Look Great, Live Green: Choosing Bodycare Products that Are Safe for You, Safe for the Planet

By Deborah Burnes and Frank Lipman

Body care and eco-consciousness need not be mutually exclusive, according to Deborah Burnes. In Part I of this timely book, she explains the historical roots of the search for beauty, and how it has led to a $60 billion cosmetics industry that misleads and confuses consumers on everything from product effectiveness to toxicity. In Part II, Burnes details options for buying natural and organic products in a range of budgets, with each graded on a good,” better,” or best” scale in terms of chemical content and overall health impact. Part III discusses the positive effects chemical-free products have on overall health, and how those effects are expressed in the appearance of our skin. Part IV contains a wealth of facts, tips, and shortcuts to help consumers experience living green and enhancing personal beauty. Written in an engaging style but based in science, Look Great, Live Green offers a fresh perspective on living an eco-friendly, body-friendly, beauty-friendly lifestyle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9781630266196

Book preview

PART I

Beauty Product ABCs

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.

— ARISTOTLE —

My daughters, Autumn (right) and Mica (left) Burnes, and I set up shop at Walmart to investigate label claims on popular beauty products

Green Spotlight

Kyra Sedgwick, Golden Globe–Winning Actress and Activist

"Beauty is being able to walk in other peoples’ shoes with compassion and understanding, and learning to tread lightly on our delicate planet. We must take care of what we do and how we do it. We take care concerning what we eat; we should also take care regarding what we put on our skin. We have to be concerned, because beauty products play a very big role in our overall health. Everything you put on your skin is a combination of chemicals—it’s processed and manufactured, which has a greater negative impact on the environment as well as on your skin.

"Our culture is a culture that is enamored with youth. We glamorize looking young, and we obsess and stress out about aging. We need to embrace our aging as a culture and have mentors who are willing to age naturally. It is important for the health of our girls to reverse this culture that has a fear of change. As we age, our looks change and we perceive these aging changes as neither beautiful nor attractive. So instead of embracing aging, we slather ourselves in chemicals to stave off looking ‘old.’ Because of this irrational and fabricated fear of aging, we are voluntarily putting stuff on our skin that’s wreaking harm on our health and the health of the planet in order to obtain this unobtainable goal of eternal youth. We’re sold a bill of goods by the chemical industry that this is going to make us young and beautiful. Meanwhile, these same companies are putting gasoline into skincare products, thereby feeding the oil industry, poisoning us, and depleting the natural resources we have.

"We are depleting our resources and thus destroying the right to a healthy and prosperous life for our future generations. One of my concerns and something that I care deeply about is our children. For me it’s about our children. We need to be replenishing our resources so they will have plenty. We have limited resources, and I’m terribly worried that there won’t be enough clean air or water for our children. We need easy solutions, and we need them fast. So finding ways like Deborah suggests in this book, like swapping products we’re already using for better alternatives, whether it be in skin care, food, light bulbs, transportation, or any other facet of life, is of the utmost importance. These alternatives are easy and have a far-reaching impact on our own health and well-being and that of the planet. These are the type of simple choices that we can make to ensure that our children have clean air and clean water.

"These are simple choices we can all make without any creating negative impact on our personal lives; these simple changes benefit us all.

In this way, we can all be beautiful. We can all walk in each other’s shoes with compassion and understanding. We can all participate in the ultimate vision of beauty by caring enough to protect our own health and that of our families, and at the same time by having enough compassion to care for the planet and to preserve life and resources for our future generations. That is beautiful.

Chapter 1

From Cleopatra to Clearasil

The Innate Desire to Beautify

There is nothing that makes its way

more directly to the soul

than beauty.

— JOSEPH ADDISON

The concept of using materials to enhance one’s perceived beauty is not new. The styles and standards for beauty have changed, but the ritual of attempting to perfect oneself remains an enduring facet of cultural life. We have evidence dating back to 10,000 BCE that shows Egyptian use of kohl as both an eye shadow and eyeliner. Centuries later, but still relatively early in recorded history, Romans were bathing in scented water and anointing themselves with sweet-smelling oils. The word cosmetic is related to the word cosmetae, which refers to the Roman slaves responsible for bathing men and women in perfume. That humans have long experienced a drive toward physical perfection is undisputed; uncovering the impetus behind that drive, however, has led to differing theories.

