The Canary Report

Archive for 'Personal Care'

The pampered canary

Posted on Sep 03, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Kimberly Shaw, Personal Care

“There’s no better way to energize your body, mind, and spirit than by taking care of yourself.” ~Stephanie Tourles

One of the ways I take care of myself is to make time to pamper myself with my own homemade organic personal care products. When I make something myself, I know exactly what goes into it and can use ingredients that work for me.

The recipes below include a basic unscented version and also variations with organic essential oils. If you have very severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, are currently in a “universal reacting” stage and/or are recovering from a recent exposure, I’d strongly suggest NOT trying the essential oil variations. Even natural and organic scents can and often will trigger reactions. Some with MCS can tolerate organic essential oils in moderation and even find they have aromatherapy benefits. For many years, I could only use unscented products. After much recovery and studying aromatherapy, I find that some essential oils in moderation work well for me.

If you have extremely sensitive reactive skin, keep things very simple. When my MCS was really severe I cleaned my face with just organic jojoba oil.

Feel free to omit any ingredients you are sensitive to or substitute for another ingredient. You are welcome to email me, if you need help tailoring a recipe to work for you.

Due to the nature of these ingredients, products should be used within six months. Before trying something new on your face or large parts of your body, you might want to do a small skin test on the inside of your arm. As with any skin care products, discontinue use if any skin reaction or rash appears.

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Relaxing Bath Salts

¼ to ½ cup Epsom salt
¼ to ½ cup Dead Sea Salt or any type of sea salt
¼ to ½ teaspoon organic jojoba oil

For a regular size bath, use ¼ measurements, for a larger bath use ½ measurements. Add salts and oils to running bath water. Soak and relax for at least 20 minutes.

Variations:

Add several drops of an organic essential oil such as lavender or vanilla.

Add some green tea (or your favorite herbal tea) to the bath. I tend to use about 6-8 tea bags or about 6 teaspoons loose tea in a cheesecloth bag or stainless steel tea infuser.

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Body Scrub

2 cups organic sugar or sea salt
¾ to 1-cup organic oil (jojoba, olive, grapeseed, sunflower, and/or other organic oil of your choice)

Variations:

10-30 drops organic essential oils, if desired. Tangerine or grapefruit work well.

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If you can use essential oils, here is one of my favorite recipes:

Kimberly’s Mojito Sugar Scrub

2 cups organic sugar
¾ cups grapeseed oil (I use it because it is naturally green in color)
20 drops organic lime essential oil
10 drops organic spearmint essential oil

(When I make it for gifts for friends and relatives, I add a dash of rum.)

Mix well and store in a glass container. Use in the bath or shower. Be careful may make surfaces slippery. Do not use on face or sensitive areas.

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Face and Body Wash

8 oz. organic unscented castile soap
8 oz. distilled water
1 tsp organic jojoba oil

Variation:

8 oz. organic unscented castile soap
4 oz. organic hydrosol* (I often use calendula hydrosol)
4 oz. distilled water
1 tsp organic jojoba oil
(10-20 drops organic essential oils, if desired)

*I find since most hydrosols contain less than 5% essential oil they are mild and subtle and some with MCS can tolerate them.

I put this recipe in glass pump dispenser bottles and use as a basic liquid hand and body soap for the whole family.

If you have really dry skin, add extra jojoba oil to the mixture.

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Organic Eye Butter

3 Tablespoons organic shea butter
2 Tablespoons organic avocado oil
2 Tablespoons organic coconut oil
¼ teaspoon organic rosehip oil
¼ teaspoon organic calendula oil
2 drops organic carrot seed oil (optional)

Gently melt shea butter in a double boiler. Add all oils and blend well. Store in glass container. If storing in warmer environment, keep in refrigerator. Use within three months.

Apply a small amount around eye to help hydrate and soften wrinkles. It also works great on lips!

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There are many places to get organic ingredients, one of my favorite places is Mountain Rose Herbs.

In the coming months, I’ll be sharing more organic body care recipes!

Enjoy!

Come visit me at Serendipity.

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Tags: Cosmetics, Healthy Living, Home, Leisure, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Nontoxic, Organic, Personal Care, Products

Choosing better body care products

Posted on Jun 26, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Home & Garden, Personal Care, Products

Under-regulated chemicals are causing concerns for human health and the environment, whether they seep through your skin or wash down your drain.

