Get The Lead Out!

I hope some of you have been following the recent developments with lipsticks. Over 400 different lipsticks were independently tested and MANY of them contain lead! The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has been very effective in rallying community support across the country for their efforts to change the labeling on our cosmetics to reflect what is REALLY in them. With our concern about lead levels in paints we use, can you imagine how concerned we should be about a product that goes on our lips, potentially into our mouth, and kissing our babies! Throw out those old tubes of lipstick that have been in your cosmetic drawer for years. Think twice about purchasing the "color rich" type lipsticks that are guaranteed to stay on all day. Many of them contain lead, and there is no safe level of lead that has been established for human exposure. Keep following the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. You can go to their website to learn much more about what they are doing to make our personal products healthier and establish a system of governing cosmetic manufacturers that forces them to disclose what is actually in their products and remove the harmful ingredients many of them now contain. Let's make our world a safer place by doing what we can to protect our own health!

Christmas Gifts

Wow - things got really busy there for awhile! Just a quick reminder to pay attention to your Christmas gifts! For women, it's pretty common to receive several scented lotions during the holidays. As kind as it is that someone thought of you and gave you a gift, think really hard about what you want to do with it. Read the labels! If it is full of fragrance and toxic chemicals on the Dirty 30 list, send a thank-you note to the giver, and secretly chuck it! For years, I would have at least 10 different bottles of smelly lotion on hand at any given time, and would end up keeping them for a LONG time because I would alternate which one I used. Toxic chemicals + sitting around for a long time = trouble! Even ingredients that may not start out being harmful over time can turn into a different compound. I actually had one make-up item for 6 years that I got from QVC and it still wasn't empty when I finally threw it away -- yikes! And I had been using it every day. I have no idea what was in that stuff, but it just wouldn't run out. Now that the holidays are over, pay attention to what you are putting in your make-up drawer. Look past the sparkly containers and cutesy labels. Read that teeny, tiny print and make sure you aren't rubbing garbage all over your body and face every day. Check it or chuck it!!! Happy New Year!

Researching toxic chemicals in everyday products

Just stumbled on a great website - www.healthystuff.org. They independently research everyday products and test for toxic chemicals. This includes household products, clothing, items for children, items for pets, etc. Check it out! And just for the record, they tested Halloween face paints and 100% of the items they tested were positive for heavy metals which, of course, were not listed on the ingredient list. Be careful out there!

Beware of Pinkwashing

With another breast cancer awareness month almost behind us, let me just make an editorial comment about all of the pink ribbon items for sale. Unfortunately, many companies use the pink ribbon and pink packaging to lure customers to purchase their products. At the same time, it is very common for these same manufacturers to be producing products with cancer-causing ingredients. I know! It makes no sense! Please continue to read your labels and don't be encouraged to buy unnecessary and potentially unsafe products just because the packaging has a pink ribbon or label on it. If the manufacturer is claiming to donate a portion of the proceeds to a particular breast cancer organization, do your homework! It might make a lot more sense for you to just send a check to that organization as a donation! Let's face it, donating 50 cents out of a $20 retail purchase is really not much. That manufacturer may have just raised their price 50 cents on that item for breast cancer awareness month. Buy smart!

Natural Joy Beauty Discount

Just thought I would remind you that naturaljoybeauty.com is still offering a 15% discount to Christi's Rack Pack followers during the entire month of October. When you check out of her online shop, just enter RACKPACK in the coupon code box and enjoy 15% off all of her amazing SAFE cosmetics and skin care products. Joy is extremely picky about the products that she carries and does a ton of research on the safety of their ingredients. Do yourself a favor and go see her at her Sandy Mall location or order something online!

Pump Spray - love it!

Just a heads up - Naturally Fresh now has a deodorant in a pump spray and it is awesome. I still love the roll-on form, but the pump spray is great, too. And this awesome company just sent us 120 samples of their roll-on FREE to use in our care bags. You have to look a little harder for this deodorant in the stores - I have found it in Walmart (on the top shelf of the deodorants) and I'm sure other stores will be carrying it soon. I usually wipe out the entire stock of it when I find it!

It's summer finally - don't get burned!

Who has been sunburned already this summer? Knock it off! Guess what your very best sunscreen is? A long-sleeve shirt and a hat! And staying out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. especially. There is an amazing website to help you choose an effective sunblock. Go to www.bodysense.com. They have an entire 2011 sunscreen guide you can look at for free online. It gives you tons of choices and lists (in table form) all the important info for each product: price, ounces, what it smells like, what the ingredients include, the EWG rating, whether it makes your skin white or not, whether it is greasy or not, if it is water resistant. There are tons of mineral-based products to choose from. We've had e-mails asking what on earth people can just grab really quick at WalMart for sunblock at the last minute -- pretty much nothing, if you want something safe. If you can't wait to get a safe one online, at least choose a product with the very least oxybenzone (5% or less). The main ingredients you want to avoid in sunscreen are: benzethonium chloride, DEA and oxybenzone. Go ahead and order a safe sunscreen online (non-aerosol of course), and use your stinky, chemical-laced grocery store bottle only in an emergency until the safe one arrives! Happy Summer! And here is a little insider tip -- if you go to www.naturaljoybeauty.com and type in Rack Pack for your coupon code, you will get 15% off of any sunscreen she carries through August!