We cannot travel back in time and ask for a simple explanation of why people started painting their faces, but one of the more plausible theories is that both men and women used kohl as eyeliner in harsh desert areas to protect their eyes from the glare—just as football players darken their lower eye areas today. This usage quickly evolved from practicality to vanity and gave way to an array of colors, powders, and creams aimed at perfecting one’s appearance.

Modern technology has enhanced our capacity to finely tune parts of our bodies in an effort to conform to today’s standards of beauty. We can reshape our noses, enhance our breasts, and remove unwanted fat tissue from our bodies. We have progressed from using kohl as sun protection, to using colored eyeliners and hair dyes, to even surgically altering our bodies. This creates a whole new slew of problems involving the effects of permanently altering our bodies.

From this craving to beautify sprung the beauty industry we have today. Beauty products are an integral part of our society. While history shows that it is unrealistic to expect to eliminate cosmetics, we can learn to make informed choices that drastically lessen the adverse effects of cosmetics.

Beauty: A Historical Perspective

A woman without paint is like food without salt.

— Plautus, Roman playwright (254–184 BCE)

The human desire to enhance one’s beauty dates back to the first organized civilization—the Sumerians—which manufactured soap. While our expertise in manufacturing and using makeup has improved greatly over the years, the areas where we apply makeup have changed very little. Take, for example, the stereotypical painting of an Egyptian woman. Now contrast that with the stereotypical American woman in the 1950s. Both are wearing dark eyeliner. The ’50s woman has added blue eye shadow above the liner. While her makeup is slightly more advanced, the basic principles remain the same. Below is a description of a few of the cultures that have had a large impact on shaping the face of the beauty industry.

Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, people used henna in their hair and on their cheeks, lips, and nails, and they used kohl, which is comprised of lead, copper, burned almonds, and other ingredients on their eyes and eyebrows. In addition to applying colors, Egyptian aspirations toward beauty encompassed the desire for softer, smoother, younger-looking skin. To this end, they used oils for moisturizing, applied body scents, and took soothing moisturizing baths. Cleopatra was the queen of the milk bath, which used crushed rose petals. Modern-day women are still searching for the same effects. While the Egyptians created their own organic products, we run to the store for the new miracle in a jar.

Ancient Greece

While the Greeks incorporated many Egyptian techniques into their beauty regime, they brought to the endeavor a slightly different purpose. Whereas the Egyptians strived for beauty in order to impress one another and the gods, the Greeks were only trying to impress one another. This is one of their major contributions to the evolution of the beauty industry. The raw ingredients varied, but the type of product remained the same. Their major contribution to the evolution of the beauty industry is in their focus on looking beautiful for each other. The other main component of the modern beauty industry that we find in Greek culture is the importance of packaging, as they packaged many products in fancy bottles and jars. These two components make up the basis for our attraction to beauty products today.

Europe

From the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, pale skin was a sign of status in European culture. Because the skin of the working class was tanned from outside labor, pale skin became a coveted symbol of the aristocracy. Men and women both applied white face powders in an effort to be perceived as a member of the highest class. Just as it is today, makeup was used to alter the way a person is perceived in society. While our standards for beauty have left pale faces in the dust, we still alter our appearance to attract a certain attention and create a certain impression. If a woman is going to a job interview, she will do her makeup differently than if she were going to a rock concert. In our cultural perception of beauty, we think of someone differently depending on how she makes herself up.

Beauty After the Nineteenth Century

The process of promoting and selling cosmetics geared up around the turn of the century. People began formulating more complex products and opening salons. Many brand names that we still recognize originated in this era. Helena Rubenstein opened her first salon in New York in 1915. Just before that, in 1912, Elizabeth Arden traveled from New York to France, where she learned beauty techniques and facial massage in the Parisian salons. She returned with a collection of rouges and tinted powders that she had created. At the time, it was only acceptable for stage performers to wear makeup; Arden changed this viewpoint, and she also created the concept of the beauty makeover. She later teamed up with a chemist named A. Fabian Swanson to create a fluffy face cream.

In Europe and America in the 1920s, tanned skin became popular. Industry hopped on this new attitude and created a new line of products to mimic natural suntans. This began with lotions and oils, and moved into tanning spray and eventually tanning booths and high-powered lights in the 1970s.

