Be Label Smart

Be label smart when buying personal care and beauty products. Do you know why? It’s because the beauty industry is largely unregulated, and nearly one quarter of conventional products such as- makeup, shampoo and sunscreen -may be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, a suspected carcinogen that’s produced during manufacturing when certain ingredients mix together.

Make a cheat sheet to carry in your wallet when you go shopping for beauty or body-care products.

If you read any of the following chemicals in the ingredients lists, don’t buy them:

Benzophenone-2

Dibutyl Phthalate

Diethanolamine

Triethanolamine

Parabens

Propylene Glycol

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

When shopping for beauty products, make sure that they are free of chemical preservatives, such as Propylparaben and Hydantoin (which releases Formaldehyde). These have been linked to breast cancer and hormone disruptions, weakening of the immune system, depression, asthma, and cancer.

When choosing eyeliner, chose ones that don’t contain petro-chemical ingredients, chemical colorants, metal compounds such as Aluminum, or Parabens and Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives.

When choosing lipsticks, choose ones that are lead free.

When buying these products, make sure they are free of these chemicals:

Soap: Avoid Triclosan and Triclocarbon

Sunscreen: Just say NO to SPF over 50, Retinyl Palmitate, Aerosol Spray, powder sunscreen, Oxybenzone and ones with added insect repellant.

Hair care: Avoid dark permanent hair dyes, chemical hair straighteners and Lye. Choose shampoos and conditioners free of petroleum products, coal tar, Formaldehyde, and synthetic fragrances.

Toothpaste: Avoid Triclosan.

Nail Polish: Avoid Formaldehyde, Formalin, Toluene and Dibutyl Phthalate.

Deodorant and Antiperspirant: Avoid Aluminum

Feminine Hygiene: Choose cotton tampons and sanitary pads.

Facial Scrubs: Avoid exfoliators that contain plastic micro-beads. Choose ones made with natural grains.

News Flash

Teen girls’ chemical exposure plummets after switching to better beauty products.

A new study shows that after just 3 days of using makeup, shampoos and lotions free of hormone-disrupting chemicals, levels dropped up to 45 percent.

While the European Union has banned thousands of ingredients from being used in personal care products due to safety concerns, the United States FDA has banned a total of 11. The things we buy to use on our bodies are often chock full of ingredients that may not be so great for us.

Getting data about health effects from exposure to chemicals is not easy, but there is growing evidence linking endocrine-disrupting chemicals, to neuro-behavioral problems, obesity and cancer cell growth.

Since women are the primary consumers of many personal care products, they may be disproportionately exposed to these chemicals. Teen girls may be at particular risk since it’s a time of rapid reproductive development, and they use more personal care products per day than the average adult woman.

I like the EU model: banning ingredients until they are proved to be safe. If the FDA can’t apply that standard to the things we use, it’s up to us to do it ourselves.

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/organic-beauty/teen-girls-chemical-exposure-quickly-plummets-after-switching-beauty-products.html

Beauty Sleep

How to nourish your skin while you are sleeping

While you are sleeping, your skin is at its restorative best. Sleep, which you hopefully do for six to eight hours a night, is a period of rest for all the cells in your body, including the skin cells. It’s a unique period in which your skin cells can repair and regenerate themselves, without the onslaught of sunscreen, makeup, pollution, wind, and your germy hands touching it all day long. It’s also the perfect time to apply  pure skin care products that support the skin during its restorative process. Conversely, it’s the worst time to apply unnecessary chemicals, or to leave on products that have been exposed to pollution and germs throughout the day.

Get clean

Go to bed with a clean face, and be especially meticulous about taking off eye makeup. Eye makeup, when left on overnight, can break down into small particles that get into the eye, causing irritation and redness. Mascara can also make your eyelashes brittle and prone to breakage when left on overnight, and nobody wants stumpy lashes! What’s the easiest and cheapest technique for removing eye makeup? Massage a few drops of coconut or sunflower oil into the lids and lashes, and wipe with a warm, damp cotton ball. And don’t forget your face! It’s especially important to remove foundation and eye makeup before sleep. Leaving foundation on can clog pores, but it’s also a contaminated layer by the end of the day, exposing your skin to more microbes than necessary.

Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize

Think about what your skin is doing overnight—repairing and regenerating. The most important things to supply for your skin is a toxin-free, healing moisturizer, and water, which the skin needs to retain in order to maintain its health.

Did you know that you can easily make your own moisturizer?

All you need is:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vitamin e oil
6 drops lavender essential oil and/or essential tea tree oil

Instructions :This homemade moisturizer is simple. Here’s what you do: combine the coconut oil, vitamin E or tea tree oil, and lavender in a bowl. Now mix. That’s it.

*The vitamin E and essential oil are both healing and refreshing.
*Use only organic and GMO free ingredients, if possible.
*I use a unrefined coconut oil (by Spectrum) that is perfect for skin care.

Store moisturizer in a small glass jar.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/zvfonz6
Source: http://livesimply.me/2013/09/18/simple-homemade-moisturizer/

Photo credit: Moon Photo by Damian Loeb “Blue Moon”, 2012

Ingredients to Avoid in Skincare

THE DIRTY DOZEN: TOP 12 INGREDIENTS TO AVOID IN YOUR SKINCARE
The skin is the largest and also one of the most important organs on our body. It performs several vital functions for the body including protecting the other vital organs, bones, muscles, ligaments, and nerves. It only makes sense to be extremely mindful of not just what we are putting in our bodies, but also what we are putting on it.

Here’s Why:
Up to 60% of what we put on our skin gets absorbed. That means that the products we put onto our bodies affects our health and overall well-being, either negatively or positively. Ingredients found in most traditional skincare products (face washes, lotions, sunscreen, etc.) have been linked to health issues such as, cancer, hormonal disruption, reproductive problems, skin allergies, birth defects and learning disabilities.

You want to feed your skin nutrients, not poison it. Below are “The Toxic 12” ingredients to avoid in skincare products. We explain why they are dangerous and where they can be found.

1. ALUMINUM
Toxic metal that can have oestrogen-like effects in our systems, disrupting the healthy function of the endocrine system.
Usually found in almost every personal care product, especially antiperspirant deodorants.

2. DEA (DIETHANOLAMINE), MEA (MONOETHANOLAMINE), AND TEA (TRIETHANOLAMINE)
Is a clear, colorless, viscous liquids with ammonia-like odors.
Usually found in products that foam like facial cleansers and soaps. They are also found in eye makeup, fragrances, hair products, and sunscreens.

3. DMDM HYDANTOIN & UREA (IMIDAZOLIDINYL)
Preservatives that often release formaldehyde which may cause joint pain, skin allergies, headaches, and loss of sleep.
Usually found in skincare products, cosmetics, shampoos and conditioners, and detergents.

4. MINERAL OIL
A petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging its pores. This is incredibly harmful because it interferes with skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, therefore increasing likelihood of acne and other disorders.
Usually found in creams, lotions, ointments, and cosmetics.

5. PARABENS (METHYL, BUTYL, ETHYL, PROPYL)
Not always labeled, used as preservatives, and may contribute to hormone imbalance.
Usually found almost everywhere including skincare products such as moisturizers and deodorants.

6. PEG (POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL)
Ingredient that can alter and reduce the skin’s natural moisture factor. It adjusts the melting point and thickens products.
Usually found in cleansers to dissolve oil and grease.

7. PHTHALATES
Chemicals used to increase flexibility and strength of plastics, and not often listed among the ingredients on products.
Usually found in cosmetics such as fragrance oils and listed under the term “fragrance”.

8. PROPYLENE GLYCOL (PG) & BUTYLENE GLYCOL
Gaseous hydrocarbons which in a liquid state act as “surfactant”. They penetrate the skin so quickly and can weaken the protein and cellular structure.
Usually used to make extracts from herbs.