The Environmental Working Group continues its Healthy Home Tip series with “Choosing Better Body Care Products”:

Dear Supporter,

Most people use around 10 personal care products every day with an average of 126 unique ingredients. We’d like to believe that the government is policing the safety of all of these mixtures we’re putting on our bodies, but they’re not. Instead, these under-regulated chemicals are causing concerns for human health and the environment – whether they seep through your skin or wash down your drain.

We think you deserve better than that. So we’re sending you our Healthy Home Tip Series to make it easier to safeguard your family’s health. This month’s tip is: Choose better body care products.

What makes a body care product “better”?

Better products meet their claims and are free of ingredients that could harm our health or the environment. Labels might claim that a product is “gentle” or “natural,” but with no required safety testing, companies that make personal care products can use almost any chemical they want, regardless of risks. So, always read product labels – especially the ingredient list – before you buy.

Learn how to choose better body care products

We make these choices as simple as possible on our Healthy Home Tips page, where you’ll learn:

How to read a label

How to shop for the grown-ups in the house

How to find the safest body care products for your kids

Tell your friends about our Healthy Home Tips

We know you’re not the only one who wants to choose better body care products. Tell your friends about our Healthy Home Tip Series so they, too, can be informed when faced with rows of under-regulated products at the store.

Talk to you in a month when we discuss our next Healthy Home Tip: going organic and eating fresh foods.

Thanks for reading,

Lisa Frack
EWG Online Organizer

PS: Last month we introduced this Healthy Home Tips Series. Click here to read about it.

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Tags: Air, Asthma, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Healthy Living, Home, Indoor Pollution, Nontoxic, Personal Care, Products, Stink, Toxic

Tell Johnson & Johnson what you think

Posted on Apr 22, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Linda Sepp, Personal Care, Products

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: Ask Johnson & Johnson to Live Up to Its “Pure” and “Gentle” Claims

Post by Linda.

whatsgoingon I filled out an email form letter to Johnson & Johnson on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website. My wording was stronger than the sample text, saying that all chemicals suspected of being harmful should be removed from their products immediately, until testing can determine their safety. Kids should not be exposed to toxic chemicals like this. Parents should not be told the products are safe when they contain harmful and questionable ingredients. We can demand that they do the right thing!

Last month the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and partner organizations released a report revealing that dozens of popular bath products for babies and kids contain at least two hazardous contaminants: 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde.

Both of these chemicals cause cancer in animals, and formaldehyde is also known to cause skin rashes in people who are sensitive to the chemical.¹

Parents around the world were particularly infuriated that Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, the iconic brand that many hospitals send home with new babies, contained both of these contaminants – neither of which are listed on ingredient labels.

The story was covered across the United States, around the world and online. Concerned moms called Johnson & Johnson – and then blogged about the company’s dismissive response.

Of the report, J&J said, “The trace levels of certain compounds found by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics can result from processes that make our products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth,”² and the Campaign should stop “alarming” parents.

We think parents have a right to know if the products they buy for their babies contain hazardous chemicals linked to cancer and skin rashes. Other companies are making safe and gentle baby products without hazardous chemicals.³ Instead of playing defense, J&J should live up to its promises of purity and be the safest, most responsible company it can be.

We’ve written a sample message you can send to Johnson & Johnson, but your personal additions will go further than our words:

Have you ever purchased Johnson’s Baby Shampoo?

Are you a parent or grandparent who will no longer buy J&J?

Did you grow up with “No More Tears” in the tub?

Are “green” personal care products important to you?

Are you a J&J shareholder?

Are you a medical professional concerned about J&J products?

Let Johnson & Johnson know!

Link to send Johnson & Johnson a letter telling them what you think about their products.

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Tags: Chemicals, Children's Health, Health, Home, Toxic

Black henna tatoos are toxic

Posted on Aug 05, 2008 by Susie Collins in Blog, Personal Care, Products

Think henna tattoos are a safe alternative to permanent tattoos? Think again. The American Academy of Dermatology is warning consumers that henna tattoos could contain a harmful chemical known as para-phenylenediamine, or PPD, used to create longer-lasting black henna tattoos. The PPD is causing a rash of major skin problems.