Glamour was ushered in during the 1950s. Max Factor, who coined the term makeup, based on the verb to make up, began his career developing colors and styles for a Russian ballet company. He transferred his skills to Hollywood movie stars and opened the first Max Factor salon near Hollywood Boulevard. Most important, he brought glamour to the makeup scene. Flashy and dramatic, Max Factor made regular people crave the looks of the stars. Thus began one of the most overwhelming trends in the beauty industry—Americans don’t have a true aristocracy, but it was replaced by the influence of the Hollywood culture, and people tried hard to be perceived as part of this culture.

This infatuation with movie stars is even stronger today, and it is reflected in cosmetic producers’ desire to court the celebrities. One day a representative from a major fashion magazine called my office to ask about a sugar scrub she was in love with. The first thing she asked was which celebrities used it. When I answered (fortunately there were some!), she replied that they were not popular enough—she told me to call back when we had an A-lister.

I understand the attitudes of the consumer, cosmetic producer, and magazine editor. A consumer is looking for an escape—a way to experience the perceived glamour of Nicole Kidman’s life with one swipe of lipstick. The producer is looking for a hook—a way to make its product stand out—and one way to achieve this is by having strong celebrity support. The magazine is looking to sell issues, by showing people what they want to see—what their favorite celebrities are wearing and using, and where to find these products. The ripple effect of these desires shapes our beauty industry today. Manufacturers will spend more money courting, or in some cases hiring, celebrities than they do on the development of their product’s ingredients. This adds a whole new element to the industry. Sales are driven not only by what’s in the bottle, but by who’s using it.

From Self-Made to Mass-Produced

When people first began altering their appearances by using makeup, they applied ingredients they found in their everyday lives. The ingredients for kohl, such as lead, were easily obtained. People had all the means to make their own beauty products from ingredients that were readily available to them. I grew up on the East Coast, and when I was little we used to play with rocks we called Indian paint pots. We spit in the center, swirled the spit around the rock with our finger, and painted it on our faces. The natural color from this stone produced a beautiful blush, lip color, or eye shadow. Perhaps people who lived in the same area two hundred years earlier had used this stone to paint their faces. So if we have the capacity to create our own natural products, what has happened?

Just as some chefs have a more precise palate and are more renowned for their skills than others, some people have a better sense of smell and perception of color. When people realized they could make a living formulating better scents and colors, they did so. Naturally, everyone wanted these superior products. Thus the beauty industry shifted from self-made to mass-produced. And of course, there was the convenience factor. It is much easier to buy a product than to make it from scratch. Nowadays our lives are busier than ever, and we no longer have the time to make our own products. The evolution of the beauty industry is not unlike that of many other industries. People saw a window of opportunity to make money and seized it. Similar shifts occurred in the clothing and food industries. We no longer have time to sew our own clothes and cook all of our food from scratch. As the demand and competition for these products grows, so does the variety of products available on the market.

In today’s multibillion-dollar beauty industry, we have eyeliner, mascara, foundation, cleaning pads, cleansers, lotions, face creams, body lotions, body creams, lipstick, lip plumping gels, antiwrinkle masks, lip gloss, etcetera. The vast array of products and the number of companies producing them underscore the importance of this industry to our society. We can buy products from massive companies like Max Factor, Elizabeth Arden, and Unilever, or from small mom-and-pop outfits that make miracle emu-oil lip balms. Do you know how many cosmetic companies there are? The number is overwhelming and is a testament to the amount of money spent on cosmetics each year. While I was growing up, I remember hearing that during the Great Depression, when industry was at a standstill, there were three things that still sold: tobacco, alcohol, and Woolworth’s red lipstick. It appears that no matter what, women will buy their red lipstick.

At Risk

From the inception of the beauty industry, there have been harmful ingredients in products. There were heavy metals in the kohl used in Egyptian eyeliner and in the face powders that Europeans used. The difference is that people were unaware of the potentially harmful effects of their makeup. Now we know of these dangers, but we continue to use the same products. While we have removed lead and iron, we have not eliminated the threat cosmetics pose to us. We have more raw ingredients available to us than ever before, as well as an enormous capacity to manufacture synthetic ingredients. The sheer numbers of chemicals and other harmful ingredients used in the industry is overwhelming, and this alone poses more of a threat than ever before.

