What’s in that Pink Ribbon Product?

It’s that time of year again, when we can’t walk five steps without finding some new opportunity to spend money for breast cancer. We can “Kiss for the Cause” with Revlon lipstick, dust our cheeks with Estee Lauder’s Pink Ribbon Shimmer Compact, or hydrate our feet with Foot Works for the “Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.”

Before I rush out for a pink-ribbon makeover, I have some questions for these companies: How much money are they actually contributing to breast cancer charities, and what is the money being used for? And most importantly, are they willing to stop using chemicals linked to cancer?

The big beauty companies don’t want such questions raining on their pink parade. Revlon, Avon and Estee Lauder generate lots of goodwill and positive press with their signature pink-ribbon products and events. Yet ironically – outrageously – many of their products contain chemicals linked to cancer.

Revlon, for example, makes more than 20 hair dyes that score a 10 (for most toxic) in the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Just one hair-dye product, Revlon Colorist Expert Color & Glaze System, contains more than one dozen chemicals linked to cancer!

Avon and Estee Lauder make various products containing PEG compounds and other chemicals that undergo a nasty chemical process called “ethoxylation,” which uses ethylene oxide (a known breast carcinogen) during processing and often leaves products contaminated with 1,4 dioxane (a carcinogen and serious groundwater contaminant).

Love List: Luscious Skin Care

Hi Radiant Queen,

From time to time I love to update my favorite organic beauty products. A few months ago I got the best gift ever! Annmarie Gianni sent me a slew of her healthy potions and lotions from her new skincare line. Ya know why I say it was “the best gift ever”?

One: Because her products blew my mind (not easy to do). Annmarie literally harnesses the power of Mother Nature in a bottle. Vazoom!

Two: Because her gift was unconditional. She didn’t ask me to do anything but “enjoy.” Annmarie and her husband, the fabulous Kevin Gianni, noticed how hard I was working promoting Crazy Sexy Diet. They were so proud of all I was doing to uplift the lives of others that they wanted me to enjoy a bit of pampering, no strings attached. Um, really? I was so touched!

Note: Lots of folks send me products for review. When I launched my periodic Love Lists, my mailbox exploded. As you all know, I only write about things I adore and use myself. Translation: You can’t buy move LOVE. When I tried Annmarie’s gems I immediately thought, holy shitake! I have to spread the word because this shit totally rocks! As a matter of fact, I love these products so much that I joined her affiliate program.

Sisters, if you’re looking for something new, give this chemical-free skincare line a whirl here. They’re an all-natural, organic blend between shaman magic, Medicine Woman wisdom and a potent herbalist cocktail, (Hey Bartender! I’ll definitely have another). As Annmarie says, “the line brings the ancient healing energies and awareness directly to you so that you may radiate your own natural beauty.”

Here are my favorites. I’ve been using them daily for about a month and my skin is less dry and more glowy. Also, my makeup doesn’t cake or get caught in my near-40 creases as much as it did when I was using other cleansers and moisturizers.

I love the Aloe-Herb Cleanser. It leaves my skin fresh, clean and hydrated. Plus it smells like heaven in the springtime.

I love the Neroli Toning Mist, which I apply after cleansing and before moisturizer. It smells like angels blowing air kisses.

I love the Herbal Facial Oil. After washing and misting my face, I apply 1-2 pumps of this oil. At first I thought it would make me breakout or look like a grease slick. Oh no, Mon Ami. My skin drinks it in like a nourishing oasis filled with antioxidant bliss. This oil may just be the fountain of youth!

I love the Anti-Aging Eye Cream. Who knows if it will keep the facial crows in check? I like to think it just might. It’s cooling, calming and totally rejuvenating. Filled with cucumbers, green tea, echinacea and something else I can’t pronounce.

I love the purifying mud mask. It tightens and tones my skin. It also makes me look like a warrior princess and it’s a terrific way to frighten the UPS guy.

I love love love the coconut body oil. My legs and the back of my arms love it too. So do my cracky elbows and heels.

I’ve also tried Ayurvedic facial scrub. It’s a like, not a love. I smelled like Indian food and got more up my nose than on my face. I probably need to give it another shot.

Annmarie has lots of other groovy products to play with. Browse away, love lady! (My gift to you: 10% off any product. Use coupon code: sexy.)

Crazy Sexy Personal Beauty Tips

1. Drink ½ your body weight in ounces of purified water daily. If you’re a daily green juice Goddess, you can drink less.
2. Eat a varied plant-based diet high in raw organic foods, green juices and green smoothies.
3. Dump animal products, fake foods, sodas, coffee and energy drinks.
4. Sweat your prayers and shake your ass-ets. Move your God Pod 3-5 times per week.
5. Rest. Sleep is something we never catch-up on. Try to get 8 hours of uninterrupted slumber between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
6. Dry brush. Your skin is your largest organ. Keep it bright and unobstructed with daily dry brushing.
7. Positive re-programming. A healthy and glowy body isn’t just about what you eat and what you put on your skin, it’s also about addressing what’s eating you. Face what’s holding you back in an honest and authentic way. Move through your darkness into your brilliant light (so bright we need expensive sunglasses). Practice EFT, journaling, check-ups from the neck ups, meditation, and visualization and smile therapy. Look in the mirror each day and say, “You are gorgeous inside and out, upside and down.”
8. Spend time in Mother Nature and align your inner rhythm to hers. There’s a time and a season for growth, renewal, refuge and silence. In our fast-paced world we often go against our inner grain. Stop, drop and remember.
9. Go to church. And by church, I mean nature. Spend time outside in the sunshine, breathe deep, hug a tree, do sun salutes in the rain, sit and meditate like the Buddha, get dirt under your nails by planting a garden and feed the birds. Enlightenment will come.

