Ask Diva

Dear Diva,
My wife and daughter use BareMinerals. What can you tell me about this product?
Thank you,
Victor
Jacksonville, FL

Victor,

I was able to find Bare Eccentuals – Bare Minerals in the EWG Database, that is likely what they are using.  This line is one of the more common “mineral” brands in the marketplace.

Overall, their product line has an EWG safety rating of 3-6 (which they classify as a moderate hazard. It’s actually the product my local beauty supply “sold” me at the store as their safest/most natural brand last time I was shopping without a list – I know better.

IMO – it’s not the best and it’s not the worst.

Overall, choosing a mineral brand over other make up types – is likely going to result in lower chemical & toxin exposures. However, because there are so many other choices in the market that have lower scores, I would look to do even better in this product category.

Brands – that have lower overall better ratings:

Everyday Minerals EWG 0-3 Low to Moderate Hazard with 125 products analyzed – PND just did a review of Everyday Minerals, they are a great company with a nice quality product line. I feel comfortable recommending this line as a safer alternative to what your wife and daughter are currently using.

Other brands with very low toxins that PND has not yet reviewed:

Rejuva Minerals – EWG Score 0-1 Low Hazard with 62 products analyzed.
Bare Organics EWG Score 0-2 Low Hazard with 25 products analyzed.

To be safest I would check products individually in the EWG Skin Deep Database or Ask Diva for specific advice!

Ask Diva

Organic Wine & Wine Making – The basics

By Tania Reuben

Grapes are near the top of the list of produce to buy organic. Wine’s number one ingredient is grapes. So, it seems logical to put wine on the list of product that we strongly consider buying organic.

Until a recent visit to my sister in Santa Fe, NM, I hadn’t actually purchased any organic wines. One reason – my husband is the person in our home who buys the wines.

He still hasn’t grasped the concept that at the most basic level organic only means something was grown without pesticides. Not that it’s healthier for you, better for you, worse for you – just grown without pesticides. In his mind it means it tastes bad and I keep trying to remind him that is a result of a recipe he doesn’t like and not the absence of pesticides.

The likelihood of me asking him to select organic wines and not having him stomp out of the room is low.

In Santa Fe I found myself with 3 hours to kill in the Whole Foods (waiting for a hole in my car windshield to be repaired – I digress). While I spent most of the time in beauty section, I did carve out some time in the wine section. I managed to select a couple of decent organic wines (with some help) priced from $8-17.

This experience compelled me to come home and do a little research on Organic Wines.

Organic Wine labels can be a little confusing. The source of the confusion stems from Sulfites.

You’ve probably heard of them before, but what are they and what’s the big deal? Sulfites occur naturally in the wine making process. They are also be added to wine to help the wine age better in the bottle, give the wine better color and prevent the wine from oxidizing (going bad) once the bottle has been opened. Reputable wineries use them minimally and they are not know to be linked to cancers or other health risks.

So, what is the problem with Sulfites? Some people are allergic to them. Consequently people that are allergic will need to avoid them.

What does all this have to do with Organic Wines? Well, in order for a wine to be labeled Organic in the US, it must not have any added sulfites. This is a problem for wine makers. There is no “better” substitute for sulfites in the wine making industry, leaving winemakers with fields of organic grapes out of organic wine making.

Wines made with organic grapes will be labeled “wine made with organic grapes”.

Digging deeper we could look for how organic the wineries process is, are they manipulating the wine with reverse osmosis, using excessive filtration? Are they using Oak Chips to flavor the wine (as a flavor additive)?

Yeast is used in wine making too. Many organic wineries will choose wild yeast for fermenting their wines.

Ideally winemaking techniques would be organic as well; little or no manipulation of wines by reverse osmosis, excessive filtration, or flavor additives (such as oak chips). Many organic winemakers also prefer wild yeasts for fermentation.

Other areas to consider would be the sustainability of the wine making practices, but there are not standards in place for measuring this, so if you encounter it on a label, you’ll have to take their word for it.

Any time you really delve into the wine making process it can feel overwhelming very quickly.

Start out by looking for wines made with organic grapes. Chances are those wineries are looking at all the areas they can improve upon on their own and at the very least you know the grapes are grown without herbicides, fungicides or pesticides.

More Information:
Organic Consumers
Wines and Vines

Coming Soon:
I’m hoping my longtime friend and Wine Maven Antonia will create a nice wine list for us to sample from. Cross your fingers that she’ll say yes.