All the toxins in the beauty products of centuries ago were found in nature. Now we have manufactured thousands of toxins, and the creation of synthetic ingredients threatens not only our health but our environment. Industrial chemical plants devoted solely to manufacturing ingredients for cosmetics cause runoff, waste, and pollution that do untold damage. There are so many possible combinations of these chemicals—each one with its own potentially adverse health and environmental effects—that we do not even know the full scope of this problem.

Environmental pollution effects everyone, whether or not he or she wears makeup or uses body-care products. This has become a global problem, and it needs a comprehensive solution.

Chapter 2

What’s in a Name?

Unmasking Label and Ingredient Claims and Understanding What Natural Means

Have you tried that? inquired a voice from behind me as I returned a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Pure Liquid Castile Soap to the shelf. I was in the middle of my research for the Good, Better, Best lists provided in Chapters 11 through 15, which are a compilation of products that I have researched and rated from a range of good alternatives to the best alternatives for consumers to choose from. Pausing, I answered the woman’s question, Yes, I have. We were not in a store selling wheat grass and organic vegetables, and this woman did not have dandelions in her hair and three layers of flowing skirts. She was a plainly dressed and tastefully made-up middle-aged woman.

Our conversation in the aisle lasted for nearly a half hour as she picked my brain about the healthiest choice for everything on her list. She pulled out a scrap of paper listing ten ingredients that she was trying to avoid. By searching the Internet, she had learned that a certain brand did not use sodium lauryl sulfate (her cart was filled with products from this brand). However, dissecting her shopping cart and critically reading the labels taught me otherwise. The second ingredient after water in one of these supposed sodium lauryl sulfate-free products was sodium lauryl sulfate. Shocked, she asked how this could be legal. Most likely, the ad she saw touted one product of this brand as being free of this chemical. The marketing scheme worked—by making one product without sodium lauryl sulfate, the company had convinced a consumer to trust the entire brand. A similar problem occurred as she searched for makeup for her daughters. From the same company, one product would advertise no parabens but contain talc, while another would claim no talc but contain parabens—both were on her list of ingredients to avoid. Beyond her own desire to avoid these chemicals, she was also a mother looking for safe products for her children. Her enthusiasm and curiosity showed me the breadth of the audience this book would have; so many people are searching for ways to be healthy, but the necessary information is not out there in a simple, concise, and accessible form.

From makeup, we moved on to cleaning products; the ones she had chosen were plastered with amazing claims but did not list ingredients. After looking at the bottle in her shopping cart, I could tell her the product was safer than your average cleaning product, but I could not guarantee that each ingredient was safe. In this case, I told her, it fit into the 85 percent clean, 15 percent junk philosophy that guides my basic lifestyle. I am not an extremist who thinks we should all sew our own clothes and eat only what we grow ourselves. I believe in affecting change through moderation, and I want consumers to have accessible, healthy choices everywhere from the local drugstore to Nordstrom. I try to be 85 percent healthy and reserve 15 percent for some vitamin J—junk. When my kids were young, I tended to sway toward the extremist side of things—no sugar, preservatives, or soda—even juice was mostly forbidden. I developed my 85 percent/15 percent philosophy one day in the car when my kids were around ages five and eight. I overheard them saying that as soon as they moved out of the house they were going to buy ice cream and a giant bag of Doritos and sit around and watch TV all day long. This was when I realized the importance of moderation. To their disbelief, on the way home we stopped at the store and I bought them ice cream and Doritos, and when we got home I let them watch TV.

For some people, junk may consist of dyeing their hair or eating fast food. Eighty-five percent may be too high or too low for your comfort zone. All I am advocating is that you find your own comfort zone and try to stick to it. The woman at the store had her zone and was working to stay within its boundaries. If everyone commits to some type of change, together we can make a difference. The problem is that even with her comfort zone in mind and good intentions, the woman was still unable to find products that fit her expectations—even when she thought they did.

This is where I come in. This book is not only for those committed to having zero chemical exposure but also for those striving to decrease their chemical load. You don’t have to be a diehard to want to make informed choices. My goal is to help every individual find a healthy alternative that truly meets her expectations.