Peace and pretty,
KC

PS – For 10% off, remember to use your coupon code “sexy” here. Hurry, expires April 6!

What’s in that pink ribbon product?

It’s that time of year again, when we can’t walk five steps without finding some new opportunity to spend money for breast cancer. We can “Kiss for the Cause” with Revlon lipstick, dust our cheeks with Estee Lauder’s Pink Ribbon Shimmer Compact, or hydrate our feet with Foot Works for the “Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.”

Before I rush out for a pink-ribbon makeover, I have some questions for these companies: How much money are they actually contributing to breast cancer charities, and what is the money being used for? And most importantly, are they willing to stop using chemicals linked to cancer?

The big beauty companies don’t want such questions raining on their pink parade. Revlon, Avon and Estee Lauder generate lots of goodwill and positive press with their signature pink-ribbon products and events. Yet ironically – outrageously – many of their products contain chemicals linked to cancer.

Revlon, for example, makes more than 20 hair dyes that score a 10 (for most toxic) in the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database. Just one hair-dye product, Revlon Colorist Expert Color & Glaze System, contains more than two dozen chemicals linked to cancer!

Avon and Estee Lauder make various products containing PEG compounds and other chemicals that undergo a nasty chemical process called “ethoxylation,” which uses ethylene oxide (a known breast carcinogen) during processing and often leaves products contaminated with 1,4 dioxane (a carcinogen and serious groundwater contaminant).

All three companies make products containing parabens and other chemicals that act like estrogen in the body, which is problematic because higher estrogen exposures are associated with higher breast cancer risk.

Revlon, Avon and Estee Lauder owe it to us to do better. As leaders in the pink-ribbon parade, they have a responsibility to stop buying carcinogens from the chemical companies, and they have the opportunity to be real champions for women’s health by using their leverage with the chemical companies to demand safer, non-toxic alternatives.

Instead, we get cute pink-ribbon products with an undisclosed portion of proceeds going to breast cancer research, almost none of which is focused on environmental causes of the disease such as cancer-causing chemicals and pollution. They want us to “hope for the cure” rather than having a serious discussion about how to prevent breast cancer – because prevention requires changes to the status quo.

For more about the not-so-cute history of the pink ribbon (which was co-opted by a beauty magazine) and Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which was started by a pharmaceutical/chemical company), see chapter 6 of my book “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.”

After reading these stories, you’ll never look at a pink ribbon the same way again. But the good news is, we don’t have to put up with this, because we get to decide which companies we support with our money and which products we put on our bodies. Here are five things you can do today to take meaningful action for change:

Learn About Environmental Causes of Breast Cancer: Share this important resource about the causes of breast cancer, State of the Evidence 2010 by the Breast Cancer Fund, the only national breast cancer organization focused solely on prevention of the disease. Consider donating to Breast Cancer Fund this October as a way to support prevention.

Think Before You Pink: Check out this website by Breast Cancer Action and encourage your friends to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions. Another great resource on this topic is the book and film No Family History, by Sabrina McCormick.

Just Say No to Toxic Beauty Products: Choose products that are free of carcinogens and other harmful chemicals by using the Skin Deep database. Spend your money on companies with products consistently in the green zone (0-2 toxicity score).

Demand Cosmetics Without Carcinogens: Join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in working to pass the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 that will require companies to eliminate cancer-causing chemicals from cosmetics. Visit our website and join our email list to get involved. Together we can give the beauty industry a makeover!

Pass the News: Educate your friends and networks about this topic by sharing this free short video, The Story of Cosmetics by Annie Leonard. Post it on websites, Facebook, listserves and help us get to one million views!

This article was originally published by Crazy Sexy Life in November 2009 and was updated for October 2010.

Photo Credit: tanakawho

Love List: Hot & Healthy Beauty Products

Hello Gorgeous!

You are what you eat, but you’re also what you put on your skin. Everything we lather on our pores is absorbed into our bloodstream! So if you wouldn’t gobble it up, think twice about rubbing it on your beautiful bod. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in your beauty products? Can you even pronounce half the words in the ingredient list? My pal, Stacy Malkan at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, has helped to open my eyes to the dangers of the chemicals in our makeup bags, showers and bathroom cabinets.

It’s time to vote with your dollar (and trash bin while you’re cleaning out the junk that may be lurking in your home) by investigating everything from your mascara to your bar of soap. The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database is super helpful in weeding out the yucky stuff. Just type in the brand name of a product and voilà! You’ll get the facts on what to keep and what to toss. It’s so easy!

