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Protecting Your Summer Glow

Let’s face it, even though we all know that too much sun is bad for us, most of us love the healthy glow of sun kissed skin. Now, we’ve said it before, you need some sun. Studies show that in this day and age, we don’t get nearly enough vitamin D, especially in the winter (and sure, supplements help, but one of the main sources is the sun), so when summer rolls around, we like to spend a lot of time outside. It helps even out my family’s moods, and we all sleep better at night.

I’ll say this, unless you have a history of skin cancer, or you’re one of those people that burns even if it’s a cloudy day and you’re in your house with long sleeves on, ditch the sunscreen if you’re going to be out for a short while (say an hour). Opt for a hat to keep the sun out of your eyes, but let the sun do its magic. I’m not a habitual sunscreen user. I feel it does more harm than good. However, if you’re going to be out at the local pool, or a day trip to the beach, make sure you use a sunscreen of at least a 30SPF, and keep reapplying, per the directions on the bottle.

Now, with that said, I’m guessing a lot of you probably have a nice summer glow going on right about now, don’t you? And it makes you feel pretty good. It makes your skin look more even, and toned. Not to mention, it helps with some other skin disorders, like keratosis pilaris (of which everyone in my family suffers from, sadly), eczema, and psoriasis (my father suffers from it and his dermatologist went against everything he stood for and told him to high tail it to a tanning bed) and others. But, with being at the beach or the pool on a regular basis, your skin is probably dry. Especially if you’re a woman and have to shave every day in the summer.

So how do you keep your skin looking smooth like a lotion commercial, without having to dip yourself into a vat of phthalates and petroleum based products? Here’s my regimen so far this summer:

Aloe Vera Gel: Aloe has great healing properties. It keeps your skin from drying out and also prolongs your tan. Not to mention it’s really cool and soothing if you happen to get burned.

A good baby/body oil: You can probably easily make your own, but my favorite, that I recommend to everyone, is the Tippy Toes Baby Oil by Mambino Organics. I love this because it’s very light, and absorbs perfectly. It’s a simple list of ingredients, and it nourishes my skin. I added a mixture of a few drops of my favorite essential oils to my bottle and it’s like having my own personalized scent.

I put both of these on immediately after my shower, while my skin is still damp. It takes me an extra two minutes and my skin has never felt better. And I actually feel good about showing it off this summer.

(Kathy chiming in here): I love Statia’s tips and totally agree. I am using a body oil as well as a scrub in the shower to keep the bumps and dryness away all year long. My faves right now are Rocky Mountain Soap Company Bamboo Body Scrub and LuSa Organics Organic Sugar Scrub

You can pick up Aloe Vera Gel (look for preservative free or organic) on Amazon.com or at a local health food store. Check out Lily Of The Desert Aloe Vera Gel or their Lily of The Desert Aloe 80 Soothing Gel on Amazon.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Articles, Exfoliation, Sunscreen

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DIY: Making Your Own Deodorant

My husband reluctantly switched his body products to greener products. It was a slow process, but over the last two years, we’ve made progress. If you have a boyfriend, or husband, you know how stubborn men can be. My husband would sneak poisonous toothpaste on business trips, because he hated the “hippie stuff” I was using.

One of the last things to give up, on his list of products, was antiperspirant. It took me forever to get him to stop using the toxic, aluminum laden axe or whatever he could find on sale. “But I don’t want to pit ouuuuuuuuuuuuuut,” he would whine. But I bought him a stick of Tom’s anyway, and he wasn’t impressed. When my husband isn’t impressed, he takes to the internet. He came up with an awesome recipe for making your own deodorant, and it’s really easy:

What you’ll need:

A deodorant container (save your old one, and re-purpose it)
coconut oil (the solid kind)
baking soda
essential oil (whatever your favorite is, which is nice, you don’t have to smell like “fake baby butt”)
vitamin e oil
corn starch

To Mix:

Add the dry ingredients in a bowl first. Mix equal parts corn starch and baking soda.
Add equal parts coconut oil, mix thoroughly.
Add a few drops of vitamin e and your essential oil. You can add as much as you like, but I wouldn’t go overboard. The mixture will be a bit more flaky if you use more oil.
Knead the mixture with your fingers until it forms a ball like consistency, it should be hard enough to put into the deodorant container, but still malleable and not crumbly. Put the cap on and let set overnight, and voilà!