Daily Exposure

Each day, the average American uses eight personal-care products, such as toothpaste, skin cream, shampoo, lip balm, deodorant, cologne, sunscreen, and soap. On average, these products contain a total of 138 different ingredients that enter your body. Of these, most are toxic. The truth is that no one really knows what effect mixing this many different toxins in and on your body will have, or whether a cocktail effect will increase the impact of these toxins. Yet we continue to add new miracle ingredients to products and add new products to our daily regimens. I find myself wondering whether we would overlook these chemicals’ caustic effects if they did not promise to make us look younger and more beautiful. Consider propylene glycol, which studies suggest causes damage to the kidneys, lungs, heart, and nervous system. If I gathered up every drop of propylene glycol you were exposed to via body products in one month and put it in a shot glass with a warning label, would you drink it? Most of us wouldn’t order propylene glycol at a bar even if it tasted like apple cider. For some reason, poison on our skin does not set off the same internal alarm bells as poison in our mouths. When making personal-care choices, here’s a good rule of thumb: We should not apply anything to our skin that we would not feel comfortable

Reviews for Look Great, Live Green

[reflexandresolve · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's taken me quite awhile to review this book -- partially because on an initial flip through, it isn't at all what I thought it was. It's more along the lines of Paula Begoun's books -- IE -- reviewing products already on the market. For what it is, I suppose it's adequate.I share some of the concerns that other readers have documented. Her research doesn't seem backed up by evidence. The information also isn't presented in a particularly reader friendly, or even research friendly method.

[anniehidalgo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was an interesting book. I thought she plugged her own products WAY too much, but I'd never really thought about the chemicals in moisturizers and shampoos and makeups before, and what she says makes sense. I was surprised that my Pantene shampoo appears to have only what Burnes considers to be potentially harmful chemicals, and really nothing (except maybe citric acid) that she thinks is GOOD for your hair. The recipes for making your own products were neat. I'm trying one tonight, and when I do, I'll update this review. I thought it was really sad though when she took away the single mom's drugstore products and replaced every single one of them with items that cost at least $20 a bottle. Yes, she apparently gave the woman a free basket, but now she'll be convinced she needs that stuff, and spend lots more on cosmetics. I think a lot of recipes to make her own - or low-cost alternatives would have done much better. I was disappointed throughout the book at the lack of healthy options the author appears to think that you can find at your local drugstore or supermarket. I, for one, don't have the time and money to track her expensive alternatives down. Well, thanks to the internet, everybody has time, but I am not likely to replace my $7 shampoo with one that costs $20, honestly. At least not on a regular basis. I'd be interested in reading a second opinion, as far as the helpfulness and harmfulness of drugstore cosmetics and toiletries goes. Surely they can't ALL be bad for you, across the board. So, I probably won't change my entire life as a result of reading this book, but I will try a few new things.

[elysabeth_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book took me a while to do more than flip through - I made a mistake. I thought I was well-informed and product savvy, but am grateful now to have replaced that arrogance with the wealth of information here. Now that I've read it, I have pulled it out to reference multiple times. I did find the celebrity input unnecessary, and the presentation of information might have been organized in a better way. All in all, this book has changed the way I purchase products and is a valuable resource.

[journeys_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book arrived at a very good time, as a friend of mine had just gotten the news that her skin problems were likely due to ingredients in the products she had been using. She had to eliminate a lot of products from her usual daily bathing/cleansing/make-up lineup. I loaned the book to her. She found it extremely helpful, and took the "top ten" lists to the store with her when shopping for new products. Happily her skin problems are almost gone. Most useful about this book were the lists of ingredients to avoid. The formulation of cosmetics and hair products changes so often that a list of specific products to buy becomes quickly outdated.

[amysan_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had a love/hate relationship with the book the moment I picked it up. Although I try to live a healthy life, I was blissfully ignorant about the chemicals in my beauty products. And while I do continually want to make changes for the better, I wasn't necessarily ready to throw out all the products I currently use.That being said, I found this book very eye-opening and I would recommend it to everyone. Reading it made me want to throw all my current products in the hazardous waste and start new. She urges you to find your comfort zone with the products you use and provides a list of good, better, best products. I really appreciated the suggestions for safe products to use and especially the chapter with recipes to make your own. I found the author very knowledgeable and down to earth. While she makes a good case for using more natural products, she also lists quite a few resources in the back of the book and always urges you to do your own research.If you have any interest in living a cleaner, greener life, I would highly recommend this book!

