Thursday, April 22, 2010

Organic & Natural Living Thursdays!





Lately, I've really been thinking about buying Natural & Organic beauty supplies i.e. Shampoo, Conditioner, Facial cleanser, lotions, soaps etc... I'm definitely not 100% Organic or all Natural yet, but I'm really starting to take more of an interest to on what I put on my skin.


Here is some information I found very helpful to a beginner as myself about what is true of "Natural" personal care products. I read an article from the Fred Meyer April "Naturally Preferred," magazine pg#15 found in the Organic section which got me thinking about all this.


What Does NPA mean:
Natural Products Association requires that personal-care products carrying it's seal must be primarily from ingredients that come from flora, fauna, and mineral.


Here are some ingredients that would not be NPA Certified:
Also, I want to encourage you to keep this list of ingredients in your coupon binder or wallet so you have a cheat sheet to remember what ingredients you DON'T want in your beauty products.

Parabens:
Synthetic preservatives & potential endocrine disrupter's

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate:
a cleaning agent that can irritate skin.

Petrolatum, Mineral Oil & Paraffin:
by products of crude oil.

Glycols:
petroleum-derived synthetics that may draw other chemicals into the bloodstream.

Phthalates: synthetic fragrances that can be toxic.

Sodium myreth sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate,
and Ethanolamines:
all suspected carcinogens.




Here are some products that I have found that are Natural and mostly Organic. I was able to find these items all on clearance, so still a frugal find without ingredients that are harmful to my skin and body.


JR Watkins Facial cleanser, Hand lotion, and Hand Soap. The Facial cleanser was full price at Fred Meyers for $8.99 and the Hand Lotion and Soap was Regularly $15.99 but on clearance for $6.99!





YES to Tomatoes (same brand as YES to Carrots!) Body Cream $6, Facial Mask $6, and Eye Soothing Gel $7 all clearance at Walgreens. These are all 95% or more Organic & Natural.



Now, whether you know me well or a little just from this blog, please know that I believe that everything is ok in moderation. Sometimes, I get a little over zealous about new things that shake my brain and get my neurons to think. YES, I'm a little addicted to Greening my Life and I may hug a tree once in awhile and ask someone who knows about this stuff WAY more than I do A LOT of questions, because I find this very intriguing. But the long of the short of this is, read labels and really think about the ingredients in the product. The great thing about going more GREEN & Organic is that their are coupons out there and sales that helps to buy these products without breaking the bank and make a change to stop by synthetic and by-products of crude oil.


Currently, I found a book at the library that I am really enjoying called: Green this! by: Deirdre Imus. She is a mother, wife, author, and founder and president of the Diedre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at HUMC. This is a great book for anyone interested in Greening their home and really learning more about harmful toxins.


Christina

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

sodium lauryl sulfate is just soap. its also a natural component of vegetable and animal fat saponification. there is absolutely no evidence that it causes cancer:

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a791459030~db=all

PS: i am vegan and only use organic/natural soaps and detergents derived from plant fats.

Saving 4 My Family said...

Anon, thanks for letting me know. I'm learning as I go and love all the advice that I can get.

Christina

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting this list together. I wrote it down and my 11 year old son had a blast going through our stash of body products and pulling the "bad ones" out.

Debra said...

Thanks, you might be interested in checking this book out from the library. I loved it. It's called, "The Truth about Beauty" by Kat James.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1582701008/?tag=rbookshop-20