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As The Fixx say “One Thing Leads to Another” – this especially true when one spends much time on the internet.
Today I began reading a Vogue article “The New Toxic Beauty Documentary Asks: Are Skin-Care Products the New Cigarettes?“.
Excerpts from The New Toxic Beauty Documentary Asks: Are Skin-Care Products the New Cigarettes?:
“…the award-winning Toxic Beauty, which condenses a three-year investigation of the virtually unregulated chemicals in personal-care products into 90 thoughtful, thought-provoking minutes.”
“…the chemicals in her hair, blood, and urine were more commonly found in beauty products than in people.”
“Reports by a consulting lab from 1957 note that asbestos, a known carcinogen, had been detected in Johnson & Johnson’s talc supply.”
“…tens of thousands of substances available for use in personal-care products in the United States, the majority of which have not been assessed for safety by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review…Regulation kicks in only if customers report problems post-purchase.”
“…cosmetic legislation in the U.S. hasn’t been updated since 1938…”
“‘…it’s the accumulation of a number of products, and the reapplication of those products.'”
“Products aimed at minority women—skin-lightening creams, hair-straightening treatments—’have higher levels of carcinogens and toxicants’…A new study links the use of permanent hair dye and chemical straighteners with a 60% increase in breast cancer risk for black women, as opposed to an 8% increase for white women.”
The article contained a link to the docmentary’s website. Needless to say, I wanted to know more about the film so I clicked on the link. (I’ll provide pertinent URL’s at the bottom of this Post.)
The Toxic Beauty site not only discusses the documentary and where to see it (YouTube, Amazon Prime, etc.), but includes extended interviews and information on what ingredients you should look out for:
What caught my attention were the FREE apps they touted: EWG’s ‘Healthy Living’, Silent Spring’s ‘Detox Me’, and Think Dirty. All three were available in my iPod’s App Store, but I only loaded one. (I think it was the name…)
A quick download and I was ready to go. Opening the app I found its interface pretty intuitive and put it to work right away scanning the barcode on a tube of lip balm I always have on my desk:
(No surprise that WF’s Organic Lip Balm registered “clean”.)
For comparison I scanned an item that I do not use but others in the household do:
(No surprise here either.)
Scanning other personal care items, I found some were not in Think Dirty’s database but they provided an option for you to request it be added. Although I had to register with them (I did) in order to perform this task, the whole process was quick and painless. They can even notify you when a product you scanned is added to their database. (You can change your Profile settings at any time.) – and allow you to “like” products, keep a list of items in “My Bathroom Shelf”, and write product reviews.
The only drawback is the Think Dirty app requires you to be connected to the internet, which shouldn’t be a problem for most of you out there. All in all it’s a nifty little tool that I’ll be using frequently!
Websites:
Toxic Beauty (documentary)
Think Dirty.
Environmental Working Group (EWG)
Silent Spring Institute
Breast Cancer Prevention Partners
House M - 