Organic Wine & Wine Making – The basics

Tri State Journey

Diva friends,

I hope you missed me. I have just returned from a visit to my sister’s home in Santa Fe, New Mexico with the children. What an adventure! Then on our way home we stopped at one of my favorite places, a small dude ranch in the Arizona Desert – Stage Coach Trails Ranch.

I have so much blogging to catch up on, while I did blog when I could during my trip. I did want to spend as much time with my family as I could. And The Dude Ranch is pretty cut off, although my ATT phone worked fine, no WiFi equals no blogging. Not to mention, my sore buttocks from riding and waking up at 5:30 AM to beat the 110 degree heat. Yes that was 5:30 AM – I am nuts!

On my travels I found a great organic vodka, nice organic wines, a hotel chain that uses reclaimed water for flushing and recycles prominently. I’ll be sharing about this and more in the coming weeks!

Big Hugs!
Diva

Tri State Journey

HypnoBirthing Statistics

A few statistics on HypnoBirthing.

If you choose HypnoBirthing you may still require a C-section, you may still need an epidural, you may still need medical intervention, but the statistics show it will be less likely!

In 2007 15.5% of US HypnoBirthing® mothers birthed via C-Section, compared the the national average of 32%

12% of HypnoBirthing® mothers chose to birth in the comfort of their homes. The national average is less than 1%.

6% of HypnoBirthing® mothers chose to birth in freestanding birth centers. The national average is less than 1%.

Over 70% of HypnoBirthing® mothers birthing vaginally had unmedicated births.

To view the full report.
To learn more about HypnoBirthing.
To read the story of my own births.

HypnoBirthing Statistics

Hairdryers – Do You Love Yours?

By Tania Reuben

I love, love, love my Hair Dryer!

Did you know that they release 57 lbs of Carbon Dioxide per year, just under the 59 lbs that our dishwashers release! I was surprised that either they were so bad or our dishwashers have gotten so good!

I have long hair and I used to hate blow drying it, it would take forever, and my arms would get tired holding the brush, spin, pull… I’m tired just thinking about it.

One day I was complimenting my girlfriend Samantha on how great her hair looked. And asking how it looked so great with a newborn baby on her lap, she started to rave about the hair dryer she got for Christmas.

I had to try it. That was over a year ago and I still love this hair dryer. It’s the Conair Infiniti Hair Dryer.

I wash my hair the night before I’m going to give myself a blow out. Pin my hair on top of my head. In the morning I have damp hair. It takes me 6-8 minutes to blow it out.

One of the best things about this dryer is that when you use it you don’t need to use a brush, you style your hair using the dryer and your hands. I usually comb it out before I clip it up, that’s all. I section my hair using a giant clip, then work one piece at a time, pulling the comb’s of the dryer through the section of my hair.

I sometimes use a little serum once it’s dry, nothing else goes in my hair. When I’m done, it looks almost as good as when my stylist does my hair. Seriously.

The blow out also last me 4-6 days depending on what I’m up to. Everyone’s hair is different, so I don’t know how it will work for you, but did I mention… I love my hair dryer!

Less time with the hairdryer – means less emissions and great hair without a lot of product even better!

I wish Conair was paying me to write this, if someone’s in touch with them,let them know.

Hairdryers – Do You Love Yours?

Fruits and Vegetables May Be Taking a Bath In Deca

By Tania Reuben

It keeps getting scarier to eat!

It seems more and more important that we stay informed, get involved, buy local produce whenever possible from the farmers and wash, wash, wash what you buy from the market!

The Short Version:

Fruits and vegetables are packed on pallets for shipping, turns out the industry is moving towards using more plastic pallets, turns out a bunch of these pallets contain Deca a chemical linked to Cancer, Brain and Reproductive Disorders in animal studies.

What is Deca?
Deca is a Flame Retardant that is added to plastics to prevent them from catching fire at high heats.

Question – how does the Deca get from the pallets onto our fruits and vegetables?
In preparation for shipping produce is hydro-cooled. Stacks of pallets containing produce are submerged in supercooled water, or have water dripped on top. The water is then recycled, raising the concentration of Deca in the water and increasing the likelihood of contamination.

General Mills, Borders Melon Company, PepsiCo, Cott, Okray Family Farmsand Martoni Farm are currently using plastic pallets. While Dole Foods and Kraft Foods are considering making the switch.

By the way, over 40% of the deca used globally is used in the US!

As a result of public health concerns officials in Maine and Washington State have restricted the use of Deca and 10 other states are proposing bans this year.

Canadian and European officials have banned the use of Deca in electronics. It seems clear that Deca should come nowhere near our food supply and yet, at the moment, it is much too close for my comfort.