[rbtwinky · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I have been interested in breaking the addiction to chemical-based products for many years. I have tried, on various occasions to switch to natural products, but have always gotten such terrible results that I couldn't stick with it for long.Then comes Deborah Burnes's Look Great, Live Green, and I think I've found a solution at last. An entire book all about how to choose body care products that are natural and still help you to "look great." What I got instead was a poorly-written thesis about which chemicals are bad and good, how to spot them, and a list of products that meet those criteria. Burnes even makes the statement that she can't vouch for the efficacy of any of the products she recommends because she hasn't tried them.Most frustrating is the convoluted way in which Burnes presents the chemicals that she feels are not healthy. In the opening chapters she does a fair job of discussing some of the most infamous chemicals, such as sodium lauryl sulfate. Only when I got to the end of the book did I notice the listing of ingredients with guidelines to follow. Never does she comprehensively list ingredients one is likely to find with the S (safe), P (potentially harmful), H (harmful) categorizations she gives in the makeover section. The sections about specific types of products are the worst. Burnes provides a listing of ingredients from the "dangerous chemicals" side next to a listing of ingredients from a wholesome, healthy product. Sounds like a fine idea, until you realize that there are frequently ingredients that show up on both lists. How does that help anyone?!I have yet to implement any of the suggestions that she makes, so I cannot speak to their efficacy (either). I suspect the most useful information I will obtain from Look Great, Live Green are Burnes's insider tips about key ingredients for a given problem or area. I do intend to try out some of her recipes and enjoyed her recommendations in that section of the book immensely.

[marywysong · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is very much in line with my own feelings regarding chemicals and misleading advertising, so I am happy I was chosen to review it! First a warning: this is not really the kind of book that you sit down and read all the way through. Instead, it works much better as a reference guide. I would recommend reading the initial chapters, but a large portion of the book consists of lists and details about specific products or types of products. If they aren't products you use, you really don't need to read every page. I think it is great that the author suggests we look beyond labels and ads to really see what is in the product. I admire this type of free thinking and self education. With that in mind, I was a little leery of the author's techniques. For example, she lists examples of good and bad ingredient lists; however, there is not enough accompanying information as to why the ingredients are good or bad. In her defense, there is a glossary at the back where you can read about each individual ingredient; however, I didn't find it until I'd already looked at the ingredient lists with no way to decipher them. Maybe it would help to flip through the book and see what all it contains before sitting down to read it?As I said above, I admire the author's desire to look beyond marketing tools to dig into the truth about products. But that leads me to an aspect of the book that made me uncomfortable. She "names names" and mentions brands and products, some positively and some negatively. I didn't like this idea because, one, it seems tacky to disparage certain brands, two, it bypasses the reader's ability to think for herself and three, it dates the information and makes it irrelevant should the brands go out of business. I think the text would work a LOT better if the author first explained (in depth) the pros and cons of ingredients so we could analyze for ourselves without being told what to use and not to use. I think that would be more in keeping with the spirit of the book.Those criticisms aside, this is still a helpful book filled with good information and ideas. I hope it will inspire more readers to analyze the products they use rather than just believing what ad agencies want us to blindly accept. As the author points out, our skin absorbs the toxins around us and we should be careful about what we use.On a fun note, there are body care recipes at the end, so once you've learned about products to use and avoid, you can try making your own. I was inspired to make a bunch of bath fizzies and salts and was so happy with the results! They go very well with aromatherapy and essential oils and are just as nice, (if not better,) than what you find in a store.In conclusion, the author is very well informed and may well be right about everything she says, but in keeping with the book's spirit of learning and thinking for oneself, I would encourage readers to read critically rather than just taking every word as perfect truth. Although I agree with most of her ideas, I think it's good for us to use the information and create our own opinions :)

