Nothing gets under my skin more than green washing… LITERALLY! A few years ago when I made significant changes to my lifestyle, one area that I found extremely hard to navigate was the area of personal care products. My bathroom countertop, cabinets, drawers, and every inch of ledge space in the shower was full of bottles. Shampoo in three different scents, two types of conditioner, creamy body wash, gel body wash, bar soap, 2-in-1 shampoo, 10 different colors and fragrances of body lotion, 3 bottles of perfume, not to mention make-up, mouth wash, 3 tubes of toothpaste, floss, and on and on and on… complete insanity!
I had so much stuff that I put sorority girls to shame!
Why did I have so much stuff? Because I had coupons! 
So a few minutes ago as I was searching for some information on an unrelated topic, I came to a website featuring articles about carcinogenic ingredients in our products and the need to be aware of what we “put on our largest organ, our skin”, and stay away from toxic ingredients, and yadda yadda yadda… I’m all happy… until I see a big’ol button that says…
“Click here for Safe & Healthy Products”
So I click… and click… and click… Oh, nice Product page… let’s check out the Personal Care category.
Greeted with…. “Recognizing the need for a viable solution to an overwhelming worldwide problem, XXX Personal Care products were designed without potentially harmful ingredients.”
I click on More Info & Ingredients under the Indulge Bubble Bath.
and…WHAM! My heart starts racing and my skin starts crawling because it nothing but CRAP… and definitely harmful ingredients for our largest organ!
The lovely description states that it helps ease stiff muscles and tension with the botanical blend of hops extract and Chinese geranium.
But the ingredients:
Purified Water
Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate – produced by boiling petrochemicals with boiling sulfuric acid
Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine – Causes eye stinging and redness, redness and burning of skin, toxicological properties have NOT been investigated
Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylate
Sodium C 12-15 Pareth-15 Sulfonate – reacting petrochemicals with sulfuric acid
Aromatic Fragrance - human immune system toxicant, skin toxicant,
Ammonium Chloride - Carcinogen, skin irritant, neurotoxin
Spirea Extract
Hops Extract
Matricaria Extract
Laurel Extract
Methylchloroisothiazolinone – human immune system toxicant, human skin toxicant, harmful by skin absorption, corrosion and burns to the eyes and skin, permanent irreversible eye damage, nitrosating agent
Methylisothiazolinone – neurotoxin, human immune system toxicant, skin toxicant, restricted use in Canada and Japan.
I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to feed by skin during a 30-minute bubble bath is any of the above!
This is blatant green washing and it’s sad that it’s legal.
The bottom line – not all green, natural companies are authentic, genuine, and principle-centered. Most of them seem to win the consumer’s heart by just carelessly throwing the words out in their fabulously looking marketing campaigns.
I think it’s about time we used our brains and made them win our hearts the old-fashioned way… with integrity, honesty, and a whole lot of hard work.
So… green, organic, natural companies better be walking the talk from beginning to end… and recycling too!
By the way, I now have three simple bottles in my shower, a tiny make-up bag, and one tube of toothpaste! Every single bottle, jar, container is 100% recyclable.
Ah, the joys of simplicity!