9. SILOXANES
Look for ingredients ending in “-siloxane” or “-methicone.” Used in a variety of cosmetics to soften, smooth and moisten. Suspected endocrine disrupter and reproductive toxicant (cyclotetrasiloxane). Harmful to fish and other wildlife.

10. SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (SLS) & SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE (SLES)
Detergent that makes products foam, lather, and bubble.
Usually found in 90% of personal-care products that foam!

11. SYNTHETIC FRAGRANCES
Anything that is synthetic or artificial should always raise a red flag. These are made up of hundreds to thousands of different ingredients not listed on the label, so you are never sure what you are actually being exposed to.
Usually found in cosmetic and skincare products but also many household products such as candles, air fresheners, and scented trash bags.

12. TRICLOSAN
A synthetic antibacterial agent that may disrupt thyroid function and can degrade into a form of dioxin, a class of chemicals linked to a broad range of toxicities including cancer.
Usually found in soaps, mouthwash, shaving cream, deodorants, toothpastes, etc.

Taking all of these into consideration the next time you are shopping for skincare products, it is really important to read the ingredient lists thoroughly and not skim over words, especially the ones you can’t pronounce. Your skincare products should be made with pure, organic ingredients and should not contain any toxins that could affect your health.

LOLA loves ODACITE products because they are free of harmful chemicals and toxins❤

Read the whole blogpost from Odacite

Planet Friendly Sunscreen

Did you know… that when sunbathers venture into the sea to cool off, some of their sunscreen washes off into the water and that sunscreen is harming sea life including phytoplankton, which is the main food source for small fish to shrimp to whales?

Help the planet, and choose to use sunscreens that don’t contain toxic oxybenzone and aren’t oil based. A great resource to find a good sunscreen is the EWG.org.

Body Odor

Perspiration itself is normally odorless – it’s the bacterial breakdown of sweat that causes most body odor. If you suffer from body odor, consider the following natural ways to combat it: 

1. Splash rubbing alcohol under your arms to reduce bacteria.
2. Eliminate caffeine. Stimulant drugs, including caffeine, contribute to body odor by increasing the activity of apocrine sweat glands, special glands in hairy parts of the body that produce strong-smelling, musky secretions. Try eliminating caffeine if body odor continues to be a problem.
3. Most commercial underarm products contain irritating or harmful ingredients, including aluminum salts and dyes. Avoid the antiperspirant varieties – you can find better deodorant-only products in health food stores, such as those containing extracts of green tea, which is antibacterial.
4. If you buy “natural crystals,” make sure they do not contain aluminum in any form.
5. Increase your intake of probiotic or healthy bacteria via fermented foods such as plain yogurt or kefir, or through supplementation.

Source: drweil

The Laws of Lather

Washing your face once a day is fine and best done before bed to scour away the day’s dirt and debris.

Natural Exfoliation

You can easily make your own natural exfoliator with a grain that is made for exfoliation! 

Awesome Hair Care Story

By 2019, the global shampoo market is expected to reach an estimated value of $25.73 billion. But deep in the mountains of southern China’s Guangxi province, the women of Huangluo Village won’t be contributing a single dime to the industry– because apparently, it’s not worth it.

For the Yao minority of ethnic women, hair is their most prized possession. The ancient settlement is known across China as the “Long Hair Village” and is even recognised by the Guinness world book of records as the “world’s longest hair village”. They grow their jet black hair up to 2.1 meters (6.8 feet) long, and manage to keep it looking strong and healthy (and free of greys) well into their old age. Their secret? They wash with fermented rice water. You know, that milky-colored liquid left over from rinsing or boiling rice. It’s been the secret to beautiful hair for these village women as well as imperial princesses in the East since ancient times.

So about that ancient shampoo. Essentially, it’s fermented rice water that has gone slightly sour. Rich in antioxidants, minerals, vitamin E, washing your hair with the stuff will make it shiny, soft, strong and healthy. It’s also known to help to heal scars and reduce fine lines, and inflammation, “leaving the skin with a healthy glow”.