Here’s some food for thought, the average consumer babe uses between 15-25 personal care products per day! Many of those products contain hundreds of dangerous synthetic chemical compounds. Chemicals like parabens, which are synthetic preservatives found in shampoos, make-up foundations, shaving gels and even food, have a chemical structure similar to estrogen that interferes with production of the body’s natural hormones and more importantly, containing potential links to cancer.

Unlike (most of the) food and drugs we ingest, the cosmetic industry requires NO pre-market safety tests, monitoring or labeling. That’s right, due to gaping loopholes in federal law, companies can put virtually ANY ingredient into personal care products. The European Union has made major advances in the regulation of cosmetics in the past several years and has banned the use of substances classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction in cosmetic products. Unfortunately, the US hasn’t yet followed in these footsteps! With statistics like 1/3 of all men and half of all women will have cancer by 2050, it’s important to investigate how exposures in our daily lives increase the risk of cancer.

Here’s some of my fave natural beauty products. Add yours in the comments section so that we can educate each other on what’s hot and healthy!

Makeup:
-Peace Keeper Causemetics Lip Paint & Gloss
-Lavera Mascara
-100% Pure Mascara
-La Bella Donna Lip Gloss & Eye Shadow
-RMS Cream Eye Shadow
-Glo Minerals Medium Concealer
-Vapour Foundation & Concealer
-Larenim Powder
-Cheeky Lip Balm & Lip Gloss

Face & Body:
-Nutiva Coconut Oil (perfect body butter post-shower)
-Simply Divine You Glow Girl Body Butter
-Dr. Alkaitis Makeup Remover
-John Masters Pomegranate Nourishing Facial Oil
-Alba Botanica Sea Salt Body Scrub
-Farmaesthetics Nourishing Herbal Cream
-Dr. Bronner’s Magic All-in-One Baby Soaps
-Pangea Pyrenees Lavender with Cardamom Body Oil

Nails:
-No Miss Nail Care
-Almost Natural Nail Polish Remover
-Acquarella Nail Polish

Hair Products:
-Nurture My Body Shampoo & Conditioner
-Max Green Alchemy Scalp Rescue Pomade
-Korres Shampoo & Conditioner
-Giovanni Natural Mousse
-Intelligent Nutrients Finishing Gloss

Making a commitment to finding the healthiest products for your body impacts many different areas of our lives. In addition to being good for you, natural products are better for the planet! Plus, natural products aren’t tested on our animal pals. Pooches, bunnies and other loving critters will thank you too!

What healthy products do you love? Please share with your fellow crazy sexy sisters!

Peace & lip-smacking gloss,
Kris Carr

Photo Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4

Petroleum in Perfume

Something doesn’t smell right, and not just in the Gulf. The horrifying destruction of life caused by the oil spill has everyone’s attention; what many people don’t realize is that the toxic effects of oil addiction are hitting much closer to home.

Humans have found many uses for oil, but one thing we can’t do with it is process it with our bodies to use as food or nourishment. So it’s not really a surprise, then, that synthetic chemicals made from oil byproducts don’t mesh so well with human health.

You may notice it in the funny, unpleasant feeling you get when standing in an enclosed space with somebody who is wearing too much perfume. If so, you’re not alone: adverse reactions to fragrance exposure are reported by a significant percentage of the population.

A new report by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics illustrates why. The analysis of 17 top-selling fragrances – from Britney Spears’s Curious and Hannah Montana’s Secret Celebrity to Calvin Klein’s Eternity and Abercrombie & Fitch’s Fierce – reveals the products contain many secret petrochemicals not listed on labels and multiple toxins that can disrupt hormones or trigger allergic reactions such as asthma, headaches, wheezing, and skin rashes.

The majority of the chemicals in these products have not been assessed for safety by the cosmetics industry’s self-policing review panels.

The study comes on the heels of the recent report by the President’s Cancer Panel (see the must-read NYT piece), which sounded the alarm about the cancer risk of unregulated and unstudied chemicals used by millions of Americans in their daily lives. The panel recommended that pregnant women and couples planning to become pregnant avoid exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals due to cancer concerns.

Many of the fragrances contained these suspect ingredients: Halle by Halle Berry, Quicksilver (for men) and Glow by JLO each contained six different chemicals with the potential to act like estrogen in the body. Synthetic estrogens are a concern because of the science linking estrogen to higher risk of breast cancer.

One wonders if these celebrities even know what’s in their products. (Send these celebs a letter.) Average consumers are certainly in the dark, thanks to a loophole in federal law that allows companies to keep fragrance ingredients secret. The companies will argue that they’ve always kept fragrances secret. But, obviously, it’s a new day.

The oil spill is an ever-present reminder that it’s time to start doing things differently than we’ve been doing them. It’s time to rethink the petrochemicals we put on our bodies, too – and to require cosmetics companies to be honest about what’s in their products and to use the safest ingredients possible.

It’s time to shift every industry away from the toxic, polluting practices of the past, to kick the oil habit once and for all, and move the entire economy toward renewable energy, clean production, and green, safe chemistry.