Naturally good product picks
On last week’s show, Siobhan O’Connor rattled off a handful of good-for-you and the planet personal care products. So we thought we’d share the names of the companies that were mentioned on air, as well as few extras that get Kathleen’s seal of approval (and are found in No More Dirty Looks). Sorry Aveda!
Hair
Siobhan said, “My two current favorites and the ones that I keep going back to are John Masters Organics, and Alaffia (which is a fairly traded shea-based company…the products are amazing and fairly affordable). John Masters are a little higher end, but very high performance.”
Kathleen’s personal favorite (which also got a big nod from Siobhan) is Intelligent Nutrients Shampoo and Conditioner. This is Horst Rechelbacher’s new line.
Face care and cosmetics
Tata Harper, Kahina Giving Beauty and Evan Healy were all mentioned on air. And Kathleen uses some of Dr. Hauschka’s cosmetics. But she’s also going to try beets on her cheeks for a little color. (smile)
Soap
Siobhan said, “I’m a Dr. Bronner’s girl. I keep it really simple.” And I’ll just add that it gives you a fun, tingly feeling you don’t get from normal soap.
Deodorant
In No More Dirty Looks, Lavanila is called “The Cadillac of nontoxic deodorants.” Kathleen uses Tom’s of Maine with good results (which Siobhan points out is cleaner than most, but not the absolute cleanest.)
Sunscreen (for faces)
John Master’s gets another huge shout out in the book (John Masters Natural Mineral SPF 30).
This is by no means a thorough list, but it’s a good place to start as you begin to look for the best natural personal care products for you. We’re also carrying a few fine products on our new shop page. And we’ll have a lot more there soon.
Want to check out some of the products you already own? Visit the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.
Related:
The ugly side of beauty. Listen to Kathleen’s interview with Siobhan O’Connor:
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I’m not at all surprised Aveda didn’t make the cut. Their packaging may be green, but the products inside them are anything but. They are no different from any other chemical-laden product.
Most of my favorites come from Miessence. Miessence was the 1st line of personal care products to be certified organic to food-grade standards. We have them to thank for all the other organic brands on the market. When Miessence achieved organic certification, it was thought to not be possible. And, they really work! They are spa quality.
I love Kahina skin care, Vapour foundation, Josie Maran cosmetics and I REALLY like Hamadi hair care. The shea cream is unbelieavable. I use the John Masters bourbon/tangerine styling stuff, but nothing else from his line.
“Tom’s of Maine is owned by Colgate-Palmolive, a massive, tanklike company with an estimated 36,000 employees and revenue of approximately $11.4 billion. Its big products include: Ajax, Anbesol and Speedstick.”
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17306.cfm
Yes, the Colgate buyout is a pisser. (It helps with distribution, but not with trust.) I’m going to sample some Siobhan’s other options for deodorant.
Thank you for post this, Becca. Burt’s Bees was purchased by Clorox about 4 years ago for hundreds of millions of dollars.
And Ben and Jerry’s is owned by Unilever a big company (255k people) and $45B/year. Yet they still have an independent board of directors and operate in a more socially responsible way than the vast majority of corporations. My point here is that we should focus on results and products not necessarily on the size of the company. Also, I would really LOVE it if we didn’t associate the word “chemical” with bad and “natural” with good. A chemical is simply a material with a specific chemical composition and EVERYTHING is or is made up of chemicals. Water is a chemical and one that’s pretty darn good for you. Natural doesn’t necessarily mean good either – ricin (from castor beans) is fairly toxic if inhaled or injected, less toxic if consumed orally. Digitalis, poison ivy, bee and snake venom, etc. etc. etc. are all natural but are not necessarily good for you. So the issue isn’t so much natural vs non-natural but really the specifics of what is in a product, what it does or doesn’t do to us when we consume it/apply it to our body AND the other consequences of how it is produced/obtained. The “chemical vs natural” language/discussion is somewhat of a red herring when viewed from a scientific perspective. And yes, in case you’re wondering I’m a scientist trained as a chemist and working as a microbiologist. Still like the rest of you following Kathy and her show, I still want to eat healthy, be healthy and do what is right for the world. I just have a different perspective on things.
And by operate in a more socially responsible way – I’m only giving kudos to Ben and Jerry’s not Unilever on the whole. Still I think Unilever is perhaps moving in a better direction due to it’s involvement with Ben and Jerry’s. Perhaps we need also to look at ways to influence large corporations to be more socially responsible since for better or worse, they’re not going to go away anytime soon.
I’m not surprised Aveda did not make the list. The quality and integrity of their products are not up to par. While they (Estee Lauder) has done a great job of sustainability they are also #greenwashing Aveda.
There are other better choices made right here in the US.
Like Teressentials and Bubble and Bee to name a few.
Love Roger’s comments: chemicals (like water!) can be healing and natural substances (like the wrong mushroom) can be toxic. Let’s look at results in our bodies and across the globe. How are the substances obtained? What happens when applied topically or taken orally? What happens when the substances are washed into our sewers?
A site I like for checking on ingredients in cosmetics is: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
You can search by brand or ingredient. The panel of experts gives the strength of the research for each ingredient according to its basic rating as safe, toxic, or “status yet to be determined.”
One of the cleanest products is a company called Terrescentials, they are organic, with no chemicals and their cocoa butter makes skin SOOOO smooth.
Thank you for having this subject.