The Green Beauty Guide

To reward myself for being extra green this week, I decided to buy a new mineral blusher. This is my favorite mineral makeup product, because it helps to makeup, literally and figuratively, for all those wakeful nights and early mornings. But after a quick stroll online and offline, in our local Space NK, I realized [...]

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As I was surfing the net looking for an instant hair conditioner recipe for weakened hair, I stumbled upon dozens of easy breezy Ayurvedic beauty recipes that are as green as they can be.
Here are some of the gems that I found recently:
Instant skin food: grate the coconut and squeeze out the milk. Apply this [...]

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As a new mother, I am very cautious about what is going on my skin and the skin of my child. That’s why I am constantly perplexed by the amount of potentially toxic ingredients used in skincare products for pregnant and nursing women.
One of the mainstays of conventional cosmetics is triethanolamine, often abbreviated as [...]

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There’s a notion that Mother Nature knows best. While it’s so tempting to proclaim all gifts of nature as panacea and perfect alternative to synthetic ingredients, some natural medicines are better be treated with caution.
Gotu kola (Centella asiatica) is quickly becoming a hot cosmetic ingredient although it has a long history of use dating [...]

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Parabens are getting lots of bad rap today, and many cosmetic manufacturers churned out paraben-free products exploring alternative synthetic and natural preservatives.
To preserve the products, many conventional cosmetic manufacturers use iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, which is gaining popularity in “gentle” skincare aimed at pregnant women and babies.
WHAT SCIENCE SAYS
This iodine-based preservative produced “strong evidence as human [...]

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Ever wondered what is “SLES-free”? This means that a body wash or a shampoo contain no sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) or its close relative sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).
Both chemicals are very effective foaming agents, chemically known as surfactants or detergents. They are used in every product which we expect to foam lavishly, from shampoos to [...]

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My apologies go to Belli Pregnancy products and customers. Apparently, their products are not harmful.
1.       There is no scientific basis or evidence for the claim that Gotu Kola is a stimulant or contains caffeine.
2.      There is no scientific basis or evidence for the claim that Belli products contain the contaminant 1,4-dioxane.
3.      There [...]

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If there is something that could make me hit the keyboard and start writing a post before I had my morning latte is another set of misconceptions spread by members of traditional science.
As I was idly browsing BabyCenter.com waiting for my emails to download, I found this question: “Are safe-tanners safe during pregnancy?”
Here’s a cheery [...]

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Is your sunscreen setting you up for cancer? Quite possibly. For how else can you explain the meteoric rise of skin cancers in countries where sunscreens are heavily propagated, and everyone slathers cupfuls of sunscreens each time they see a ray of sunlight?
A study by the Environmental Working Group found that one in every eight [...]

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Who said you need a brew of synthetic chemicals to fight aging? If someone tells you that you cannot reverse skin aging by using natural treatments, laugh in his/her botoxed face. For we now have Dr. Hauschka’s newest anti-aging line that bursts with proven age-fighters grown on biodynamical farms.
The latest addition to Dr. Hauschka all-natural [...]

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