Keep in mind that this is obviously a deodorant, not an antiperspirant. You will still sweat using this stuff, but you won’t stink. I’ve used this recipe on some pretty hot days, as well as during workouts and I haven’t smelled at all. Needless to say, since making this deodorant, my husband has been a convert.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: DIY Recipes, Deodorant

LovelyMama Is Disappointed In 100% Pure

Normally, it’s not my style to post something negative about a green company. But sadly, after today’s drama surrounding 100% Pure and their unprofessional-ism in answering direct questions and being rude to people asking them a simple question on facebook (it appears 100% Pure has removed their fan page), I will no longer stand behind 100% Pure, which sadly was one of my favorite brands.

You can read the whole exchange over at Stephanie’s, Chemical of the Day blog. I’ll wait.

I’ll preface this by first saying, that while we’re fans of Stephanie’s products and appreciate her knowledge, we’re not taking sides with Stephanie. We really liked most of 100% Pure’s products. So when it came to light, the information regarding Japanese Honeysuckle extract containing para-hydroxy benzoic acid, we were a kind of bummed, because it’s in quite a few brands, including some of the products 100% Pure sells. Granted, it wasn’t all, which made me happy that I still had options, but the way they’ve handled the whole situation is very sucker in the dirt. Instead of answering the question asked, point blank, does your Japanese Honeysuckle contain para-hydroxy benzoic acid, a simple yes or no question, they instead decided to skirt this issue with accusatory responses, telling people that they have no idea what they’re talking about, and telling people “We DO the research ourselves. in a LAB.” As if capitalizing words makes it more important and somehow drowns out the fact that they have not answered the question, and on top of that, have turned blame around on the commenters who were simply stating that they hadn’t answered the question, and “reading things on the internet doesn’t make you a scientist.”

Look, I get that anyone can read things on the internet and be an “expert.” There’s a lot of false information out there, but I trust Stephanie’s research isn’t limited to sitting around reading wikipedia just so that she can “defame” brands.

I’m not going to get into the whole arguement about para-hydroxy benzoic acid. It seems to be two sided on 100% Pure’s part. All I know is that the manner in which they handled the whole issue dissapoints me. Either they need to get a less angry PR rep, who actually has some knowledge of what she’s talking about, or answer the question as it was asked. Until then, I will no longer purchase or recommend their products to people.

This is another reason why we encourage people to do their own research and make decisions about what works for them.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: 100% Pure

LovelyMama Skin Care Cheat Sheet

Ok, you know how much we SafeMama girls love our cheat sheets. And I know you’re thinking, sure, our kids are covered, but what about us? We get a lot of questions asking about particular products, and while we would LOVE to try every single one of them, there is just not enough time or money possible for us to do so. But with that in mind, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t compile a list of products for you to have at the ready when you’re looking for information on whether or not we think your favorite product is safe enough to use.

Notice: Please do not redistribute this list anywhere without our prior written consent. If you would like to share this information with your readers, please use the handy little button we created for doing just that and link back here. We spent time away from our kids, pouring over ingredients lists, digging in the Skin Deep Database and learning about chemicals and processes. Please help us make that worth our time and energy by not copy/pasting our work on other websites. Thank you!

Please keep in mind that this is not a full list of products. This is what we’ve found so far, and this will be a constantly updated list as we find things, or as you submit your findings to us. But we think this is a great starting off point. [Last updated April 5, 2010]

Best Choices – Our top picks

These are the products that are free of all of the chemicals we avoid along with labels that have ingredients you can actually pronounce.

Better Choices

These are the products that are free of all the big chemicals we like to avoid, such as parabens, phthalates, phenoxyethanol, SLS’s, PEGs, propylene glycol, dimethicone, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Benzoate as well as some others, but they just weren’t squeaky clean enough for us to warrant putting them on our “best” list. Maybe they have a couple of stearates or a few more synthetics than we’d like to see. However, they’re still pretty great and we even use some of ‘em.

Good Choices

These are brands that may have a few products with questionable ingredients on our list of ingredients we like to avoid or maybe they have more synthetic ingredients than we’d like to see, however, they are FAR better than your conventional, chemical counterparts. While they’re not going to make you sprout a second head, this is something where you’re going to have to be the one to make the judgment call whether or not you want to use these products.

