Top Ten Most Misleading Cosmetic Claims: Third Installment

Cosmetics companies want you to believe that they have the answer to fine lines, wrinkles, sagging skin and stretch marks. Just put this cream on and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles will be visibly reduced! Technically- that statement is true. If you moisturize your skin, the fine lines and wrinkles will plump up and they will appear to fill in. This does not mean that you will have any real reduction in wrinkles. It just means that if you use this product (and continue to use it) your wrinkles will look better.

Sadly, most consumers expect that a wrinkle cream will make their wrinkles fade away and disappear. Unfortunately there is no lotion, serum, cream, or oil that can reverse the effects of age and gravity on our bodies. The only thing that can do this is plastic surgery. A cream that says it will "help" tighten and tone your sagging skin may have and ingredient in it that tingles or feels tight so that you know its "working". Wrinkle serums frequently contain plumpers like pepper extracts which are really just irritant to your skin. They cause inflammation and swelling, or plumping. There is nothing that can penetrate the skin layers all the way down to the snapped elastin fibers and make them grow back together to heal your stretch marks. (I sure wish there were!!) The best any cream can do for you is have skin lightening ingredients to help the redness fade away- which time will eventually do by itself.

Women spend a lot of money on products that claim to be "Better than Botox!" but you should really just save that money for the real thing.

Top Ten Most Misleading Cosmetic Claims: Second Installment

CHEMICAL IS NOT A DIRTY WORD!

Which brings us to Number 2 on my list of misleading cosmetic claims: Chemical-free.

First let me reiterate what I have said many times: everything in this world is a chemical, even you, even water. We are all just complicated combinations of chemicals. So that said- no cosmetics are chemical free. When you see this claim you should immediately dismiss the product- it's an outright lie.

Along the same lines as "chemical-free" products, products that have a "Free From:" and a long list of supposedly "bad" chemicals are almost as bad. A good example of a company that does this is Origins. www.origins.com Their "purity" statement says "Our products are formulated without parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, PABA, petrolatum, paraffin, DEA and animal ingredients. Why is it so important to know all of the things that the are NOT putting in their products instead of telling you what they DO put in their products?

1) Ginger Extract- data shows taking ginger orally has anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic benefits. Applied topically- it's a major skin irritant.

2) Lemon (and all citrus) oils- classified as irritants and potentially phototoxic (cell death with light exposure)

3) Mint- irritant

I could go on and on with the number of irritating essential oils included in the Origins line. Their tagline is using all natural plant oils but not all plant oils are good for your skin! Many are downright bad for it! Besides all of this, after a lot of digging I found an ingredient statement for their Have A Nice Day Supercharged Moisture Sunscreen SPF15 and found that they did indeed use parabens! There is nothing wrong with parabens (they are a much vilified ingredient as I explained in a previous post) but Origins made a specific statement that they DO NOT use them. 

I've also seen products that have a "free from" section a mile long with ingredients that would never be included in that type of product. For example, a facial moisturizer claiming to be free from Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). What formulator in their right mind would put a detergent in a lotion?!

I think it is far more important to be aware of what is IN your products than what is not. I can make a preservative free product too. In another month you'll get the added ingredients of bacteria and mold! Enjoy smearing that on your face!

Top Ten Most Misleading Cosmetics Claims: First in a Series

Let's talk about "All Natural" products.


First of all, there is no specific definition of what is required to label a product as "all natural". Any company can use this term on any product. It's a marketing tool- plain and simple. The company wants you to believe that this product is some how better for you that it's "non-natural" counterpart. It's not true.


Here is a good example of an "All Natural" product from Burt's Bees. This is the INCI ingredient statement from their Natural Acne Solutions Daily Moisturizing Lotion:


Active Ingredients: Salicylic Acid (1.0%), Other: Water, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil (Sunflower), Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Sucrose Distearate, Salix Nigra Bark Extract (Willow), Sucrose Stearate, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus Extract (Lemongrass), Hamamelis Virginiana Water (Witch Hazel), Humulus Lupulus Extract (Hops), Equisetum Hiemale Leaf Extract (Horsetail), Hydrastis Canadensis Extract (Golden Seal), Epilobium Fleischeri Extract (Gravel Willow), Lecithin, Chrondrus Crispus Extract (Carrageenan), Fragrance, Glucose, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Borate, Sodium Chloride, Glucose Oxidase, Lactoperoxidase


Burt's Bee's will tell you that this is an all natural product because their salicylic acid is derived from white willow bark extract. Salicylic acid is salicylic acid- where it was "derived" from makes no difference. What about all of the other ingredients in this product? The product claims to be 100% Natural but I don't know how glycerin, fragrance, or stearic acid can be considered natural. While there is nothing harmful in this product, as an acne sufferer for my whole adult life, this would not be a product I would use to treat my face. It's main ingredient is Sunflower Oil. For oily skin? Why would I want to add more oil to my oil plagued skin? It also leaves a tacky, waxy feeling on the skin (due to the choice of emulsifiers). Finally the product is well above the pH range for the salicylic acid to function as an exfoillient. These are things that make my skin break out more. 


