On My Mind: New Products And More

Hi friends, hope everyone had a great weekend enjoying the last bit of summer. We had a very busy one, but it was all good things (including our 7th wedding anniversary- I can’t believe it’s been that long!). I have lots of different thoughts I want to share with you from new products to discussions that the green beauty community has been buzzing about.

First up True Nature Botanicals just came out with a shampoo and conditioner and they are getting rave reviews. They’ve quickly moved to the top of my must-try list. Anyone who’s dived into natural beauty products knows that a good hair product is hard to find. My girl Lauren did a full review here. (Photo cred goes to her as well)

Next up, Cocovít just launched a few new products including this coconut-charcoal face mask. I love Cocovít’s coconut oil- everything from the chic packaging to the ethical way they harvest it had me hooked immediately, so I knew I wanted to try this mask out as well. With ingredients like activated charcoal, turmeric powder and Neem powder, this mask does a great job of drawing out all the junk in your skin while nourishing your skin and leaves you feeling fresh and clean. I love using it on my T-zone since that’s where I get the majority of my clogged pores. You can mix it with water or even try mixing it with their famed coconut oil for a more hydrating mask.

So I mentioned in my last post that Piper Wai reformulated and used some possibly not safe ingredients. Since many of you asked what they used, I thought I would share more. The ingredient in question is Japanese Honeysuckle Extract. It has some naturally occurring parabens which, although natural, still behave like the other (synthetic) parabens in your body. Many strictly avoid this ingredient and even though it’s natural, they claim it’s still not safe to use. I’m researching this a bit further, but for now I’m on the fence. My friend Nic opened up a side discussion about it to some in the green community and it seems there’s not a lot of info proving it’s safe, but there also seems to be limited information on it at all. 

In more controversial news, the Honest Co. is getting sued for being not so honest about their ingredients and for their sunscreen failing. I’ve used a lot of their products (including the sunscreen) and have never had a problem, however the issue about their ingredients did catch my eye. After reading Sarita Coren’s post about the topic, I have to admit- I ran and looked at a couple of products from them and realized they really weren’t completely disclosing everything that went into their products. Ingredients like Green Tea Extract have a water base and need a preservative. Whatever preservative they used or other components of the extract aren’t listed on the bottle, however. They just list Green Tea Extract. I really don’t know how I’ve missed this before, but perhaps I was feeling a bit too comfortable with the fact that all of their products score well on Skin Deep. Another side discussion in the green beauty community yielded some interesting facts. If someone was well versed in what Skin Deep is looking for, it’s not too hard for a formulator to game the system. Meaning they can list the bare minimum and make sure everything they list is a safe scoring ingredient.. Therefore the whole product scores well. It’s disappointing to think about anyone doing this and I certainly hope Honest is not, but unless they become more transparent about their ingredients, we can’t be sure.

Lastly, I finally had the chance to watch The Human Experiment. Wow! It really reignites a passion for me with doing what I do: Sharing safer products with you and getting out the message that we’ve surrounded ourselves in a chemical world the last several decades. I’m still not sure we’ve seen the full extent of what we’ve done to ourselves, but my heart breaks for all the children facing pediatric cancers, couples battling infertility and the host of other community diseases that have exploded the last couple of decades. The more we subject our bodies to these manmade, unsafe chemicals, the more damage we are doing. This is definitely a must watch, even if you heard it all before.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week.