[crazy4reading · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I first started this book I thought it was just going to be someone trying to tell me how I should be using certain types of personal care products and pushing their own products on me. I was truly mistaken. Look Great, Live Green is a book that teaches and informs you of the misconceptions we have been raised to believe. I found the book well written and easy to follow while reading. If you are trying to figure out why your skin keeps looking older, dryer or just not what you are use it is most likely due to the so called 'natural' products you are currently using. Most of the cosmetics out there are not as natural as you may think. I learned that some of the products that I have now are not as natural as I thought. Anyone that is interested in saving money, time, their skin, and the environment should take a look at this book.Deborah Burnes has her own line of personal care products that are natural. She did not force her products on you as you read the book. Deborah rates products from, Good, Better and Best. Some categories do just have Better or Best because she felt that was adequate. She also tells you not to try and change everything at once, you need to find your comfort zone and the products that are right for you. There is a chapter on recipes to create your own natural products which I hope to try sometime. The end of the book lists resources to do research on your own. There is also a section that lists the natural products and there benefits plus a list of toxic ingredients and the cautions on how to handle them, if they are accidentally ingested or make contact with certain parts of the body and some diseases they are linked to. Now just reading those sections makes me not want to use the non natural products just out of fear of really causing severe injuries.

[katyphoenix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have been struggling to read this book. Not because it isn't well written, but because there is just so much information. I fear that it will be months before i finish reading the entire book. Don't be turned off by the amount of information. The author is very knowledgeable and her over all goal is wonderful.

[kaykwilts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For a while now I have been trying to be green with the environment and inside my home. There is a lot of information out there on how to be green and lots of useful information on how to clean your house with green products. I don't think there is much information out there on what we put on the biggest organ on our body which is our skin. This book brings an awareness of how we can take better care of our body by using green products. It informs us of which products contains ingredients which could bring harm to our bodies.It informs us of companies that are doing a good job and lists products for some of these companies. It lists products that have the least amount of toxins. There are some chapters which recipes on how to make some of your own products. I am looking forward to trying out some of the recipes.There is also a chapter on what you can do as a consumer to help tighten the safety standards for beauty products.I really do like this book. Not sure if I am going to implement every single thing because of the cost involved but will do as much as I can.

[pioneercynthia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was most intrigued by the sub-title of this volume, "Choosing Beauty Solutions That Are Planet-Safe and Budget-Smart." All too often, it seems, choosing to live in a manner that is more eco-friendly means choosing to live without something altogether, rather than just choosing a greener alternative (i.e., hybrid cars and solar heating, both of which require a substantial amount of money up front, thus being out of the range of most consumers). Having worked in the beauty industry as a young woman, I am well aware of both the lure of cosmetics and their often unpleasant ingredients. I read Ruth Winter's book, "A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients," in its first edition, and found it to be quite eye-opening. Then I happened upon Debra Lynn Dadd's "Nontoxic & Natural" (1984), another gem.But what I like most about this recent foray into the world of green beauty is that the author readily admits that she isn't "completely" green herself. She says, "I am not an extremist who things we should all sew all our own clothes and eat only what we grow ourselves. I believe in affecting change through moderation, and I want consumers to have accessible, healthy choices .... I try to be 85 percent healthy and reserve 15 percent for some vitamin J--junk." (p. 13) I like this, because it reflects a healthy attitude, and that allows for a guilt-free, easy-to-swallow approach that prompts readers to make real, and lasting, changes in their lives.The book is organized into sections beginning with "Beauty Product ABCs," and then venturing into "Let's Go Comparison Shopping," followed by "What's a Busy Woman To Do?" and then "Recipes--and a Dash of Activism." There are comprehensive appendices for resources, ingredients and bibliographical information, as well as an index.This is a great book. Not too technical, but not too light-weight. I heartily recommend it.

[randirousseau · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I requested this book out of curiousity, but with a lot of skepticism (I like my $4 shampoo and bar deoderant, for example). BUT if there are better products I can still get around home that won't break the bank, and are maybe better for me, what the heck. So I requested the book.The skepticism rose when I noticed that the author of the book is the owner of Sumbody products. talk about bias, right? I have to give credit where credit is due, and in this case I have to add some kudos - this is a very well researched book, with a lot of clear explanation of products and ingredients, and why some things are "bad" while other things are "good." It's also very balanced - while, yes, there are Sumbody products recommended in each category, there are also a lot of other obtainable products, and I loved the "good, better, best" format for those. I also liked the note that if an ingredient was "iffy," WHY it was iffy. Very thoughtfully laid out and presented, and very thorough. Again - terrific research and attentiont to detail was obvious.I did go ahead and try one of the recipes in the book - the one for hair vinegar. I found an apothecary within driving range and got the herbs, cooked them up, and used the tonic. I did find a difference with my hair - more body, great texture! One word of caution, though - if you make it ahead and refrigerate it, leave it out long enough to be room temperature before you use it. Unless you really need to wake up in a hurry, pouring refrigerated liquid on your head isn't a good idea. I attribute this "duh" moment to not having had any coffee....Anyway, I do intend to try some of the other recipes, as they do seem to work!

