Better Organic Choice was launched by beauty industry insiders Karim Orange and Jolene Hart to provide us a virtual organic assessment of our beauty products. Simply visit BOC and submit a list of your favorites. They’ll give you suggestions on how to painlessly replace the biggest offenders.
Jolene Hart answered a few of our questions.
(FL) What 3 products should we replace first?
(JH) I recommend finding an organic body lotion right away. The skin absorbs 60% of what we apply to it. Even small amounts of toxins contained in conventional products add up when applied to large areas of the body on a regular basis.
Nail polish ingredients can be the most toxic. Replace your old ones with water-based polish, or at least a ‘3-Free‘ polish without toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate.
Finally, Karim, our BOC makeup expert, recommends organic lipstick or gloss, because anything that goes onto your lips will be ingested.
(FL) What are the most dangerous ingredients and why?
(JH)
- Phthalates: it’s endocrine-disrupting chemicals can be especially dangerous for young, developing bodies and it’s linked to fertility issues.
- Formaldehyde: this is a carcinogen linked to many cancers. It’s banned in Canada and Japan.
- Parabens: another endocrine disrupter. Parabens appear in products ranging from shampoo to facial cream to makeup. They are absorbed quickly and can accumulate in fatty tissue.
(FL) What is used to preserve “green” products?
(JH) Many natural companies use airless packaging to reduce the need for preservatives. Popular natural preservatives include grapefruit seed extract, vitamin E, honey and some essential oils that offer natural preservative properties.
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thank you so much Lisa, that helps a lot. I know he tried to blame me for so much stuff, but like I told all of his family and mine none of that added up to a divorce. I do realize it's his needs, it just hurts so bad to think how many years he's
How funny....i only very recently (within last week) read the coconut oil articles on the web. (100 uses, 80 uses etc.) so i bouht some and ordered some from amazon. (Im a stockpiler.)
Have started trying some of the uses. I tried using it a
Is there a charge for this service of submitting your products for analysis?
They often have free introductory offers. Check out their site. Better Organic Choice