Natural henna used for temporary tattoos is made from leaves of the lawsonia inermis plant, which provides a vegetable coloring that comes in shades of brown, green or red. Temporary coloring (dyeing) of the skin with natural henna is considered harmless and only lasts for a few days. To increase the intensity of the tattoo beyond which can be attained with natural henna color and to prolong the longevity of the temporary tattoo from days to weeks, some henna tattoo artists are adding PPD (commonly also used for black hair dye) into the henna mix. This turns the tattoo black.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibits the direct application of PPD to the skin because of its known health risks. However, since the tattoo industry is not regulated, people are still getting black henna tattoos and exposing themselves to serious medical problems.

“Perhaps the most alarming issue we are seeing with black henna tattoos is the increase in the number of children — even children as young as four — who are getting them and experiencing skin reactions,” said Dr. Jacob. “Kids make up a significant portion of the population that receives temporary tattoos, because parents mistakenly think they are safe since they are not permanent and are available at so many popular venues catering to families. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.”

Link

Photo by Wah at Flickr

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Tags: Art, Chemicals, Toxic

A whiff of perfume history

Posted on Jul 07, 2008 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Personal Care, Products, Susie Collins

Everything was fine for 2,000 years, and then it all goes so very wrong in the last 20.

Long, long, lonnng before the existence of soaps and clean personal hygiene, perfume was invented, no doubt to mask any number of unpleasant odors. This has been credited to the Medes, ancestors of the Kurds, in about the 10th Century B.C.

The Egyptians pioneered perfumery as an industry in about 1580 B.C. Perfume became a daily staple in both religious and boudoir rituals, the latter occurring most frequently in the chambers of Queen Cleopatra.

Drawing on their experience with plants for medicinal remedies, the Egyptians developed new methods of extracting and processing scents from plant and animal sources. China, Persia, Arabia and India sold raw materials to Egyptian perfumers, and Alexandria flourished as the most important trade center in that part of the world.

By 350 B.C. the Greeks had developed such faith in the powers of perfume that they sprinkled it into the air at their feasts so that it could be dispersed by the wings of flying doves to elevate the appetite for food and lovemaking.

At one point the obsession with perfume got so out of hand that it was actually pronounced illegal. But perfume proved unstoppable. It was thought to make people smarter, cure illness, and secure the favor of the gods. Rich people even went to their graves holding a bottle of perfume. And not to be excluded, poor people were placed in caskets bearing a painting of a bottle of perfume.

Fast forward to Italy, 500 A.D. Now perfume was the rage for both religious ceremonies and personal use. Soon the use of perfume spread to the Islamic world. But alas, the fall of the Roman Empire brought the perfume industry down with it.

Now fast waaay forward to France, 1656. The French established a “guild of glove and perfume makers” and the perfume industry came alive again. Perfumed gloves became the rage. The kings had “perfumed courts.” New blends continued to elevate consumer demand and finally came Eau de Cologne: a fragrance for internal consumption! Yes, they drizzled cologne onto sugar lumps and stirred it into wines. They rinsed their mouths with it, poured it into bath water, and even used it for enemas.

The 1800s found France flooding the world with perfumes and colognes born of new chemical discoveries and manufacturing processes. This spawned the designer bottling industry, and its lavish works of glass raised the art of merchandising to new heights.

The 1900s brought the advent of synthetic fragrance materials, making it possible to formulate many thousands of scents. So today we can select perfumes and colognes from an endless universe of designer scents to delight the senses, inspire ooohhs and ahhs, and complement every personality [emphasis added].

Link

Photo by Leepak at Flickr

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Tags: Fragrance, MCS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Nontoxic, Perfume, Personal Care, Stink, Toxic

Everything you ever wanted to know about your cosmetics but were afraid to ask

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Susie Collins in Blog, Healthy Living, Personal Care, Susie Collins

There’s a handy website run by scientists with information about the toxicity of your cosmetics.

You just type in the brand name or product, and sophisticated charts tell you about all the ingredients, including whether or not they are linked to cancer; developmental/reproductive toxicity; violations, restrictions & warnings; allergies/immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), multiple, additive exposure sources, irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), enhanced skin absorption, contamination concerns, occupational hazards, biochemical or cellular level changes.

My Almay mascara failed miserably.

Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn’t require companies to test their own products for safety.

Link.