recommend your 'natural' beauty products

[Anonymous]

After reading a few 'green' books I am grossed out by a lot of the ingredients in beauty products from makeup to every lotions & shampoos. Please recommend what works for you, especially in the makeup department! I did find a facial moisturizer from whole foods I like (alba brand), but otherwise I don't know where to start. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Dr. Hauschka and Mychelle skincare products are good. Whole Foods sells both. They also sell a couple of good, safe makeup lines. You can use the Environmental Working Group's database to investigate products and/or ingredients.

[Anonymous]

A good place to start is the MOPs line of shampoos because they do not contain sodium laurel sulfates AND they actually work well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good place to start is the MOPs line of shampoos because they do not contain sodium laurel sulfates AND they actually work well.

I agree that the MOPs shampoos are good but the conditioners are worthless. I can not get a comb through my (normal, straight, semi-thick) hair after using it, or even before rinsing it out. There is just no "silkiness" to the conditioners at all. Why is that?

[Anonymous]

Apple cider vinegar with water (and essential oil, if you want, to totally eliminate the smell) for conditioner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apple cider vinegar with water (and essential oil, if you want, to totally eliminate the smell) for conditioner.

Does it make your hair silky and soft and easy to comb?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apple cider vinegar with water (and essential oil, if you want, to totally eliminate the smell) for conditioner.

Does it make your hair silky and soft and easy to comb?

15:42 poster here - Yes. The only bad part has been the slight smell of vinegar, but if you wash really well, it usually isn't an issue. And I have dry, coarse hair normally. I am also shampooing a lot less (no more than 1 x a week). I still take daily showers, but I just condition or seriously scrub my scalp.

[Anonymous]

I just LOVE the Camocare line of anti-aging skin care products I got at Whole Foods.

[Anonymous]

Alima Pure for mineral make up. You have to get used to using the products, but they're great. So much better than Bare Escentials that you get at Sephora. alimapure.com -- they have a makeup artist who will answer your email questions about color matching. Chagrin Valley for body and face soaps. I also love Arcona for skin care -- they also have hair products, though I haven't tried them. Arcona is all natural and organic without being crunchy/hippie -- still maintains that "spa" feel to their products. arcona.com


To the OP --- Not to hijack this thread but which books did you read about natural products? I've read some great ones about food (the Michael Pollan books, and yes, Skinny Bitch, though they're a little abusive for my taste).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A good place to start is the MOPs line of shampoos because they do not contain sodium laurel sulfates AND they actually work well.


I agree that the MOPs shampoos are good but the conditioners are worthless. I can not get a comb through my (normal, straight, semi-thick) hair after using it, or even before rinsing it out. There is just no "silkiness" to the conditioners at all. Why is that?

The reason is that the effective conditioners all contain ingredients that effectively coat the hair shaft and make it slippery, so your comb goes through easily and the hair shines/reflects light. The problem, IMO, is that the slippery (useful!) ingredients are all petroleum products, plasticizers (phthalates) and actual plastics. Silicone is one example.

[Anonymous]

I try to check my products at EWG's database a pp mentioned:http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com The database isn't perfect (for a lot of chemicals there just isn't enough research), but I found it a great place to start. Some of the things we use were discovered there or through trial/error at Whole Foods/My Organic Market's body/health aisle. I'll also note we still use several conventional products as well - I was surprised to see that the pricey "natural" Origins cleanser and Kiss My Face shave cream I'd bought were actually worse on their scale than some of the Aveeno/Gillette products I had bought originally...

For me:
- Whole foods 365 shampoo/conditioner (I cheat with an occasional Ouidad deep conditioner)
- Tom's of Maine toothpaste on a Preserve toothbrush
- Avalon Organics shower gel (or, whatever else smells good at Whole Foods or MOM)
- Trillium Organic clementine body scrub
- Alba Botanica lip balm/Burt's Bees lip gloss/Clinique Glosswear
- Beauty Without Cruelty toner
- Aveeno's sensitive skin cream/lotion
- Kiss My Face Face factor (facial sunscreen)

For Dh:
- Kiss My Face Patchouli shave cream (see my note above - not sure we'll stick with this)
- Zum bar soap
- Burt's Bees lip balm

For baby:
- Little Twig or California Baby body wash
- California Baby subscreen

[Anonymous]

i mix aloe vera the natural cristals with olive oil and leave on my hair on the weekends, in other countries i find more herbs for the hair to use as weekly masks
in India for example they oil their hair alot and with all the color and blowdrying and irons we should follow because our hair takes too much torture

[Anonymous]

I love Jason lotions (also at WF).

[Anonymous]

Genuine smile. That's the best natural beauty product.

[Anonymous]

I get a lot of my naturaly beauty recs from The Cheeky Peach. She does a great job - thecheekypeach.com.