Getting Started: Some Background

When I was a senior in college, I was working on my undergraduate thesis (on community disease awareness, if you want to know more I'd be glad to share -- we all love to talk about ourselves, no?). For my thesis I was interviewing a professor on campus who studies TOXINS. He suggested I attend a discussion panel being held on campus about toxins and the beauty product industry.



This event was inspired by the book Not
Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the
Beauty Industry, by Stacy Malkan. For more about this, see the website HERE. The professor I had
interviewed was part of a discussion panel addressing toxins and beauty products. Product samples were handed out before the event, as well as informational pamphlets. I learned a lot of shocking things about our beauty products, what is allowed to go in them, and how few regulations there really are on what goes into these items.


At this event, I learned about a website, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, where ardent efforts are being made to enforce safety for the cosmetics and beauty industry and its products. I also discovered the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, where products are individually assessed based on their ingredients, to determine what is called a 'Hazard Score'.
These scores are calculated based on several different criteria,
including current scientific research and assessments of chemical compound safety and health risks. A score of 0-2 is considered low hazard, 3-6 moderate hazard, and 7-10 high hazard.


At the time, I tried a few samples, read about the issues, and looked up a few products. I had a keen interest in the issue, but alas my 'senior in college' status prevented me from really committing time to the matter. Fast forward a year or two, and a few of my friends lost parents all too young to cancer. Cancer that seemed unexpected. I began to realize that this happens all the time. How many people die of natural causes anymore? My memories of this lecture came back to me, and an idea seed planted itself. I logged into the Skin Deep Database, and looked up the main products I use every day. I was alarmed! What?!? The chapstick I put on every day (copiously) has a score of 7??? The process seemed to repeat itself with each new product. Over several weeks of pondering the matter, I have made several decisions for myself.


First, I am fighting a personal war on plastic. We may have all heard about the Nalgene bottle health concerns. I remember learning about it in my organic chemistry class, and panicking about my Nalgene obsession. I was a college kid - all we drink out of is Nalgene bottles! Anyway, I've realized that there are many health concerns flying around out there about plastics of all sorts in our lives (like microwaving food in plastic containers? Big no-no). I've decided to try and eliminate as much plastic from my life as possible. I've also learned that this is no small task. Plastic is EVERYWHERE! You really don't realize it until it slaps you in the face. Anyway, this is not the main point of this blog, but it plays into the main point, and I hope to insert small snippets about this progress as it occurs.


Second, and more importantly, I would like to be using products that are safe for me! I, like many people, use beauty products every day. For something that you rub into your hair/smooth on your skin/stick in your mouth DAILY, shouldn't it be safe? I want to live past 50. I want to be cancer-free. I don't want to constantly and continually expose myself, over and over, to products that can mutate my DNA. Nope. No thank you.


So, you may be asking yourself, what are you going to do? Well, I'm going to do something rather unscientific. I am going to make lists. Of all the products I use. And look up their hazard scores in the Skin Deep Database. I will then average these scores, to obtain my super-scientific 'Average Hazard Score'. Then, I will progressively educate myself on what products are safe, and which ones will make my brain shrivel, and start making safer choices, in the hopes of lowering my score (and exposure) over time.


Now, I have to say that no one has done this before, and I doubt it was the initial intention of Skin Deep. Also, none of the previously mentioned companies know that I'm doing this. I have no affiliations with any of them. Also, I will keep my blog ad-free (even though I could definitely use the money...milk doesn't buy itself, you know), so you know my opinions, results, and feedback aren't influenced by any outside sources. I'm doing this for me, but also for you!


Join me, won't you? Let's see where this goes.