* The ever wonderful Stephanie Greenwood of Bubble and Bee and publisher of the Chemical of the Day Blog, brought to our attention, sadly, that there are “hidden parabens” in some of our favorite products (as noted by the asterisk). We were bummed to find out that great brands like John Masters and 100% Pure are included in this list of products. Go over and read the article and then make the call for yourself on whether or not you would still want to use these products. It may not be every single product in the brand, just a select few, but she’ll tell you what to look for and breaks the slight chemical difference down into layman’s terms. This is where she helps you become empowered to read labels and learn how to decipher bad ingredients vs. the good ones. Stephanie is one of the true good people in this business.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Bath & Body

Review: Aloe Cadabra Lubricant (& Giveaway)

If there ‘s one thing that there isn’t enough of in this world, is safer lubricant alternatives. When we did our sex extravaganza last year for Valentines day, I had a hell of a time finding safe alternatives to your conventional chemical alternatives. I did find a few brands, and now there’s one more you can add to your list: Aloe Cadabra. What a cute name. Like magic lube! Aloe Cadabra is a little different from the few others that I’ve found. The ingredients are food grade, so if you would happen to ingest it (and I won’t ask how you would, because what you do behind closed doors is your business), it’s perfectly safe.

I have to admit, that when I saw that it was mainly aloe vera gel, I was concerned that it might dry out or get sticky during use, unlike oil based lubricants, but it held up pretty well. On top of that, aloe, as most people know, has magical healing properties. And as a girl, you know that your girly parts can get aggravated easily. So this is a nice change. Maybe this is where the magic comes in.

Aloe Cadabra is not only all natural, but also extremely affordable. a 2.5 ounce bottle is only about $8 bucks. That’s a great price for the size. And it’s safe to use with condoms and other sex toys. Of course, it’s not a spermicide and does not prevent STD’s, so unless you’re in a monogamous relationship or not trying to avoid pregnancy, play it safe, OK?

Win it:

We have one 2.5 ounce bottle of Aloe Cadabra, along with a travel size bottle of Aloe Cadabra in French Lavender scent (in its own cute little purple satin pouch), perfect for your carry on bag).

To Enter: simply leave a comment with your favorite natural lubes and what you like about them.

For extra entries (comment for each):

Follow @safemama or @momlikes on Twitter

Tweet this giveaway: RT @safemama #WIN ALOE CADABRA natural lubricant from LovelySafeMama.com #giveaway http://tinyurl.com/ykdlgca

Winner will be chosen using random.org. Open to US residents. Contest is open until March 14th at 11:59pm.

Congrats to our winner, Laura. Thanks to all who entered. Stay tuned for more contests.

Get it: You can order Aloe Cadabra directly from their website.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Greener Sex, Personal Lubricant

Review: Yes to Carrots (and other vegetables too)!

yestocarrots_shampoo We’ve gotten quite a few inquiries from people asking us whether or not we had tried Yes To Carrots products. I get the interest. It’s readily available at most Target stores, and the price isn’t bad either. But I was skeptical. I know that in the grand scheme of things, this shampoo isn’t the best for you, but overall, it’s a much safer option. I’m a die hard John Master’s fan, but, it’s expensive and I have to go out of my way to get it, usually leaving me running out of shampoo and conditioner. Plus, I have two small children, who I swear have secret debit cards to my checking account, because it’s frequently running on E. I’ve tried countless other kinds of shampoo and conditioner on my ornery hair, most with crappy results. So truthfully, I didn’t hold out much hope for Yes To Carrots, either.

I base my liking of hair products based on the comb test. Does it get the knots out easily? Is my head sore from getting said knots out? I think we have a winner here. Both the shampoo and conditioner smell good, it washes and conditions well, and my hair doesn’t look like it was stuck in a light socket. For about $7.99 per bottle, I can’t really ask more of a shampoo at that price. Better yet, there’s more in the bottle than other shampoos that I’ve tried for the same price. The bottles last me FOREVER, which I love. I have to cut corners somewhere. I refuse to buy processed crap foods with loads of preservatives, so I suppose that this is my cutting corners. But you know? I don’t really feel cheated.

I’ve also tried Yes to Tomatoes!, as well as Yes to Cucumbers! Both work just as well and I have to say, I love the scent of each of them, and they both work equally as well.

