Eco-friendly skin care without phthlates: K6 Skin Care

I'm super excited to tell you all about how I solved my conundrum when it comes to finding eco-friendly skin care without phthalates and toxins! I have been searching for a skin care line that does not contain phthalates, parabens, SLS, artificial colors, chemical fillers, etc., but also keeps my (aging) skin moisturized and blemish-free.

I'm sad to say that all the handmade products or kitchen recipes that I've tried in the past have been terrible for my skin. They have left my skin too dry, too oily, or caused me to break out. I've tried washing with oil, washing with honey, moisturizing with coconut oil, toning with hydrogen peroxide...all of it has been a terrible failure.

The products I've found that work best are, shall we say, usually less than ideal in their ingredients. I've been doing the best I could by at least buying from companies like The Body Shop and Whole Foods who have good fair trade and ethical practices and "probably" don't contain phthalates, but I've let a few other standards slip just to have nice skin.

Recently I met the wife of one of my husbands' coworkers who is a local naturopath. It is all I can do not to ask her 100 questions about that at the dinner parties we have attended! In fact, she has graciously offered to write a guest post for us soon to tell us all about naturopath practice and I can't wait! Aside from that fascinating fact (or perhaps because of it), she has also formulated her very own skin care line. I'll quote her here to explain why:

Early in my practice, I relied on "recipes" [for my clients skin care needs] I developed while working with herbs. I made recommendations to clients that had them in their kitchens throwing together various ingredients to make their own lotions and cleansers. Human error abounded, and the results were less than satisfactory

(sounds like my failed efforts!)

And here is my favorite part and, in my opinion, why K6 products work as well and BETTER than their non-green, non-natural conventional counterparts:

...As an ND, I am dedicated to practicing natural healing modalities, but I am not afraid to use technology safely where it will enhance the action of a natural element. I use this philosophy in every facet of my practice, and it permeates my skin care line as well.

This is a very good point. I don't think it's wrong to use technology to assist natural ingredients. The problem with a lot of the natural products I had been trying was the lack of preservatives, meaning that the containers became breeding grounds for bacteria. Sharon gave me a detailed ingredients sheet for each of the 3 products in the K6 line which explains, line by line, what each ingredient is and it's function in the product (including preservatives and why they were chosen). 

And did you catch that? Only 3 products in the line! Here they are:

Clean

For, um, cleaning. The best feature of this cleanser is that it also removes eye makeup! Yep, no more purchasing an additional product to clean your eyes. I find that it works best to rub a small amount on the closed eye, rinse, and then wash the entire face as usual.

Reveal

A powerful enzyme peel that leaves skin refreshed, not raw. It's extremely gentle but you'll also be amazed to see the amount of dead skin cells it removes (if you are fascinated by peeling things...this might be fun for you!). Never once made my skin raw or irritated. It is actually gentle enough to use on rosacea without exacerbating the condition.

Preserve

Anti-aging moisturizer that is extremely luxurious - you don't need much! Slows the breakdown of collagen, invigorates the production of more collagen, and inhibits the production of melanin.

Ever since I started using the K6 skin care line, I have actually felt guilty for not yet telling my readers about how much I love this skin care system. I wanted to be impartial because -- full disclosure -- they are also an advertiser on my blog. But I also do not advertise anything on this blog that I have not tried for myself or do not believe in. If I had tried this line and it hadn't worked, I wouldn't be writing this post.

A note on cost: you need very little of each of these products. For Clean, probably the size of a pencil eraser for eyes and the size of a dime for the whole face. For Reveal, you only use it once a day and maybe not even every day, I probably use about a quarter size squeeze for my entire face. For Preserve, less than dime size. So you can imagine how long each product will last. I'll probably buy Clean most frequently.

So, there you have it. It's what I am using right now, and I think I'll probably be using it for quite some time in the future. I hope that K6 helps you as much as it helps me. And remember, if you do choose to try the product line, you are supporting this blog!

Why Crystal Deodorant "doesn't work"

I've finally put together the following vlog that answers one of the questions/comments that I get regularly when I talk about my lifestyle of avoiding toxic chemicals in my beauty and body produccts.

