Burt's Bees

As time goes on I become more and more aware of not only what I'm putting into my body through food and drink, but also through things like skin care, cosmetics, personal hygiene and household cleaning products.

I think a lot of us believe that if a product is legally allowed to be sold in stores it must be pretty safe for our bodies, but that is definitely not true. It's hard to choose new, safe products though. In some cases they are hard to find, very expensive, or they just don't work as well as the products we're used to.

I was running through Sobey's (our grocery store) the other day and saw that they carried a few Burt's Bees products. I had heard a few better things about them and needed some new moisturizer, so I thought I would give them a try. I was also in need of a lip balm that actually worked and heard lots of good things about their lip balms.

I chose their lip balm that has a little pomegranate oil in it as I really distaste their original lip balm flavour. The lip balm had a little bit of that Menthol taste, but other than that, it wasn't too bad and it worked really well, I barely had to re-apply.

I decided to do a little more research. Both of these products worked well (the moisturizer smelled a lot like baby powder and although it was a very liquidy moisturizer, it did the job), but I wanted to see how safe they really were. I stumbled upon a great site:

Cosmetics Database: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

This website has a lot of products (not EVERY product/brand, but much more than other sites I've been to) and rates products on how harmful they are to your body. They go one step further and list why products are unsafe (cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies, violations...) and then lists the specific ingredients in the product that are harmful and what the concerns are.

Burt's Bees Aloe & Buttermilk Lotion got a rating of 6, where:

0-2: low hazard

3-6: moderate hazard

7-10: high hazard

So, not the best (not all of Burt's Bees products, or lotions, are a 6, some are worse, but a lot have a better score). I'm still happy that I have this lotion to use instead of the Vaseline I usually use, which is worse (on this scale and because of another reason I will show you). I will search for better lotions in the future though. The lip balm I chose was not on this site, other lip balms were and tested from a 2-4, so overall not too bad.

I think it's great to check on most of the products you use, just to be more aware, even if you only change a few products, I think it makes a difference. I also noticed a few well-known natural, organic brands (that are sold at local organic stores) that should be very safe, have some products testing at very unsafe levels of 8! So, be sure to check out some of the things you use daily.

I also stumbled upon a few other great sites:

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: http://www.safecosmetics.org/

Looking at another aspect of cosmetics, other than safe ingredients, would be how they are produced. I am definitely an animal lover (and I know Jay is too!) and so I am very interested if the products I'm using are animal cruelty free. I found this great site:

Caring Consumer: http://www.caringconsumer.com/index.asp

If you click on Info for Consumers, and then Consumer Products (on the left-hand side) and then Search for Cruelty-Free Products and Companies (on the left as well) you are able to search for products or companies that do not test on animals, but you are also able to search those companies and products that DO test on animals. It lists on the site, that the section on companies/products that "do test on animals" includes both companies that manufacture animal-tested products and brands that are owned by companies that have not yet adopted a permanent "no animal testing" policy.

One reason I'm happy that I'm not using my Vaseline lotion anymore.... it's on the DO list (along with a LOT of companies that are used daily by most people)... so please check this site out!

If anyone is looking for a natural, vegan lipstick, there is a Canadian made affordable brand online! Each lipstick is $8.99 and there is free shipping.

Cherry Crush: http://www.cherrycrush.ca/index.html

Has anyone switched from their normal (harmful) products, to some more safe brands?