Older versions of the shampoo have propylene glycol as well as dimethicone, however, from what I can tell, they’ve eliminated those ingredients from the product. The conditioner however, still contains dimethicone. Overall, not the worst ingredient ever, but one that isn’t a favorite on our list, and one we try to avoid if we can.

Get it: You can pick up Yes to Carrots at most Target stores, as well as some other bigger chain drug stores.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Conditioner, Shampoo

Review: Honeybee Gardens Nail Polish

Back in February, we published a guide to safer nail polishes. Now that sandal weather is upon us, I wanted to pick up a safer nail polish for the summer. Since I can get Honeybee locally, I purchased a bottle and set out to get a much needed pedicure. I have to admit, that I was a little bit leary about using a water based nail polish. It seemed a little clumpier, but I figured this was the price I pay for wanting to avoid chemicals.

I will say that it went on smoothly. Smoother than I expected and dried pretty quickly. Because I didn’t have a safer base or topcoat, I declined the salon’s and just went with just the polish I brought with me, which is chipping. I wouldn’t say its chipped any more or less than conventional polish, but I definitely think it would have had more staying power with a base and top coat. Honeybee’s site has lots of information about wearing their polish and how to keep it lasting longer.

Two of the best things that I love about this nail polish, though, is that it’s low VOC (volatile organic compounds), and it comes off with regular rubbing alcohol. I don’t have to use highly smelly acetone! Overall? I highly recommend Honeybee Garden’s nail polish. But invest in a bottle of the clear nail polish too!

Get it: Order Honeybee Gardens directly from honeybeegardens.com.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Honeybee Gardens, Nail Polish

Guest Post! Stephanie of Bubble & Bee talks about Vegetable Emulsifying Wax

bubbles Thanks to the SafeMama’s for inviting me to be a guest blogger! I’m kicking this off with some research I’ve been dying to get out! It’s all about the ingredient called “vegetable emulsifying wax.”

Both Statia and I have talked about how, although it’s a great starting point for learning about chemicals in personal care products, the Cosmetics Databse is not the end-all source for determining product safety. Today, I’m going to show you how an ingredient that scores a “0” in the database, should really score much much higher.

Vegetable emulsifying wax is used in a lot of products, from lotions to conditioners–even makeup–to make oil and water combine in to a lotion form. It’s the emulsifier of choice for home crafters and larger companies alike because it’s easy to work with and it’s relatively cheap. At first glance it looks natural (after all, it’s made up from “vegetable” material, right?) but once you learn what it really is, it’s not so great after all.

I did some digging and found out what vegetable emulsifying wax is actually comprised of:

Cetearyl Alcohol (a blend of cetyl and steareth alcohol)
Polysorbate 60
PEG-150 Stearate
Steareth-20

Let’s look at these chemicals one by one.

Cetearyl Alcohol
Although cetearyl alcohol scores a “0″ risk score in the Cosmetics Database, the two ingredients that it’s made up of, Cetyl and Steareth Alcohol, both score a “1″ for a mild risk of skin irritation and tumor formation at high doses. Not a terrible score, and I’m not particularly outraged by this ingredient. However, is it a synthetically produced chemical? Yes. Is it truly natural? No.

Polysorbate 60
Also scores a “1″ risk score for possibly being a reproductive toxin and for tumor formation at high doses. When it’s in small amounts in a lotion, you’re probably pretty safe. That said, it’s the same story as the cetearyl alcohol–it’s not truly natural and it’s still a chemical.

PEG-150 Stearate
This is where it gets hairy. PEG is short for polyethylene glycol. Polyethylene glycol is an ethoxylated compound, meaning that it’s been processed with ethylene oxide, a known human carcinogen. Traces of this compound can be left in the product, along with byproducts such as 1,4-dioxane, also a known carcinogen. (Read more about the latest 1,4-dioxane scandal here.) PEG-150 Stearate scores a 4-7 risk score in the cosmetics database, “depending on product usage.” So, in a product that would remain on your skin, like lotion or deodorant, I’d imagine that they’d give it a “7″.