1. What do you use for deodorant?
followed by
2. That crystal deodorant didn't work for me/someone I know uses it and they stink

Short answer: I use a crystal deodorant in combination with an all-natural solid deodorant from Nature's Gate. The longer answer usually involves explaining why I avoid the chemicals in conventional commercially produced deodorants and antiperspirants, which I went into with more detail in my post about how I don't wear antiperspirant. I've also provided more educational links farther down this post below the video. Personally, I am avoiding aluminum and phthalates.

As for the follow-up/second question - I have found that when I've recommended crystal deodorant to personal friends, they always tell me "it didn't work". Recently I started asking questions about how the deodorant was applied and found that it is most likely a problem of incorrect application. There's really no way to describe this where you're not going to get bored and stop reading, so I made you a video. You're welcome

Here you are: why the crystal deodorant "doesn't work" {video here}


Resources on deodorants and antiperspirants:

• Dangerous Chemicals in Deodorant and Antiperspirants from Natural Cosmetics
• This article from Cancer.gov says that no conclusive evidence has been found linking antiperspirants/deodorants with cancer but there is conflicting evidence regarding the variety of chemicals that are in these products and the action of purposefully plugging the pores in the underarms.
• Quick breakdown of how ingredients in deodorants can affect young people from Education.com.
• To get controversial, some green folks even avoid the crystal because it has aluminum from the earth (not the kind linked to Alzheimer's). Jennifer wrote a post about how crystal deodorant does contain a type of aluminum.

Part 3 of Skincare/Makeup: Natural-ish acne skincare

I bet you thought I'd forgotten about Part 3 of this natural makeup/skincare series since Part 1 and Part 2 were so long ago!

It's not that I'd forgotten, it's just that I really wanted to wait until I could say: "I did it! I fixed my hormonal acne completely with natural methods!". Well, that day is never going to come. What I've got right now is skin that is under control just enough to cover with makeup. No actual breakouts (most of the time), but I can tell stuff is still happening under the skin around my mouth and the lower half of my face which is causing unevenness and red blotchiness.

When you last heard from me, I was going to try The Body Shop's skin care line under the advisement of this one particular Body Shop employee who told me that she could easily clear up my hormonal acne when I went in for a makeover in April. After stalking that store for about 2 weeks, I found out from another employee that the employee who said she could help me had quit. So I asked the girl who was there what she would recommend for hormonal acne. She really didn't know what hormonal acne was, but was kind enough to give me a brief rundown of their various lines. What I remember the original employee told me is that she would recommend combining several of the treatment lines, so I went through and combined them on my own.

Here is what I've been using over the last 6 weeks or so:

Cleansing: The Body Shop Seaweed Deep Cleansing Facial Wash
and about 3 nights a week I use St. Ives Apricot Scrub (from Target)

Eye treatment: Boscia Enlivening Amino AG Eye Treatment
(I have been using this for several years and I LOVE IT. This was not something new, but it is not something I would even considering changing)

Daytime: 
Sunscreen: California Baby No Fragrance SPF 30+ Sunscreen - this isn't technically for faces, but it is oil-free and the only sunscreen that uses non-nano zinc oxide, receiving a rating of 1 on the EWG Cosmetics database for toxicity
Moisturizer: The Body Shop Seaweed Matifying Day Cream

Night:
Only used around my mouth where breakouts would happen: The Body Shop  Tea Tree Blemish Fade Night Lotion - I have found that if I use this all over my face, it is too drying and irritating. If I use it only where I would normally have breakouts, it is fine.
Moisturizer: The Body Shop Vitamin E Nourishing Night Cream - this has anti-aging in it, which I really need. I put it on top of the tea tree oil lotion as well, to decrease the drying.

Now, aren't you so glad you waited?
I feel like I can HEAR the tremendous disappointment.
Sorry about that! This blog is nothing if not honest. But maybe you might find a product you'd like to try or a regimen that would help with hormonal acne!

* NOTE: I was not given any of these products for free by any of these companies. I bought them all with my own money and my opinions are my own.

The Body Shop phthalate free makeup: Part 2 of Skincare/Makeup

Recently I was given an opportunity to get a makeover at The Body Shop during "Beauty Live" event at the Galleria in Dallas.

Did you know that The Body Shop not only sells natural, sometimes organic, and phthalate-free makeup but that they also have skincare and makeup professionals that can help you tailor a skincare regimen to your skin and apply the makeup?