By contrast here is the INCI Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA lotion:


Water, Methylpropanediol, Butylene Glycol, Polysorbate 20 , Salicylic Acid , Phytosphingosine , Hydroxyethylcellulose , Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract , Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract Epilobium, Angustifolium (Willow Herb) Flower/Leaf/Stem Extract,  Bisabolol , Sodium Hydroxide , Tetrasodium EDTA 


Paula's Choice does not claim that this product is all natural. It contains the same active ingredient, four naturally derived anti-irritants, two glycol solvents that aid penetration of the actives, a pH adjuster, an emulsifier, a plant derived thickener and preservative and a chelating agent. Nothing in here is bad for you in any way. This lotion is lightweight and absorbs quickly. It's formulated in the correct pH range for the salicylic acid to function as an exfoillient.

I have no aim to villainize Burt's Bee's or promote Paula's Choice. My mission here was to point out that an "all natural" claim:
1) Means nothing as there are no regulations on labeling something "all natural"
2) Natural does not mean good for your skin. Arsenic is natural. Lead is natural. Both of these were used in the Middle Ages and poisoned and killed many women.

Again I would like to point out that there are ZERO "chemical-free" products as EVERYTHING is a chemical, even water. Cosmetics and personal care companies are not looking to poison their customers. If we killed everyone who would buy our products? 

On holidays

Fair warning- quite a few of you won't like post. If you are easily offended just stop reading now.

I am an atheist. I have been for about 8 years now. I do not believe in any kind of god nor do I believe in souls or ghosts. I try to live my life as a good person because it's the right thing to do not because I fear eternal damnation. That being said- I don't have any problem with what you believe. I am not trying to convert you, please don't try to convert me. We all make our own decisions and I think that's great.

I still celebrate all of the Christian holidays I grew up celebrating. They just have different meaning for me now. Mostly I think of holidays as a time to get together with family and friends and relax. What I am sick to death of is being accosted by Christians who think it's their duty to tell me the ONLY way to celebrate the holiday. For example throughout the entire Christmas season I have to try to ignore the people who insist on telling me to REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON! Well, Jesus is the reason for YOUR season. There are actually a lot of winter holidays celebrated at the same time as Christmas. MY reason for the season is to give gifts to my family and friends to show them how much I love and appreciate them. Santa Claus comes to my little girl and we spend time with our family. Why is it your business to tell me how to celebrate? I don't tell you that everything you believe is wrong.

Easter is another bad one for me. Every year I have people "reminding" me to "remember what the day is all about". Jesus' execution and subsequent rise from the grave may be what the day is all about to you. Not me. The easter bunny showed up here and we are heading over to my parents today for a good dinner. That's it.

There is a difference between simply proclaiming your beliefs (which is fine) and telling others what they should believe (which is not). So today I wish everyone a Happy Easter- may you celebrate it how you see fit.

BALL POWDER LOTION!

While Jeff was home, he requested that I create a lotion that turns into powder so that he could powder himself without getting powder all over the place. I really had no idea how to accomplish this but I set to trying it out anyway. Right before he left I finished version one and sent him to Afghanistan with it. He says he really likes it because it keeps things fresh even on a flight to the other side of the world but that it didn't feel the same as if he had powdered himself. So I tried to make version two with a different type of powder but it seized in processing (otherwise known as a FAIL). So I went back to the original powder and tried more of it. Since I didn't want to wait for it ship to Afghanistan and Jeff to try it only to find it no go I let my stand in (Dad) try it out. He said it still wasn't dry enough.  Version 4, I tried a solvent with a lower flash point than water to see if that would help it feel drier. In doing this I had to change the processing significantly and everything was going well until I went to neutralize it. As soon as I added one drop of the neutralizer it instantly fell out of emulsion and the water phase coagulated around the blade in a solid gel ball (otherwise known as an EPIC FAIL!). It was pretty neat even though it was a complete failure. Finally with Version 5 I tried a third powder. Well this one is DRY. It truly is a lotion that dries into a real powder. I think it's perfect. For the nether regions and all areas under clothing at least. The only problem with this version is that the powder that it dries to is very white and it looks like you have powder on your skin.

Version 3 is an excellent shine control lotion for my face. I have oily skin. I have no hint of "combination skin" or "dry patches" just oil, oil and more oil. I don't need an "oil free face moisturizer", I need something that soaks up all the oil on my face all day. BPLv3 does that nicely and leaves a nice powdery feel without actually being powder on my face. Plus the formula does have some added ingredients for soft skin so it's a quasi moisturizer I guess.

