Lib Balm or Harm

Courtesy of The Honest Company

Regardless of the time, place, or season lip balm is my go-to product. I carry lip balm with me everywhere and you're more likely to find me out and about with lip balm than with my wallet. With an extensive selection of lip products on the market you can buy and try different brands, flavors, and formulas. Over many years I have tried several lip balm brands including: Eos, ChapStick, Blistex, Nivea, Burt's Bees, SoftLips, etc. I jumped around between brands for personal reasons and because I constantly wanted to try out new products. *Updated 7/15* Before I learned about the Think Dirty app I was hooked on Nivea's lip balm. "A Kiss of Smoothness", "A Kiss of Mint and Minerals", and "A Kiss of Milk and Honey" which were constantly rotating between my purse, pocket, and dresser. Since learning about the harmful effects of synthetic fragrances I have since switched to the Honest Company's Organic Lip Balm Trio. Sold together, the lavender mint, sweet orange vanilla, and plain & simple are healthy must haves! Free of synthetic ingredients and flavors the Honest Company's lip balm glides on smoothly and has a silky finish that is never heavy or sticky. Organic jojoba, olive, sunflower, and coconut oils deeply hydrate and protect lips from moisture loss while rejuvenating shea butter and aloe leaf extract moisturize and condition skin, helping to soothe dry, chapped lips. The unique blend of organic oils sink into the skin to moisturize from within, rather than sealing it off from moisture like traditional petrolatum-based lip balms and chock full of essential fatty acids from Tahitian Tamanu oil everyone will heave healthy, happy lips!

ChapStick brand lip balm is probably the most popular lip care product because it is wallet-friendly and one of the original lip balms. My grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts are all ChapStick users. I'll admit that I've finished one or two ChapStick tubes as well but once I became aware of the ingredients I promptly switched out all the ChapStick tubes I could find in my house and moved my family and I to a cleaner brand. Although Chapstick is a reliable, helpful product I simply cannot stomach the thought of applying all those chemicals to my lips. (Hello people you eat whatever sits on your lips!) The main ingredient of ChapStick is petrolatum (a whopping 45%). ChapStick also contains: mineral oil, methylparaben, propylparaben, and camphor. I had never come across a product containing camphor and was shocked to find it in ChapStick. According to the world wide web camphor comes from the camphor laurel trees in Asia and can be used for cooking (mostly in India), medicinal purposes, and as an embalming fluid (ew!). Camphor in large doses is poisonous and in small doses raises potential health concerns. Also, camphor is commonly found in "moth balls". Moth Balls have an intensely pungent order; therefore, if you've ever smelled moth balls, like I have, then you surely will NOT want camphor to touch your lips. 

I first heard of Eos lip balm in high school when girls started carrying colorful, tiny orbs around and gradually everyone began showing up with the newest colors and flavors. Eos products are creatively marketed (who else makes an egg shaped lip balm?!) with their unique shape, compact size, fun colors, wide range of flavors, and recently celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Kim Kardashian have used social media and other endeavors to promote Eos lip balm. Also Eos lip balm is 95% organic, 100% natural, paraben & petrolatum free, gluten-free, and made in the USA (which you have to love because almost everything else is imported these days). Having tried the mint flavor I can honestly say that Eos is a great, fun product. Although the egg shape was kind of hard to fit in my pocket I admire Eos' creativity. Sadly, after a few weeks of using Eos I had an allergic reaction to the formula thus I had to discontinue my usage. I have contemplated giving Eos a second try but I'm still in love with Nivea.

The next time you go to the store to buy lip balm take a moment to read the ingredient label or even search the product on Good Guide ahead of time. It's not my intention to turn anyone away from certain brands, I am simply trying to share with you what I've learned.

Sincerely,
JEN



You can keep up with Sincere and JENuine while on the go! Simply subscribe to me through Google+ or by email to receive an email for every new post.

What Lurks in Lotion?

We've all had that moment when we walk down the lotion aisle in the local pharmacy and think, "Oh my there are too many choices!" Which bottle of lotion do we choose when we need something to soothe dry, winter skin? Maybe we choose the brand whose commercial has that catchy tune that we've been humming all day/ or maybe we choose the bottle with the most colorful packaging. Well has anyone ever stopped to read the ingredients on the back of the bottle? Sure all of the lotions on the shelves seem similar with their promises of 24-hour hydration and renewed elasticity, but with a little research you can find and decide which lotion is right for you.

I have stood in the lotion aisles at drugstores several times and read each and every brand's bottle of lotion for several key ingredients and to my disbelief every brand of lotion (including products marketed towards babies!), except for one, contained one or more of the ingredients that I avoid. (If you missed my last post, "You Are What You Wear", pointed out common, harmful ingredients that I avoid). While I mainly keep an eye out for mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, and propylene glycol there are a host of other chemicals in our everyday products that should be avoided. By educating yourself on these you'll be able to choose healthier and safer alternatives. The dirty dozen does a great job at compiling a dozen, red-flagged ingredients and informing readers on their "Function", "Present In", and "Health Concerns".

Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion passed my quick test because the ingredient list is free of mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, and propylene glycol. Due to this I started using Cetaphil a few years ago and have never looked back. Cetaphil applies smoothly, dries quickly, and leaves my skin feeling hydrated. However, if you search for Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion on Good Guide the health rating is medium which equates to slow down and proceed with caution; similar to the green, yellow, and red lights on a stoplight. This shocked me because I've slathered half a dozen bottles of Cetaphil onto my dry skin. With further reading I discovered: 2/5 of the ingredients were flagged due to the fragrance because it could potentially cause a contact-allergy reaction, 2/5 were flagged due to the possibility of causing developmental & respiratory toxicity (gasp!), and 1/5 was "below threshold" because the amount in the product is too little to create any effect. This soothed me because I truly think that Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion does its job as a moisturizer, and it's most likely the cleanest drugstore lotion when compared to other brands like Jergens for instance.

Jergens Daily Moisture Dry Skin Moisturizer used to be my go-to lotion because it succeeded at doing everything from moisturizing my skin, to leaving it feeling soft but not sticky, and the barely there fragrance never made my sensitive sinuses sneeze. While Jergens does a great job at hydrating your skin (and ~$6 for a 21 oz. bottle is a deal!) I discontinued using it after I became aware of ingredients because Jergens contains methylparaben, propylparaben, and mineral oil. Jergens is a great product (I have friends who refuse to use anything else) and I would switch back if the ingredients changed but due to my fear of potentially poisonous ingredients it's just not for me.

You may be wondering if a clean lotion even exists? I'm happy to tell you that one does. Origins Make A Difference rejuvenating hand treatment is free of all things bad because it's ORIGINS. Origins is a skincare company that prides itself on being free of parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, PABA, petrolatum, paraffin, DEA, and animal ingredients. Origins' products are formulated with organic ingredients and 100% natural essential oils. With ingredients such as rose of jericho, trehalose, sea haricots, and oceanic flora you can almost sense the purity of the formula, and with one sniff of any of Origins' creams, serums, or toners your senses will be put to ease and you'll feel like you're relaxing on an exotic, tropical island (for a tad of the price!). Even though Make A Difference is a rejuvenating hand treatment I use this as a body lotion. Make A Difference lives up to its name as it applies smoothly and though it feels like rich butter the formula dries to a silky, non-gooey finish. I could go on and on about Origins products, and trust me I will soon. Please tune in next week to learn about Heaven in a jar.

Sincerely,
JEN



You can keep up with Sincere and JENuine while on the go! Simply subscribe to me through Google+ or by email to receive an email for every new post.

You Are What You Wear

Nowadays people are into organic foods, going vegan, choosing non-GMO foods, juicing, spinning, and doing aerial dancing. While all of these activities and lifestyle choices are fun and healthy they can only do so much to strengthen and protect one's body. The easiest step to purifying yourself is often overlooked. We all read food labels to watch our sodium and caloric intake but has anyone stopped to evaluate what ingredients they wear on their skin? Without knowing what potentially harmful chemicals sit on your skin you could be counteracting the parsley, kale, & lemon juice you plugged your nose and swallowed this morning. What I am saying is that it's just as important to know what you're slathering on your skin as it is to know which ingredients are going into your mouth. While I'm not a professional and the possibility of your face moisturizer giving you cancer is low, this is worth your consideration.

I've always been an avid buyer of new skincare and makeup products and over the past few years I've tried and tested numerous brands. I used to buy whichever products had the most popular spokespeople or the most eye-catching ads and until I randomly came across Good Guide I fell prey to all of the flashy marketing tricks. Good Guide is a comprehensive site, it covers everything from household products to appliances to food, that rates products based on their impact on your Health, Environment, and Society and informs you of the potential health concerns which may arise. When I found this site I began typing in a few of my everyday toiletries for fun and was surprised upon finding these items on the site. I was even more shocked when I saw the ratings for some of my favorite products. (The green, yellow, and red colored rating system is super easy to understand.) With further research I realized that my face wash, body moisturizer, and foundation were all potentially poisoning my body! Thus I began my product revamp. I educated myself on several key "no-no" ingredients commonly found in products I use everyday and I began telling everyone who would sit and listen about what I had learned. The ingredients which I meticulously scan labels for and zero in on include the following: parabens, petrolatum, propylene glycol, and mineral oil. Yes, there are a plethora of other harmful chemicals but those are the ones I commonly find in my searches. I keep my eyes open for these ingredients because they all have a seat on the dirty dozen, chemicals in our daily-use products that are potentially toxic. 

I hope that this post informs you about potentially harmful ingredients hiding in products. Check back next week for even more insight on ingredients as my next post will cover what's lurking in lotion!

Sincerely,
JEN



You can keep up with Sincere and JENunie while on the go! Simply subscribe to me through Google+ or by email to receive an email for every new post.