On the weekend that I visited The Body Shop in the Galleria, they had a special guest makeup artist visiting, Shalini Vadhera. I am not very savvy about celebrity makeup artists, but apparently SHE IS A HUGE DEAL and I should have been intimidated. Fortunately, I was too clueless to be nervous. She was very sweet and beautiful, and she did an amazing job on my eyes. You might not know it to look at me, but I LOVE eye makeup. My husband dislikes lipcolor so I actually do a lot of color on my eyes most days. I'll usually match my eye makeup and liner to my clothing, and I always use more than one shade of shadow. I'm not super good at it, but it makes me feel more confident.

Here is what you probably want to see most: before and after. (apologies for my terrible camera skillz)

They were gracious enough to send me a professional head shot which they took - much better than my point-and-shoot:

And some un-professional shots of my eyes specifically:




The products used were from the "Brush with Fashion" collection - each item comes with it's own brush, which is genius because brushes are absolutely the best way to get a natural look. Those foam thingys that come with most eye makeup? Throw those things away! They do a terrible job. I never use them unless it is to wet the tip and use the shadow as liner. Even then, an eyeliner brush does a much better job. So I love that I can use the brush that comes with the eyeshadow.

The Body Shop Values and Campaigns
One of the best things about The Body Shop is how conscientious they are! The Body Shop is involved in a number of internal efforts to better our world, including a commitment to no animal testing, support of community trade, sourcing responsibly, respect for the environment, and treating their employees well. Externally, the company supports a number of campaigns to end sex trafficking worldwide, to stop HIV, and to end domestic violence.

Seriously, people, the fact that I could link to a page on their web site for each one of those individual efforts is AMAZING. I know very few companies who are that transparently and completely committed to ALL of those values and campaigns. I am so impressed.

And did I mention that all their products are phthalate-free!?

You might not have any idea how difficult that is to find, but take it from someone who actually asked their PR representative to delve deep into the company to confirm this - it's not easy to find a company who has done this. Part of the reason their products don't contain phthalates is because the company is based in the UK and the European Union has largely outlawed the use of phthalates in most products.

For an even better post than mine, check out another blogger's post on She Is Dallas about the event I attended. Then come back here real quick!

I kind of have a crush on The Body Shop.

Next up, I'll be trying out their skincare line. Please be patient with me, as I am still stalking the skincare specialist for her recommendations. Then, I want to give the products a full 14 days to work!

NOTE: I was given a free makeover and some products in exchange for an honest post about what I thought. These opinions are my own.

Part 1 of Skincare/Makeup: Homemade Acne Treatment

Now that I'm not pregnant anymore, my hormonal acne is back. Good times.

Being on oral antibiotics from the dermatologist does clear things up, but I can't go on those until after I'm not breastfeeding anymore. Also I hate the idea of being on pills forever and ever. The minute I go off them it comes back.

Let me veer off topic for a moment and tell you about 2 new ways that I am making myself even more neurotic online. I promise we'll come back to my skin.

First, the CSA co-op we joined has an online message board where the members exchange natural recipes and solutions for health and wellness. These people are way more crunchy than me. They make me look like I drive a Hummer and eat McDonald's every day, they are so freaking green and organic. They are the kind of people who drink nothing but raw goat milk that they drove 2 hours to buy and make their own laundry soap. I am not making either of those examples up. I would love to be as holistic and organic and green as they are, but most of the time I just feel crappy about how I still use Cascade dishwasher detergent and shave my legs. Still, every day I wake up and read all the posts from the day before on the message board and try to figure out how I can be more like them.

Secondly, I joined the Natural Parents Network on Facebook. This is the most fascinating group. People submit questions about their kids - behavior, illness, ways they are diapering or things they are doing with them... and other people in the group answer. It can be really helpful. My daughter was doing this weird thing where she screams for an hour every night for no reason and the people in the group suggested Hyland's colic tablets, wearing her in a wrap, and bouncing on an exercise ball. I did those things and she STOPPED. It was amazing. I feel good when I can also sometimes answer other people's questions from my experience. However, this group also makes me paranoid. Because there are a lot of people on there saying everyone should cosleep forever, you should breastfeed until your kids are like 3 years old, all antibiotics are bad, anti-vaccination, anti-circumcision, and any other thing that I would normally consider just a tad bit extreme. It makes me feel like I'M the crazy one for making the decisions we've made so far with our kids.

