Book: No More Dirty Looks
Authors: Siobhan O’ Connor and Alexandra Spunt
Book Overview: Addresses the issue of potentially dangerous chemicals within beauty products sold in America.
Many people may roll their eyes when they hear the topic of ‘living cleanly.’ ‘Organic’, ‘chemicals’, ‘green’, ‘clean’….all of these are popular buzzwords today, usually associated with granola-eating pseudo-hippie-yuppies who drink $8 bottled water while wearing their North Face jackets in 70 degree weather. While I like to shake my fist at the SUVs that nearly run me over in the Whole Foods parking lot just as much as the next person, I am afraid that the longer I live, the more I am realizing that being aware of what I am putting in and on my body may actually be kind of important. Recently, I have read books and watched documentaries that have addressed the issue of ‘clean’ eating and ethical wearing, but this is the first book that I have read that deals with the issue of using ‘clean’ cosmetic products. While I recommend reading the book for a more detailed look on this topic, below are a few things I took away from reading it.
- Remember that your skin is your body’s largest organI have a long history of finicky skin. As a young girl, I would get scaly red patches behind my knees that itched to no end. Everyday when dressing myself, I was faced with the dilemma of whether to wear my dresses that I loved so much or to hide my embarrassing legs from the world. Thankfully, perhaps due to my mother’s nightly diligence of rubbing my skin with Vitamin E, these patches disappeared for a number of years before reappearing with a vengeance, this time on my hands. As a poor college student, I put off a visit to the doctor as long as possible before I could no longer take the itching and blisters. Finally, I received a diagnosis: I had eczema. I needed to use a gentle cleanser such as Cetaphil, slather my hands in lotion after each washing and use a prescription steroid cautiously as it might cause peeling and thinning of the skin.I did all of these things religiously for more than 5 years before I finally had a revelation. One day, as I was washing my hands, I suddenly realized that the worst part of my flare-up was in the exact location that I always squirted the liquid soap into my hand. In fact, the shape of my skin irritation was directly in line with where I used the soap. My husband and I began to research the ingredients and ran into two that might be the primary culprits: sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate. Used as a detergent and a foaming agent in most cleansers, these two ingredients were known skin irritants. At the time, we had never heard of them, but set out to Target to find a soap that did not contain them. We had no luck. Every single soap in the cleansing aisle had at least some variation of these ingredients.
Long story short: we finally found a lovely individual seller online that sold soaps that did not contain either of these ingredients. As you might guess, my skin cleared up for the first time in over half a decade within just a few days. While I was thrilled that all it took was such a simple (and cheap!) fix, I somehow also felt a little betrayed and silly. I had been to several doctors by this point over this skin issue and had used a number of very powerful creams. Even the ‘gentle’ soaps recommended by the dermatologists still contained skin irritants–how could I have never heard of such a simple and seemingly obvious remedy? How did I never think of this myself?
My sensitive skin continues to this day. My hands will let me know when I am using too harsh of ingredients, and my arms will break out if I so much as use a fabric softener with fragrance. Needless to say, over the years, I have been forced by my sensitive skin to make lifestyle changes. I have always blamed my skin, thinking of it as high-maintenance, when in reality, perhaps it is just simply telling me that what I am putting on my body probably shouldn’t really be there anyway.
It’s easy to forget that our skin is actually our body’s largest organ. Apparently, the average adult actually has around 22 square feet of it. What we put on our skin does get absorbed, and for that reason, it is probably best to be aware of what we are subjecting it to…which leads me to my second point.
- Be an ingredients readerIf you have read any of my other blog entries, you already know that I have slowly learned to read the ingredients in my food and the labels on my clothing. While I am slowly learning to be more aware of what I buy, this habit had not yet bled over completely into what I put on my face, hair and body. I think there is a certain level of trust that we inherently want to have in companies to only give us options that are healthy. Sadly, this will not always be the case.One of the things that I was struck with as I read through No More Dirty Looks was the reminder that many of the ingredients we put on our bodies are, in fact, chemicals. We hear that term tossed around quite a bit these days, but that is the reality of it. Think back to chemistry class, and remember: not all chemicals play nicely with each other. One of the things this book kept coming back to were things called byproducts. Byproducts are the result of several chemicals mixing together; some may be harmless, some are not. However, byproducts do not have to be listed under a product’s list of ingredients, as they are not an intentional ingredient used–they are simply, and aptly named, a byproduct.
It would be nice to assume that companies would simply take measures to ensure that only chemicals that play nicely with one another be used together, but that, of course, is not the case. Imagine what a daunting task it would be for a company to do clinical studies on how each ingredient might react with each other over a long period of time. It would not only be expensive, it would probably be impossible. We wouldn’t have the products on the shelf that we as consumers demand. That is why it ultimately will fall on us as consumers to be educated in the ingredients that might cause trouble.
I recommend picking up this book for a more in-depth look at the characteristics of various ingredients and the different ways they may be listed on a label. For now, here is an overview of some of the ingredients that do have side effects to be wary of. You may notice many familiar words–a good rule of thumb, as recommended in the book, is to be aware of having multiple ‘blacklisted’ ingredients within a single product.
I also recommend visiting the website www.ewg.org to look up particular products, ingredients, and things to watch out for in cosmetics.
- Some ingredients are used for the product’s benefit, not yoursI was saddened to realize that so many ingredients listed on labels are used to make a product more appealing, not necessarily for how well they may work on our skin or hair. Fragrance was one example brought up again and again in this book. Fragrance is a mysterious ingredient that could be many combinations of things. A company is not legally required to reveal the individual ingredients used to make their particular fragrance, as it is considered a trade secret. This could be harmless, or it could be bad, but who knows? It is simply listed as fragrance, parfum or perfume, and for all of the unknowns, is listed unsafe.
- Use common senseWhen you read this book, you may either want to discard all information as fear-mongering, or you may be tempted to throw away all of your products in one go. I think the wisest thing to do falls somewhere in the middle…use common sense. Let’s assume you have a product that has a few less than optimal ingredients. If you use it on a daily basis, it might be worth swapping out for a gentler product. If you use it only on rare occasions, it probably is fine.
- No matter what products you use, you will not have healthy glowing skin if you fail to live a healthy lifestyle.
In summary:One of the things No More Dirty Looks stresses (that I personally agree with) is that many products may have minute traces of bad ingredients–these may or may not cause long term issues, but if you have a choice, why not buy products that you know are better for you? I strongly believe that the best way to get companies to change their ways is to vote for what we want by the way we spend our money. This involves effort on our part–taking time to become familiar with common good and bad ingredients, researching and supporting companies that practice good ethics, perhaps even taking on the role of making many products ourselves. Just as with food and clothing, it seems like the best things for our bodies are often the simplest.