So there, I made two new products from one great idea. I finally took BPL public today at work and told people about it. I got a lot of positive feedback even though no one knows exactly how we can fit it into Bonne Bell's lineup. We'll see down the road.

Today was my Boss Lady's last day. I'm going to miss working with her. All in all she was a good manager and she didn't get all up in my bidness. QC Manager has been promoted to "Technical Services Manager" which means he's my new Boss Man. Hopefully he won't get all up in my bidness either. I like managers who don't micro manage and let me handle my own work load as long as I'm finishing all my work on time or early. 

Fat Babies

I do not think fat babies are cute. I think fat babies are fat. I'm not talking about a little bit of baby pudge, obviously babies are jigglier than adults because they don't have much muscle tone.
This is a normal baby:

I'm talking about babies with rolls on their arms, legs and torsos that make them look like the Michelin tire mascot. Babies that look like this:

It's not really the babies' fault- it's their parents. When your child is in the 99th percentile for weight it's not a good thing. Announcing that your child is fat (i.e. My three month old is wearing 9-12 month clothes! What a big boy!) just makes you look stupid in my eyes. Eating habits for the rest of their lives are established in infancy. So, way to go- you are setting your child up for a lifetime of weight issues. Babies and toddlers are actually pretty good at knowing how much food is enough. I'm not going to digress into breastfeeding vs formula feeding (I'll save that for another day) but it's pretty hard to overfeed an exclusively breastfed infant because when they are done they just stop eating. It's easier to overfeed a formula baby because you are focused on them finishing the bottle you prepared rather than allowing them to dictate when they've had enough. I'm not saying that all babies need to be in the 50th percentile for weight and height all the time- obviously these numbers are averages for a reason. Babies grow in spurts and sometimes they will be above average and sometimes below. The problems come when your baby is in the upper percentiles constantly. The same people who comment on photos of fat babies "Aw, look how cute and pudgy he is!" will be the ones blaming you when DCFS takes your kid away for being a 200lb 8 year old ( http://news.yahoo.com/obese-ohio-child-taken-parents-placed-foster-care-180816812.html ).

Whether it's a fat 3 month old or a fat 30 year old- obesity is never cute.

Brunswick Zone can eat it.

Well Monday night we decided to go bowling. Mom and Dad and I bowled on a league last year and we've been bowling fairly regularly ever since. Jeff doesn't really bowl but neither does Eric so they could hang out and drink beer and throw a few balls every now and then. So we get to the bowling alley (The Brunswick Zone, North Ridgeville) and I pay for the two hours of bowling package for 6 people. You get 2 hours of bowling, shoe rentals and a pitcher of coke. We bowled for about 1.5 hours and were having a great time when our lane suddenly shut off. Just prior to this Eric had thrown a wild ball that ended up skipping over the lane divider and into the next lane. So we figured that either our time was up or Eric got it shut down. Jeff went to the counter to ask what happened. He was standing around up there for about ten minutes and in that time we decided to get ready to go. We put away our balls and changed back to street shoes. Then Jeff came back and said that the desk clerk said he thought we had left so he turned off our lane. Well he turned the lane back on and we still had 25 minutes left. Now we had to get ready to bowl again which took about ten minutes. So my dad went back to the desk to ask if he could credit us the time that it took to get ready to bowl again since it was THEIR MISTAKE. Desk clerk said no, he had turned the lane right back on and we hadn't lost any time. Dad got pissed and started yelling, desk clerk got pissed and started yelling back and get more adamant that he was not going to correct the time. So dad came back and I went up to the desk. I asked politely why the lane had been turned off to begin with. Desk Clerk yelled "It was an accident! These lanes malfunction all the time!!" So I calmly said "Ok, but it was the lanes mistake, not ours, we took off our shoes and got ready to go, all I'm asking for is the ten minutes that it took to get ready to bowl again." Desk Clerk gets more heated and starts rambling incoherently. I tried again but he interrupted my every word with more yelling. I said "Why is this such a big deal?" He said that he COULD add more time to our game but he WOULDN'T because my dad had yelled at him. I again pointed out that it was his mistake not ours and I was the paying customer not my dad. He said NO he would NOT DO IT. I could see this dude was on the verge of tears (apparently not used to dealing with confrontation) and he told me if I had a problem I could call his manager in the morning. I said I would do that and walked away. So I've sent a strongly worded email to Brunswick but I have yet to hear back.

I have never been treated so rudely in all my life. We were not asking for a lot. All I wanted was the time that it took to get ready. Hell he could have just paused the time until we were ready if he hadn't been such a dick. Like I said- I've been a regular customer. It's unfortunate since Brunswick is just up the street from me but there are plenty of other lanes in the area and you can be sure if they don't make this right I will NEVER be back. I will also discourage others from patronizing them. Plenty of companies have recently learned how powerful the internet is- I hope they do too.