A New York-based natural health consultant, Dr. Margaret Trey decided to give rice water a go and noticed that it cleaned her hair well without drying it out, noticing that it also felt strong, softer and more manageable. Now a regular user of rice water, she finds that when she occasionally goes back to a commercial-brand shampoo, her hair is immediately stripped of its natural oils and becomes “wispy and almost too fragile to brush” and then has to use a hair-repairing product to moisturise it.

But for those of you willing to try out this ancient hair-washing method, here’s a few tips on how to make the Red Yao shampoo. It’s pretty simple.

How to make rice water shampoo:

First, collect the rice water (not the water you use on the initial rinse to get off any dirt). “If you cook rice two to three times a week, you should be able to collect enough rice water for two to three rice-water hair washes”, notes Dr. Taylor. Then leave the rice water at room temperature for a day or until it turns slightly sour and starts to ferment. Boil it, then allow to cool and maybe add a few drops of tea tree, lavender or rosemary essential oils and store it in the refrigerator. A 60-fluid-ounce container will usually last about a week and you can use the rest for a daily face wash.

To read the entire post: http://tinyurl.com/je58tnj

Lipstick and Nail Polish

For this New Year 2016 and forever more, make sure your lipstick is lead-free, as more than half of brands tested contain this toxic element. Choose instead for your health, lip products made with plant-based waxes and oils, beeswax, and natural pigments—and make sure they don’t include petroleum-based ingredients, chemical dyes or lead.

Hair Care

Whenever my hair is feeling especially dry, as it tends to in the winter, I rub olive oil onto the ends and into my scalp and then wrap my head in a towel to let it seep in for an hour or two before shampooing it out. It feels so silky soft afterwards.

Dry Winter Skin

The cold outdoors and heated interiors leaves skin prone to dryness. Nobody wants dry itchy skin. And while there are oodles of commercial products promising supple hydration, too many moisturizers do their bidding with synthetic ingredients that nobody should be rubbing into the largest organ of the body. 

The following practices promise to soothe and hydrate  by using gentle ingredients that you may already have on hand:

1. Skip the hot shower
Few things feel better than a steaming hot shower on a cold day. Your skin disagrees. Super hot water dries it out to no end. Give it a lukewarm shower, and if you use soap, make sure it is all natural and the most gentle one you can find.

2. Employ staples to exfoliate
Buy a jar of salt or sugar scrub to exfoliate – which removes dead skin cells and creates fresh skin that is more easily able to absorb moisturizers. Or make your own: All you need is a jar that is big enough to fit your hand in. Add 1 cup of small granules of salt (I like gentle Himalayan salt) or brown sugar + ½ cup of olive, almond or jojoba oil and if you  want it to smell divine, add 5 drops of your favorite essential oil. I  love lavender. Mix it all up with a spoon.

3. Moisturize while damp
Whatever your moisturizing routine, do it when you’re fresh from the shower or bath – lotions are designed to lock in moisture, so make their job easier by using them when your skin is at its most moist.

4. Slather yourself with honey and olive oil
Honey has incredible properties that make it a great friend to skin; olive oil does too: Mix a spoonful of honey with a spoonful of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice (a natural skin brightener). Apply this lotion to dry areas and let sit for 20 minutes. Wipe off with a warm washcloth.

5. Try the overnight express
When skin is particularly dry, this treatment can’t be beat. Take a long, tepid bath before bed; long enough that your toes and fingers begin to wrinkle. Pat yourself dry and immediately coat yourself with olive, coconut oil or apricot oil. Spread it all over, put on some old pajamas that you don’t care that much about, and send yourself to sleep. Wake up soft.

6. Take an oatmeal bath
Oatmeal has been used to treat skin for a few thousand years for its moisturizing, cleansing, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory properties, while at the same time offering minimal incidence of irritation.

