What's in your deodorant???

Sometimes it seems like we can never win with this whole "natural and sustainable" thing.  You try your best to eat organic and then they tell you to eat organic and local.  You take the leap and become a vegetarian and then you are told that you should become a vegan.  You make a serious effort to bring re-useable bags to the grocery store just to find out that you should only use cloth re-useable bags.  You invest in a prius to help the environment and then are criticized about the harm of the batteries...you get the point.  It definitely seems like an uphill battle sometimes.  My goal of this blog is not to make anyone feel helpless or judged.  It is to inspire people to start making changes and to enable you to be informed about things that you deserve to know about and that you are not being told.


Unfortunately, right now as American consumers, we need to do our homework.  We spend countless time researching what kind of car to buy, gym to join, jeans that will make our butt look great... now its time to start researching what we are putting in and on our body.


So we all get why organic food is important but what about our skin care products?  Our skin is our largest organ and absorbs anything and everything that we rub into it.  We don't spend all of this effort eating chemical free food just to put a bunch of harmful chemicals into our body through our skin.  Its time to change our beauty products too.  Luckily the organic beauty product industry is becoming hugely popular and widely available.  Consumers are demanding organic products and companies are stepping up to the plate.  But buyer beware.  Just because something says natural or green...doesn't mean its organic!  Look for seals that say "100% organic", "organic" (95% of product's ingredients have to be organic), or "made with organic ingredients" (70% of product's ingredients have to be organic).  Labels can be tricky and deceiving so do your homework!  Whole Foods has a great beauty section and their staff is very helpful and knowledgeable about the products that they carry, so don't be afraid to ask for help!  We are all learning and you won't know unless you ask!  


In the SF mag article below one founder of an organic skin care line explains why she got into the organic skin care industry.  She was working at a big commercial skin care company was making their lotion when she accidentally spilled some of the chemicals on her table.  When she returned to clean up the chemicals she realized that the chemicals had eaten through her table!  


Whatever I'm putting on and in my body should not be able to eat through plastic within a matter of minutes...what do you think?


Some great articles on this info...


http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/saving-our-skin


http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/natural-beauty-cosmetics/natural-beauty-product-labels