Back to my skin.

I really wanted to find something amazingly natural to get rid of the acne. I checked the co-op discussion board. According to them, I should wash my face with raw honey and use food-grade hydrogen peroxide as a toner and spot treatment.

I went to the health food store and got both.

In case you haven't seen raw honey, it's not like regular honey - it's semi-solid. It looks like this:

So I've been washing my face with raw honey twice a day and following it by a toner of food-grade hydrogen peroxide.

People on the health discussion board had great things to say about these two treatments.
"It made the skin really soft and the pores diminish (flatten out)."
"My friend who just turned 40 who has spent thousands on her cystic acne finally "resorted" to the raw honey as she knew I'd been pleased with it for years.  It cleared her up and she says her skin has only ever been that clear when on antibiotics.  She now tells people "I've spent thousands of dollars trying to cure my deep acne but now, I"ll stick with my $9 bottle of raw honey"."

But how did it work for me?

I am sad to say, it didn't.
I have been doing this for 2 weeks and I have to admit, my face is actually a bit worse.

I'm totally bummed because not only is my acne getting worse, but now I have failed at being green and organic. These people are over there making green smoothies and baking their kids homemade bread and I can't get my acne to go away without medication.

The good news is, I have been working with The Body Shop recently.
Part II of my Skincare/Makeup posts will be about the makeover I received last weekend. While I was there getting my makeup done, one of the skincare specialists took a look at my acne and said she can clear it right up with their products in only a few weeks! I am optimistic. Stay tuned for Part II, The Body Shop : makeup.  I hope to follow it soon with Part III, The Body Shop: skincare.
Fingers crossed!

Skin care - giving up and getting help

This year has been The Year of Fixing My Face. When I turned 30, my face freaked out. I had been using Arbonne and loving it, but when I turned 30 everything stopped working suddenly and my face thought I was 13. (Ironically, when I was 13 I actually had great skin.) I decided that I am too old for severe acne, that is what dermatologists and health insurance are for, so I went to one.

I've been on the Retin-A, Duac, and an oral antibiotic for a few months and they've been working great so far.

Aside for half my face peeling off if I use anything too harsh to wash it.
Yes, that. That can be embarrassing. It has happened twice.

Meanwhile, I have run out of Arbonne and was trying to slowly replace it with other things. This became more complicated with the added risk of half my face peeling off again if I choose something too harsh for the cocktail of things I'm smearing on my face right now.

To add to the confusion, one of my friends is now selling Mary Kay, I am a Sephora Beauty Insider , another friend recommended Bath & Body Works skin care products, and of course there is always the Beauty Hacks section of BlogHer and I am addicted to Glamour and Real Simple magazines. I feel like I need to balance what people say works for them, and what is eco-conscious...
Then there is, again, the possibility of half my face peeling off...AAAAGH!!!

Finally, just as I did when the acne first popped up (no pun intended), I gave up and decided I need to pay someone to just tell me what to do. So I called the dermatologist again and found out that they have skin care consultants at their office I can go see who will help pick out products for me that will work with my meds. I was so excited!!!

I went today and it didn't take long. She told me that Neutragena and Cetaphil are actually really pretty great for my super-medicated skin and in conjunction with those for moisturizers she gave me a cleanser from SkinCeuticals and a chemical-free 45 SPF day cream from Elta MD.

I know what you are thinking...are these green products?! Do they have parabens? Do they test on animals, are they vegan? As far as I can tell, no parabens. I need to do more research on that. I cannot tell if they test on animals or if they are vegan, even after visiting the web sites. But you know what is interesting is that they are both manufactured here in Dallas. Carrollton and Garland. Does that give me credit on the "buy local" side for local vs. organic? I don't know. But I do know that something like a 100 gallon jug of Cetaphil was $11 at CVS. Compared to the tiny bottle of Arbonne moisturizer I'd been paying $79 for...sounds pretty great!

Requiem for Arbonne...I will miss the yummy smell, but I also learned from my skin care consultant that if I can smell something I am putting on my face, it is probably not going to react well with my Retin-A. So, here goes. I'll let you know!