To make an oatmeal bath: Blend 1 cup of dry oatmeal (use plain instant, quick oats, or slow cooking oats) in a food processor or blender until you have a fine powder. Scatter the mixture into a tub with running water, swirling with your hand a few times for even distribution and breaking up any lumps on the bottom of the tub. Soak in the bath for 15 to 20 minutes, pat yourself dry when you get out. Depending on how dry your skin is, you can use this up to twice a day, or more if your doctor agrees.

7. Don’t drink water … what?!
Every advice given by every supermodel urges us to drink water for our skin, and they are right! 

Excerpted from a longer piece: http://www.treehugger.com/organic-beauty/9-natural-remedies-dry-skin.html

Going Makeup Free

Sunglasses

Don’t you love when being stylish is good for you? The same UV rays that harm you skin are bad for your eyes, too. Over time, exposure can cause cataracts and other conditions that impact sight. Choose sunglasses that have 100% UVA & UVB protection.

Nail Polish

The Best Eye Make-up Remover

DIY Mouthwash

Essential oils rock! They are all-natural, they have disinfecting properties, there are so many ways to use them, and they don’t go rancid. Even though they might seem expensive, they are super concentrated and a little goes a very long way.  Here are some really easy recipes, using essential oils, that are simple to make, simple to use, simple to store. 

Homemade Deodorant

Source: http://wellnessmama.com/1523/natural-deodorant/

Maya Penn: My Natural Hair Elixir

I create my own natural hair elixir made with organic coconut oil, rosemary oil, jojoba oil, argan oil, avocado oil, as well as herbs from my own organic garden! This recipe has been handed down from my grandmother to my mother, and to me. I stay way from sodium lauryl sulfates, parabens, alcohol, and mineral oils as they can damage your hair. My hair has always been healthy and strong because my family always uses natural products and ingredients inside and out. The key to natural beauty also starts from the inside. Eating healthy is a must! Let your natural beauty show and glow!

November 3, 2014: Maya Penn Curates LOLA

Lupita Nyong’o’s Natural Beauty Secret

Lupita loves keeping her beauty regime as natural as she possibly can. Her go-to for head-to-toe skin care is avocado oil. She discovered it last year and uses it on her body, her face and her hair too. She uses it especially in the wintertime, when her skin is drier because the avocado oil really seeps in and leaves her skin nice and lush.

Avocado oil is available in health food stores.

source: Harpers Bazaar 

Vegan Down To The Skin

An extension of so-called natural beauty products, which largely eschew petrochemical ingredients, vegan items restrict their ingredient lists even further by prohibiting beeswax (which is often used in lip balms and mascaras), milk (found in soaps), collagen (a skin strengthener derived from cows), carmine (a colorant that comes from beetle shells) — even the animal hairs that are used in the applicator brushes that accompany many products.

“It’s easy to be girly nowadays and vegan at the same time. You can still wear nail polish and cruelty-free makeup. There are products out there that don’t hurt the Earth or the animals and are better for your skin,” said Sunny Subramanian, 29, a Panorama City-based model and actress who runs the Vegan Beauty Review website ( www.veganbeautyreview.com).

“Our skin absorbs 60% of what we put on it, so it’s just as important as the food we eat.”

Shared from a piece in the Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/23/image/ig-veganbeauty23

Practice Safe Sun Habits!

For tips on where to learn about the best sunscreens on the market, go to EWG’s 2014 Guide to Sunscreens .

Over the past 35 years, rates of melanoma – the deadliest skin cancer – have tripled in the United States. Finding a sunscreen that helps filter out harmful ultraviolet rays is more essential than ever, but it isn’t easy to do. Toxic chemicals such as oxybenzone, an allergen and potential endocrine disruptor, show up all across the sunscreen market.
Be informed so you can make better choices for yourself!

JUST THE BARE NECESSITIES

NATURAL BEAUTY by RMS

Make-Up artist and founder of RMS Beauty, Rose-Marie Swift is an outspoken advocate for women, protecting them from the toxic chemicals found in products that we use on our bodies daily.

