Cosmetic Links

[Millymollymandy]

Oh that's a shame. Aha, maybe that explains why when I was in England a couple of years ago the one in Yeovil was closed down.

[Clara]

Feeling a bit PMT

Sorry but shouldn´t Body Shop be caught by the spam filter - evil purveyors of psuedo-natural cosmetics owned by even eviler giant corporation!

Are we missing a beat here people? We grow organic food for it´s health and environmental benefits, but don´t care about what is REALLY in our cosmetics, as long as they appear natural? Up to 40% of what we put on out bodies is absorbed into them, if we´re not prepared to eat it, should we be putting it on our skin? I´m sure we´re all avid label readers in the supermarket, why does this go out of the window when we hit the smellies aisle?

If you think this is all hype and worry about nothing, please check out www.nomorebreastcancer.org.uk.

My recommendations for real natural cosmetics Neal´s Yard Remedies, Green People, Weleda.

[the.fee.fairy]

Hmmm..

I never realised this would cause such a kerfuffle!

Just because I don't have a yearning desire to cut out everythng from my skincare routine, doesn't mean that others don't.

I have found, in experimenting, that Lush products do good for my skin and hair - it seems to like them whether they have parabens or not. The shampoos and conditioners don't contain -cones and that's what my hair likes.

If people do want to cut out parabends, sulfates and other 'bad' chemicals, then they are perfectly at their leisure to do so without being told constantly that everything they touch/look at /use/smell/eat is going to cause cancer. As a consumer and someone interested in natural living, i prefer to do things because they suit me, not becuase someone somewhere has decided that there's a link between what i like using and some deadly disease. To be honest, i#m getting pretty sick of the 'its not natural enough' brigade. if you want that natural, go swim in the river and stick rivermud on your face. Don't use soap - ever, not even that you make yourself. lye is an irritant that can burn.

Everything around us seems to have its 'good' times when its a superfood/ingredient and can do no wrong, and then, a few years later becomes 'bad' because someone synthesising in a lab has decided it.

Red Wine, Beef, Tobacco, The carrot, The pomegranate, The Strawberry - they've all had their good times, and their bad times.

*steps down from soapbox*

[Clara]

Fee - Someone much wiser than me once told me to go hard on the issue and not on the person. I stand by what I said, however, it was not a personal attack.

If you do decide to look at the website I mentioned, you´ll see it´s not another one of these half-arsed conspiracy theories (yep, found one of those yestersay that said heating honey was gonna give me cancer), but a real organisation that has emerged from the findings of very extensive and credible study.

What makes me sad is that this is women who are being more affected by lifelong lowlevel exposure to contaminents in our foods, homes and workplaces - if more of these chemicals messed with testosterone instead of oestrogen, they´d have been banned years ago.

[Sassinak]

This is absolutely NOT a personal attack on you Clara

But I do agree with a lot that Fee said.
There has to be compromise. If we cut out everything from our lives that might be bad for us then there would not be a lot left. I smoke, I drink and at times I eat food that is bad for me - I have even been known to buy my grandkids a McDonalds (shh )
Everyone has to find their own comfort level in this maze of conflicting advice that is out there. I would never dream of condemning someone for having a stricter moral code than I have, neither do I knock those who choose to indulge in less than green goods.

My principles have always been that regarding sex, politics and religion (and we can now include organic/green practices under the same umbrella) I will support anyone's right to their own beliefs and practices as long as they allow me the same freedom and don't forcibly try and convert me to their way of thinking.
Sorry rant over

[Annpan]

I agree with you Sassinak. We all have to find our own position on this. Who was it that said if we cut out smoking, red meat, salt and alcohol we'd all live 50 years longer but we wouldn't enjoy any of it.

This is a totally different matter if you are harming others though, which I dare say could be argued with the incesant flushing of chemicals into our water systems but this has been going on for decades by industrial practices which include much worse things than shampoo and smelly soaps.

But this is an open disscusion forum and as long as we are trying to help and educate each other then fair play

[Clara]

I guess if I´d been thinking a little more clearly I´d have said what I meant......

What really bugs me is how products are allowed to be advertised as natural, when they are not. I´m a clinical aromatherapist and the word "aromatherapy" has become so devalued because it´s attached to anything that smells - regardless of whether it actually contains EOs.

AnnPan - I held back from making the point about the water, because I didn´t want anyone thinking I was blaming them, however it is pertinent - residues from sunscreens contain parabens and other hormone mimicking ingredients are thought to be a cause of gender alteration in fish in highly touristed areas. I agree there are probably bigger fish to fry when it comes to environmental pollution, but this is something that we can take some control over directly - like we all do here regarding the production of our food to a greater or lesser degree.

Sassinack - Yes, your body your choice, couldn´t agree more. But those packets of fags come with BIG WARNINGS on them these days, cosmetics with toxic ingredients don´t - yet.

And finally....

Fee - you did make me laugh out loud with your river/mud advice. Mr Clara has spent all day covered in mud emptying and cleaning our alberca (mini-reservoir), now because we have to wait for it to refill he´s off to a waterfall to have a shower. Ironically he´ll probably take his favorite Lush soap with him I´ll let you know if his skin is miraculously improved.

[the.fee.fairy]

i wasn't having a personal attack at anyone.

And i agree with you on the issue of Aromatherapy being used for anything that smells rather than anything actually therapeutic. There are a lot of these words being used at the moment - Natural, Aromatherapy, ethnic, Fair Trade etc. i agree that not all of the things being described as such are the real thing.

There are many other areas that people feel strongly about, and have done for generations (from the USE BLEACH people of the 50s to the USE VINEGAR people of now for example).

Whilst i agree that there are too many hormone mimics, i personally, can't see an alternative. Along the same vein with the water theory and the hormones, if we were to come down too hard, it would mean that a woman's right to take oral birth control would be taken away, leaving fewer options (IUDs would be mostly out - a lot of them contain hormones, no more Depro, no mroe patches etc). A lot of the hormones in the water are being provided by people taking these pills. For some, they are essential, not only providing birth control, but also treating a multitude of disorders (personally, i don't take the pill, i have a hormone disorder and don't wish to muck about with the way that my body works on its own, and i feel that the pill is vastly over prescribed anyway).


it is nice to see a well researched view (and a lot o it i find true - i had a friend who's father was working on the breast cancer/antiperspirant deodorant theory a decade ago. i've not used antiperspirant deodorant since because his research made sense). it is refreshing to meet and speak to people who hold well founded views, and for this reason, nothing i ever write on the internet is personally attacking anyone - if i want to attack someone, i'll do it face to face so we can discuss!

i think personal opinion has to come into a lot of things.
I am not SSish to stop myself ingesting hormones/chemicals etc. i am in it because i like the sense of achievement, i prefer the organic way of living, and i like the flavour of homegrown. i love deconstructing clothing, and making things out of rubbish. Whilst i agree with the problems of climate change, and that humans are destorying the planet, i also agree that 1 person over a lifetime can make a lot of difference, i also believe in being selfish - doing things as long as they suit you and your current lifestyle.

So...rant over for the second time, and i'm really not attacking anyone or their beliefs. Attacks and arguments over beliefe systems cause too many wars for my liking.

[Millymollymandy]

I found all that interesting to read! I've never thought about what 'poisons' I might be putting on my body, but considering that I smoke, I can't see much point in worrying about it as I'm already polluting myself!