Green Paige

Looking for a great Valentine’s Day gift that is fat-free and affordable?  This year, get your sweetheart a gift that she or he will love and that will keep on giving long after the last bon bon in the heart-shaped box is gone.

• “Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life” by Sophie Uliano  -  Step two of this eco-primer is all about natural beauty.  This chapter includes simple and healthy tools, tips and insights for becoming a green goddess. The Gorgeously Green website is also a wonderful resource packed with information and product reviews.     
• “Organic Body Care Recipes” by Stephanie Tourles  -  This book features 175 recipes for creating your own healthy and environmentally-friendly hair, skin and nail beauty products.  Tourles has published several great books that would make wonderful additions to your natural beauty library including:  “Naturally Healthy Skin” and “Herbal Remedies For A Lifetime of Healthy Skin.”  
• “The Truth About Beauty” by Kat James  -  The author interweaves her own story of how she changed the way she looked by changing the way she lived with practical advice about diet and nutrition.  James’ site Informed Beauty was launched in 1997 to inform and facilitate better beauty and lifestyle choices.

Last Valentine’s Day, I awoke to my daughter’s beautiful smiling face and a large, pink card printed with the words,

“My mommy is the best beautiful mommy forever.” 

Given that I had dark circles under my eyes and my hair was standing on end, it was quite a compliment.  The truth is real beauty comes from eating healthy organic foods, drinking plenty of water and educating ourselves about the ingredients used in our hair and beauty products.  Here are three tips to put you on the path to achieving natural beauty without harming your health in the process.

1. Always Do Your Research - Only the wicked queen in the Snow White fairytale can get away with asking beauty advice from a mirror.  What can the rest of us do to find out if our lotions contain formaldehyde or our lipsticks have lead in them?  Visit the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics (CSC).  CSC is a coalition of environmentalist, public health and consumer-rights groups calling for the elimination of certain chemicals used in cosmetics that are linked to cancer, birth defects and other health issues.  CSC is responsible for the creation of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, also known as the Compact for the Global Production of Safer Health and Beauty Products.  This pledge acknowledges that all the companies that sign it have replaced the toxic chemicals in their products with safer alternatives.  To date, over 900 companies have signed the pledge and the list is regularly updated to include new businesses. 
2. Be Sure To Choose Your Products Wisely - Individual beauty products made by the same company can still run the gamut from safe to highly hazardous.  This is where Skin Deep comes in.  Skin Deep is the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) cosmetic safety database.  It claims to pair the ingredients from more than 41,000 products with 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases.  Enter the type of item or brand name of the product you are researching in their database and it will give that item a rating on a 0 to 10 scale with 10 being highly hazardous.  EWG created this integrated data resource of products, the largest of its kind, because the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require businesses to test their own beauty items for safety.  To combat the loopholes in federal law that allow companies to put practically any ingredient into their products, the EWG has also crafted a petition to Congress to make personal care items safe.
3. Consult With Beauty and Nutrition Professionals - Before you have your hair colored or your nails polished, ask your beauty professionals if the products they are using contain safe and environmentally-friendly ingredients. Currently, the majority of commercial hair dyes used in salons contain toxins including ethanolamine which, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is a substance known to cause cancer in laboratory animals.  My own hair stylist offers her clients alternative products like EcoColors, a hair colorant made from natural ingredients.

Nutrition should also be part of everyone’s beauty regimen.  Natural beauty starts with eating good foods, drinking plenty of water and consulting a dietitian to ensure you are getting the right mix of vitamins and minerals to promote optimum health.  The American Dietetic Association provides a database of it’s members - professional nutritists and dietitians - to individual consumers and businesses.

This Valentine’s Day and everyday, follow the ABCs of natural beauty.  Do your research, choose your beauty products wisely and consult with beauty and nutrition professionals.  Achieve natural beauty the safe and healthy way and you too will be your children’s best beautiful mommy forever.