This is summarized from an EWG report on another potential contamination of our food supply. Click to read their full report.

Fruits and Vegetables May Be Taking a Bath In Deca

Diva Recipe: All Purpose Green Cleaner

There are a ton of green cleaners on the market, but my favorite cleaners are the ones I make at home.
One thing you know for sure, when you make it – you know every ingredient.
You will also save a lot of money, the ingredients are so inexpensive, no wonder the companies that manufacture cleaning products have so much money to spend on advertising! It costs so little to make a batch – it’s crazy!

I make it in batches that make 4 28oz bottles.

13 1/4 cups of Water (1 hot)
1/4 Cup of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Liquid Soap – I like Citrus for the All Purpose Cleaner
1/4 Cup of Borax
1/4 Cup of Vinegar

Borax Free – The Vinegar & Baking Soda reaction is fun for kids!

NOTE – Cleaning with the following recipe requires rinsing.  I’m working on a reformulation and will leave this posted with this caveat until I have a borax free option that doesn’t require rinsing.

10 1/4 cups of water (5 hot)
1/4 Cup of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Liquid Soap – I still like Citrus for the All Purpose Cleaner.
1 1/2 cups of Baking Soda
3 cups of Vinegar

Mix the hot water with the borax or baking soda until it disolves.
Once dissolved pour into a bucket – make sure that you have a bigger bucket – the next step will give you a little foaming action!
Add the remaining water, vinegar & Castille Soap.

Use a funnel to pour the solution into the four bottles.

I used to use the Method Products, so I have reused the spray bottles & taken the labels off. Using the handy label maker, made my own labels so I know what’s in each bottle and it looks organized.

There are rumblings about the safety of Borax and while it certainly appears to be a better option than the chemicals in commercial cleaners, there are people who would prefer to avoid it.

Click here to read what they say at Chemistry.com.

I have posed the question about Borax to the EWG. I’ll be curious to hear their response.

Diva Recipe: All Purpose Green Cleaner

Organic Wear Rebates – Free Make-Up

A new line from Physicians Formula

They are offering rebates for:

Free Mascara through Dec 31, 2009
Face Brightener through Dec 31, 2009
Face Bronzer through Dec 31, 2009
Make-Up Remover through Dec 31, 2009

The rebate will cover typical rebate cost on the purchase of the item.
So if free sounds good to you… give it a try.

I’ve already received my mascara rebate!

Organic Wear Rebates – Free Make-Up

Bottled Water? Why a Water Filter is the Better Option!

By Tania Reuben

We’ve been sold.
Didn’t we know it the whole time, really?

Many years ago, when the trend towards bottled water began – I can recall thinking people are really paying for water, then it became, I’m paying for water. It became a habit. An expensive habit at that.

About four years ago we moved into a home with a water filtration system and unless I was going out, that became my water source.

A year ago I bought my first reuasable water bottle – whenever the kids and I go out, our water goes with us. With BPA’s in the news, I don’t really want to drink water that’s been sitting in plastic of any sort, regardless of whether it’s BPA free or not.

Environmentally – the impact of plastic water is up to 1,000 times as bad as that of tap water. There is a sea of plastic in the middle of the pacific ocean and just because the bottles are recyclable, doesn’t mean they end up being recycled. In California less than 16% of water bottles are recycled. The rest end up in land fills.

But what’s the real story on the actual quality water?
Well, that it turns out is the question. The bottle water companies don’t really make that available to consumers. Unlike all city waters, which are tested multiple times daily, Water companies are only required to test weekly.

Is your bottled water worth it? An Environmental Working Group (EWG) investigation of almost 200 popular bottled water brands found less than 2 percent disclose the water’s source, how the water has been purified and what chemical pollutants each bottle of water may contain. Just 2 of the 188 individual brands EWG analyzed disclosed those three basic facts about their water.

Bottem line:
Find a bottle or two that you love (fancy for me please), get a water filtration system and become your own water bottler.

Reusable Stainless Steel Water Bottles.

For the EWG full report: Is Bottled Worth It?

Bottled Water? Why a Water Filter is the Better Option!

How Safe and Effective Are Sunscreens?

Sunscreens are improving – but three of five brand-name products either don’t protect the skin from sun damage, contain hazardous chemicals, or both, according to a report by the watchdog organization Environmental Working Group.

Check out the Diva Guide to Sunscreen:

http://www.purenaturaldiva.com/2009/06/summer-is-coming-which-sunscreen-will-you-slather-all-over-your-skin/

To read the full article at Web MD:
How Safe and Effective Are Sunscreens?.

How Safe and Effective Are Sunscreens?

Next Page »