150 of 157 people found the following review helpful:

A great idea that, sadly, missed the mark, December 1, 2009

I used to work selling cosmetic ingredients. Meaning that I didn’t work for any particular company, but in selling ingredients via a broker to cosmetic chemists and scientists of major cosmetic corporations. Because of this, I learned a wealth of information that I am not sure the author may have gained, although I do believe she has good intentions.

The major discrepency I would point out at is that petroleum based products are her go-to moisturizer. Petroleum jelly and petro based ingredients are very cheap for companies to use so it’s been highly popular. However, it’s been banned for use in cosmetics or skin care ingredients in Europe because it’s been shown to often carry carcinogens. It does, after all, come from the ground…It is actually currently going through FDA retesting right now in the United States because of this. (Google “petrolatum cosmetic toxin data”. It takes waaaay longer to ban something in the US than other countries if it’s been shown to cause some problems.) Because of this, any company I sold ingredients to that was big enough to be a world-wide company would not order any petroleum based ingredients because they are banned as toxic overseas already and are expected to be here in the next few years. Yes, petroleum jelly…what people put on their babies in the United States is banned as a skin ingredient elsewhere and expected to be banned here if tests go as expected.

She has her own cosmetics line that uses many controversial, but very cheap ingredients. That bothers me. For example, she is against all-natural and organic ingredients and says so clearly. However, these have been shown in so many cases to not only work better, but be healthier…yet, they are far more expensive for a company to use in manufacturing. In looking at her own cosmetics line, she certainly doesn’t seem to go for the most proven yet more costly and natural ingredients…they are, instead, quite basic and inexpensive…

I am not saying this is profit-driven. I am saying that cosmetic scientists have much to say about it.

There are many things the basic consumer is not aware of. For example, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate are some of the worst cleaning agents you can use in your hair, are highly stripping, and are also used in industrial floor cleaners. Yet in the United States, we equate “foaming” with “clean” and these are high foaming agents. They are also not used in Europe where there is more consumer knowledge about cosmetics and ingredients. Marketing-wise and price-wise, shampoo companies get more profit from using these. However, if you locate a shampoo that is sulfate and paraben free (They are getting far easier to find now as the consumers in the US become more smart on what they are using on their bodies) your hair will SHINE. If you dye your hair and avoid these ingredients, your color stays in twice as long, but if you go to a hotel and use a cheap shampoo with these in it, you’ll see a great deal of the color wash out that day. It’s that stripping of your hair’s natural moisturizers as well as color. I have never had a hairdresser not commont on how incredibly healthy my hair is since I learned this. And I dye it which they can’t believe because that SHOULD be stripping…but my hair gets no SLS products so it’s strong and shiny. Although she is a hater on natural ingredients, science says otherwise.

Now let’s cut to acne products. If you see commercials like Proactive you’d assume you should pay more for a name. In reality, all over the counter acne products are the exact same thing (one of 2 products)…either up to 2% Salycilic Acid or up to 10% Benzoyl Peroxide plus other inert ingredients. They both work on acne differently but, by law, over the counter products can only contain that certain amount of either ingredient. Some products, like Proactive actually have LESS of the active ingredient than generic brands however! (you are paying for the marketing, not a better product) So forget the name, turn the bottle over and look at the ingredients…If 10% Benzoyl Peroxide works better on your skin than Salycilic Acid, Use the cheapest product with it. Proactive wash only has 2.5% and all other ingredients in it are inert (you will see 2.5% benzoyl peroxide listed as the only active ingredient on the back of the bottle) so you are getting less but paying far more, for example. On the other hand if Salycilic Acid works better on your skin, use a product with 2% of that. Forget the name. But you aren’t going to get any difference in strength with a different product up to a certain amount. It’s illegal for an over the counter med to contain any more than this. And there are only 2 primary ways to fight acne in over the counter meds (unless you go all natural) and that’s it. The other ingredients are inert. How do they both work? Benzoyl peroxide knocks off the top layer of skin cells to open pores,…

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