” You wear your skin for the rest of your life. Look after it. Skin is a living organism. It breathes, interacts, absorbs information from everything it encounters.”

We’ve been lead to believe that our skin acts as a barrier to the outside world, blocking out whatever applied to it. We now know that whatever we put on the skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. You need only look to medical patches, anti-smoking patches and hormone replacement patches for proof.

Yet every day, multiple products come into contact with our skin, from shampoo and conditioners to body wash, moisturizers, makeup and hair spray. All together, we probably apply more than 100 chemicals to our bodies daily, and we know that not all of them are good for us.”   -Rosemary Swift, founder of RMS Beauty.

Read more of Rose Marie’s interview with Kay Montano on thandiekay.com, here.

Coconuts Rock!

Indigo stained cuticles will benefit from coconut oil conditioning.

Coconuts are delicious to eat! Coconut can also be turned into an oil that is wonderful to cook with. Did you know that coconut oil is also a great cuticle cream? Massage a small amount of oil onto your cuticles, which nourishes while softening them.

Do you use coconut oil in your beauty routine? What do you like to use it for?  LOLA would love to know!

Natural Cleansers

from Lizzie Garrett Mettler’s blog, Tomboy Style:

When choosing a new lipstick, take the time to research the brands you like and make sure that their product doesn’t contain Lead, which is a known carcinogen. Lead is never listed because it’s a “contaminant,” not an ingredient. Are you wondering why Lead is even in lipstick (and hair dyes as well)? The cosmetics and body care product industry is completely unregulated, and can and do use any number of toxic ingredients and chemicals in their products. Be empowered by being informed!

DETOXED NEWS: TOP 5 SKIN CARE MYTHS: EXPOSED!

How well do you know your skincare facts from fiction? Common misconceptions about our skincare routines and practices can do a number on our complexion, yikes! Read up to learn more…

USE OLIVE OIL | Hair Moisturizer

You can revitalize your winter-dry hair by rubbing it with olive oil and letting it rest for 30 minutes. Then wash it with a mild shampoo, rinse a second time with lemon juice. Nourish your hair this way every other week until spring, for soft and silky hair.

USE BAKING SODA  | Natural Face Exfoliant

• 1TBSP baking soda
• a few drops of water
• 1 drop of essential oil*
• Mix into a paste and apply in circular motions all over the face and neck, avoiding eyes and mouth for 2 mins.
• Rinse off with warm water and pat dry with a towel.
• Use a toner to close pores, like Rose water.

*click here to learn more about essential oils and which ones are appropriate to use on your face.

SCRUB IT UP

Look for scrubs made of natural grains instead of plastic beads, which can stick around in the environment after they’ve gone down the drain, or make your own which is very easy.

All you need is a jar that is big enough to fit your hand in. Add 1 cup of small granules of salt (I like gentle Himalayan salt) or brown sugar + ½ cup of olive, almond or jojoba oil and if you  want it to smell divine, add 5 drops of your favorite essential oil. I  love lavender. Mix it all up with a spoon. Read more of what Priscilla wrote here at Peaceful Daily…

I love the EWG (Environmental Working Group) and the valuable information they post. Read their latest list of endocrine disrupting chemicals found in many beauty products. Educate yourself in order to make informed decisions when using your purchasing power!

Keep a big jar of this delicious Cleansing Water recipe in your fridge. Drink a glass or more a day to make your skin glow.

All you need are:

2 lemons (chose the heavier the better)

1/2 cucumber

10-12 mint leaves

3 quarts water

Prep Time: 5 minutes

To prepare it:

1. Slice cucumber and lemons.  Place in the bottom of the pitcher.   Add mint leaves and the water

2. Chill overnight or for at least 8 hours.

– See more here.

SUGAR LIP SCRUB

Make your own sugar lip scrub for the smooth and soft lips. (Recipe from Honestly, WTF .)

NATURAL UP DO:

inspired, once again, by Honestly WTF, do check out this easy pony tail alternative