Alba's company really seems like a mess, right?

Hopefully she doesn't come after me for having the totally unique words "honest beauty" in the title of my blog. Well, I'm not trying to trademark them, at least.

Anyway, be careful about signing up for free trials, because you might end up subscribed and have a hard time getting out of it (though apparently you can do it online now). It seems like every few weeks there's something newly shitty going on. So funny for a company that calls itself honest.

Reminder: Essential oils are "toxic chemicals"

Some essential oils can be effective in skincare. I especially like tea tree oil for acne spot treating (more here). But just because these substances seem more "natural" does not mean that they are gentler, safer, or less toxic than "unnatural" chemicals. The increasing use of essential oils recently has resulted in increasing household poisoning by essential oils. As this article points out:

Highly toxic essential oils include camphor, clove, lavender, eucalyptus, thyme, tea tree, and wintergreen oils, the researchers noted. Many essential oils can cause symptoms such as agitation, hallucinations and seizures. Symptoms may also include chemical burns, breathing problems, liver failure and brain swelling, among others. 

While there are hundreds of essential oils, "tea tree oil is commonly cited, and most of those cases are accidental ingestions by children," Loden said.

So store your essential oils securely, and don't assume that your products containing these ingredients will be non-toxic to your kids or pets.

Not-So-Honest Company?

Jessica Alba's The Honest Company is being sued for falsely labeling products "natural" when they're not. I'm not sure how successful this will be, since my understanding is that there's no regulation of the term "natural" - because how would you define that, when it comes to cosmetics? The fact that it's such an empty, slippery term is why it's so annoying (and so useful to advertisers). Is a surfactant derived from coconut oil (cocamidopropyl betaine, once of the ingredients targeted in the lawsuit) natural or not? Coconuts are natural, but the ingredients extracted from them might have been made in a lab (gasp!). And so forth.

This particular lawsuit, which you can read about here, is claiming that the company uses synthetic preservatives (well, good) and surfactants, and that their sunscreen is ineffective (more here).

What do you think? On the one hand, I am irritated by all this natural=better marketing, but on the other hand, stuff should have fucking preservatives in it, so let's not sue companies for being responsible and safe.

If you want "natural" sunscreen, you might have to compromise

I don't totally understand why people want everything to be "natural," other than because it sounds vaguely better than "unnatural," if you don't think about it too much. But some people do, so fine. If that's your thing, you should still wear sunscreen - and you're in luck because zinc oxide is pretty natural (though there is nothing wrong with chemical sunscreens - here's one I like). The downside is that zinc oxide tends to be quite opaque, so it can leave a white cast on the skin. Some formulas add tints or other active sunscreen ingredients to mitigate that whiteness, but then maybe it's not so natural anymore.

Other companies, like Jessica Alba's The Honest Company apparently just decreased the amount of zinc oxide in their "ultra-pure" natural sunscreen from 20% to 9.3%, because people didn't like the texture and appearance, while keeping the SPF 30 label on the bottle. Most other zinc sunscreens contain 18-25%. Keep in mind that the FDA has rules about SPF, but it relies on companies themselves to test their own products. The Honest Company says that they added "other ingredients" - unspecified - to compensate. But those other ingredient are not sunscreens, so they're not going to maintain the SPF. That's nonsense. And judging from consumer complaints, that solution did not work, because people have been getting literally burned by this shit.

So if you want all natural zinc-based sunscreen, you're going to have to compromise: either it's going to be less esthetically pleasing or less effective. Of course there are lots of great zinc sunscreens out there that work well, but they tend to have scary added "chemicals" (OH NOES) in them.

(Note: The Honest Company's sunscreen is marked Out of Stock on their website, so hopefully that means they have pulled it from their online store to reformulate.)

This is why your beauty products need FUCKING PRESERVATIVES! (Recall of Nourish Organics Lotion and Face Cream)

If you have either the Nourish Organics Face Cream or the Nourish Organics Face Lotion, check the UPC, because they may contain mold. More info from Wegmans here.

For more on preservatives in skincare, click here.

ETA: The samples Ipsy sent out a while back are apparently fine; it's just the 1.7 oz containers that are a problem. Good thing, because I used my sample a few months ago. I'm glad it wasn't contaminated.

You shouldn't put lemon juice in your eyes (from Brightest Bulb in the Box)

Or around them. Or anywhere else on your face. Why do people think that's a good idea? It's not. More natural=gentle/safe bullshit.

No, don't make your own fucking sunscreen.

At least, don't expect it to protect you properly if you do.