You posers ain't got nothin on me

This weekend I had a lot of odds and ends to pick up and errands to run. One of the errands included picking out some bodywash and, ahem, frizz serum. While browsing the stores for my best eco choice, I came across many posers. You know what I’m talking about, those products that plaster words such as natural, organic, and eco-friendly on their labels in hopes to profit off the green movement. There is no regulations on using these buzz words. You can virtually slap on any pseudo natural tagline on a product and send it out to production the next day. Not very helpful to us greenie newbies trying to distinguish the good from the evil (of hair products). So, what to do? Well luckily, in many cases it’s as easy as googling a product to figure out if it is truly vegan (beauty word for sustainable) or not, but sometimes you may have to be prepared to scrutinize their labels a little to look through their ingredients.

Which brings me to my next point,

It’s funny how we cringe at the thought of eating foods with High Fructose Corn Syrup or MSG but when it comes to beauty products, we slather on any and every chemical with a guarantee. What’s even funnier is how we spend hundreds of dollars a year only to look more... natural. But that’s another topic for another day.

As far as cosmetic ingredients, Ill clue you in on the Top 5 Ingredients Chemicals Toxins to Avoid.

1. Parabens – basically a chemical used to extend shelf life.

2.Diethanolamine (DEA), Triethanolamine (TEA) – Foaming agents. (Too bad, I love foaming soaps). Carcinogenic.

3. Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate: a cheap detergent used in shampoos to clean hair.

4. Synthetic Colors – Simply used to color their product. Serves no purpose and and can be carcinogenic. Lovely.

5. Stearalkonium Chloride – Cheap fabric softener used in conditioner to soften hair.

Even if you do not want to begin inspecting every bottle you own, just be weary that most chemicals being used in the cosmetic industry are fairly new to our world. We use these products religiously and have no idea what any of the long term side effects are. Scary!

Some of my favorite vegan beauty products,

yes to carrots!

Aveda!