Sunday, November 30, 2008

we're doomed!

i've just started some reading about ecologically friendly beauty products and have already learned:
  • dying your hair darker is more dangerous than bleaching it, because the darker dyes have been linked to bladder cancer
  • the most commonly used anti-dandruff shampoos usually include irritants (SLS) that dry out your scalp
  • antibacterial products have triclosan and triclocarbon, which could create a carcinogen if in contact with sunlight but are not completely filtered out of our water systems so may end up back in farmer's fields, essentially fertilising our food with the nastiness
  • body sugaring or threading are the most environmentally friendly method of hair removal (i've been meaning to talk to you about my moustache...!)
  • all b.o. preventors seem to be bad for you, but what is the option? to stink? sweat stains?
  • 'hypoallergenic' is not a government regulated term so it means nothing. same with 'allergy tested' and 'dermatologist tested'

all these interesting bits come from a book entitle Ecoholic, a good source of information even if a little simplistic and narrowly focused. the cbc also covered this story years ago and still has hods of info on their website.

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