA doesn’t assess the safety of cosmetics and toiletries before they hit the market, as it does with drugs. The cosmetics industry does its own evaluations through an independent panel of experts whom it appoints. Editors Comment: Gee now that’s comforting, isn’t this what the tobacco companies do? Appoint their own group of experts to tell us there is no proof that cigarettes cause health problems?)

Representatives of the FDA and the Consumer Federation of America, an alliance of public interest groups, attend those sessions. Since 1976, the panel, known as the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, has found 694 ingredients to be safe and nine to be unsafe. In a statement this week, the Environmental Working Group said the panel had reviewed only 11 percent of the 10,500 cosmetic ingredients recorded by the FDA.

“The 89 percent of ingredients that remain unassessed are used in more than 99 percent of all products on the market,” the group’s statement said.

The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, which created the review panel, responded positively to the FDA’s letter suggesting stronger federal oversight of its products.

“Even an industry with an exemplary safety record such as ours functions best with a tough cop on the beat and we welcome FDA’s action,” Ed Kavanaugh, the association president, said in a prepared statement. In an interview, however, Irene Malbin, the association’s vice president for public affairs, called the Environmental Working Group’s “Skin Deep” study “completely wrong.” (Editors Comment: The FDA a tough Cop? That’s laughable. It’s about MONEY people, the FDA approved Bovine Growth Hormone in the Dairy Industry in 1994 and the effects have been devastating. WAKE UP! You have to take responsibility for your own health, if you think the FDA - whom also approves of Fluoridated Drinking Water - has your health interests in mind? To believe so is about as logical as going to the Post Office and asking one of the clerks for Medical advice the next time you are feeling ill. Don’t get me wrong I’m FOR the FDA regulating and requiring testing of these products and very grateful for organizations like the Earth World Group, I just get offended by For Profit company reps tooting their own horn)

“Cosmetics are safe and consumers can have complete confidence in their products,” Malbin said. (Editors Comment: And that is why Cancer is the #2 Killer of USA citizens right behind Heart Disease - what causes cancer? Go ahead and coat yourself with chemicals and be part of the cancer team!)

The use of cosmetics dates to ancient Egypt, when people used eye makeup and scented themselves with unguents. Now it’s a $35 billion U.S. industry, and the stakes for consumer confidence are high. Concern over the use of possibly dangerous chemicals in personal-care products “marks a trend of increased regulatory and consumer interest,” said Heather Langsner, a senior chemical analyst with Innovest, a New York-based investment research firm. “Many companies are already conducting voluntary phase-outs of certain chemicals. They see the writing on the wall.”

The “Skin Deep” report and a searchable product guide are available online on the Environmental Working Group’s Web page, at Cosmetics Safety Database (Select Searchable product guide to see what kind of posions you are putting on and in your body - pay particular attention to DENTAL products as there really isn’t anything even close to being non-toxic. And this goes in your mouth? And Children swallow as much as 1/3rd of the toothpaste they brush with. WAKE UP and support this effort!

Goldstein covers Washington for The Kansas City Star. Kimberly Morrison contributed to this story.