Steareth-20
Even though this ingredient only scores a “1″ in the database, it too is an ethoxylated compound, and can also contain traces of ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane. It’s created by taking stearyl alcohol (a naturally-ocurring fatty alcohol) and combining it with ethylene oxide. The number following the “steareth” is how many units of ethylene oxide reacted with the stearyl alcohol. So, steareth-20 has been reacted with 20 units of ethylene oxide. There are a lot of steareths that range from 2 on up. Steareth-20 is the highest–meaning it’s been processed with the highest amount of ethylene oxide.

So, how does this happen? How does an ingredient with all these chemicals end up with a “0″ risk score in the Cosmetics Databse? Tune in tomorrow to learn about how these ingredients slip through the cracks of the database, and learn how you can spot ethoxylated compounds on labels. I’ll also give you some safer alternatives that contain no “vegetable emulsifying wax.”

About Our Guest: Stephanie Greenwood is the beauty and brains behind Bubble & Bee, an organic personal care product company based online and now in her own store in Utah. Bubble & Bee specializes in pure organic products free of synthetic ingredients or fragrances and uses as many organic ingredients as possible. Learn more about her and Bubble & Bee on her website.

Thank you Stephanie!

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Ingredient Spotlight

Lauren Brooke Cosmetics Review & Giveaway!

We’re always on the hunt for new brands and products. Anything to expand on the products we already have and love. And of course, being women, we love pampering. So when Joy of Natural Joy Beauty contacted us and asked us to review some of Lauren Brooke Cosmetics, I was all too happy to volunteer. Especially these days, when I’m feeling particularly unattractive. I’ve been wanting to go in for a facial or spa day, but being pregnant, I’m leary of using products in which I don’t know the ingredients to. Luckily for me, this is the next best thing!

I got to review both the Deep Sea Masque and the Blemish Control Toner.

I loved the deep sea masque. It was tingly and made my face look more even toned. I would recommend to turn off any fans blowing your way when you use it because I was a little too tingly at one point. But the mix of different types of clays made my face feel smooth and soothed. Some masks have a tendency to irritate my face, this one was gentle.

The toner was a little bit harder for me to tell how it worked, but this was mainly because I’m a raging case of hormonal skin right now, and my face has been breaking out like crazy. Overall, it was nice and refreshing and felt great on my skin, but my chin blemishes refused to budge. It worked like a charm on my other blemishes though.

Get it: You can order Lauren Brooke Cosmetics over at Natural Joy Beauty has a really great variety of products, including natural body glitter! I was really excited when I saw this because who doesn’t love sparkly things?

Win It!

We have a set of the Blemish Control Toner and Deep Sea Masque to giveaway to one lucky reader.

To Enter:

Simply leave a comment on this entry telling us which product you fancy most on Natural Joy Beauty’s website. Contest is open to US residents only. Deadline to enter is Midnight EST on Monday, May 4th. One winner will be chosen at random.

To Get Extra Entries:

Put our Lovely SafeMama™ button (sidebar sidebar!) on your blog or website and leave a comment letting us know where it is!
Twitter this giveaway and get another entry (leave a comment so your entry gets counted!)

Good luck!

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Blemish Control, Masks

Jurlique Balancing Day Care Cream

I’ve long been curious about Jurlique products. There were a few that I’ve wanted to try, but I’m trying to get by with less is more. I love product, but I’m trying to be less wasteful and of course, there’s the whole second child on the way that is forcing me to spend less money. But I got some Jurliqe samples and I can’t pass up a good sample. Samples will never go to waste in this house, because what I don’t use, I stuff in my toiletries bag for travel. A great way to travel light without giving up my girly luxuries.

I have to say, I’m impressed. I really like the Jurlique lotions. I tried out both the soothing day care lotion and the balancing day care cream and they both smell great and are heavy without being overly greasy. I tend to hate most lotions because the extra water means I have to use more to achieve the same results, but this is a great cream with a pleasant rosey smell.

I will say though, that not ALL of Jurlique’s products are free of the safe ingredients we like to avoid. Most of their lotions are LovelyMama worthy, but their shampoos and cleansers tend to have more unfavorable ingredients, so this is another case of learning to decipher the labels. But both of these lotions are great for night time and I can easily see these being a staple on my night stand. Especially with summer sandal season coming along. I can feel the softness already!

Get it: You can order any of the Jurlique line off of Saffron Rouge. Or find some products in your local Whole Foods.

Posted by Statia • add a comment •
Categories: Body Lotion, Jurlique

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