[staria_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever thought about what ingredients are used in the make-up we use everyday? Or have you read the ingredient list and realized you don't know what most the ingredients are? These questions and many more don't get easily answered by the cosmetic products companies, still Deborah Burnes sets out to not only answer them in this informative book but also teach us that beauty does not mean sacrifice. At times it borders on preachy and it goes on and on about the harm big companies do, so be prepared to read a lot; this is not a book for light readers. Yet it never stops enlightening the reader about what is good and bad for your skin. What makes this book really great is the make-up recipes that anyone can make at home for a fraction of what we are usually are charged at stores. Overall, I hope that in the near future Burnes will enlighten us (and save us some money) with more recipes to try at home.

[anniejanicki · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was an interesting book. I thought she plugged her own products WAY too much, but I'd never really thought about the chemicals in moisturizers and shampoos and makeups before, and what she says makes sense. I was surprised that my Pantene shampoo appears to have only what Burnes considers to be potentially harmful chemicals, and really nothing (except maybe citric acid) that she thinks is GOOD for your hair. The recipes for making your own products were neat. I'm trying one tonight, and when I do, I'll update this review. I thought it was really sad though when she took away the single mom's drugstore products and replaced every single one of them with items that cost at least $20 a bottle. Yes, she apparently gave the woman a free basket, but now she'll be convinced she needs that stuff, and spend lots more on cosmetics. I think a lot of recipes to make her own - or low-cost alternatives would have done much better. I was disappointed throughout the book at the lack of healthy options the author appears to think that you can find at your local drugstore or supermarket. I, for one, don't have the time and money to track her expensive alternatives down. Well, thanks to the internet, everybody has time, but I am not likely to replace my $7 shampoo with one that costs $20, honestly. At least not on a regular basis. I'd be interested in reading a second opinion, as far as the helpfulness and harmfulness of drugstore cosmetics and toiletries goes. Surely they can't ALL be bad for you, across the board. So, I probably won't change my entire life as a result of reading this book, but I will try a few new things.

[manybooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love this book! But I have to explain that I AM the target market: I make lye soap and bath products, I compost and garden, I believe in spending my money frugally and politically.This book ha great tips and suggestions for what to look for (and probably avoid) in your skin care products. My largest complaint is that the chapter of recipes is too small.

[ann_louise_7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall, I felt the Look Great, Live Green had a lot of good information on what's actually in the cosmetics we use. Just having that information can help readers made better choices. In this economy, having the "Recipes" section gave me economical alternatives to many products. However, I would've liked to see price ranges, or dollar signs - something to let me know how expensive the "Better" and "Best" products were.

[bethanynummela · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Man, there are a lot of chemicals in personal care items. I think the author does well at presenting her argument for natural products in a non-sensational manner. It's a tough topic. Tough to get facts on. Tough to stay calm about. So I applaud her efforts. She runs her own beauty/personal care line so her products are certainly visible in the book, but she's pretty open about her decisions to include them and criticize them when appropriate. My favorite part of the book has to be the recipes though. I'm not going to be spending lots of money on products when I'm currently spending maybe $20 a month on these things, but I will make my own stuff, see how it compares, and see if the trouble of making it merits taking a closer look at the more expensive albeit natural products. I'd almost argue for just reading the last chapter and skipping on all the "look how much toxins you are consuming" stuff.

[sprucely-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Look Great, Live Green by Deborah Burnes is an excellent beginner to intermediate eco-green-conscious bodycare products user guide. It contains a lot of the common-heard lessons and “no-no’s” in “healthy” living, but there’s much information, lists, ratings, recipes, suggestions that even the highly researched “Green Living” person could integrate into their lifestyle. A smooth read, I recommend you read it now before some of the lists become outdated, however there will always be sections of this book that you’ll want to refer to if you choose to embark on the path to living a greener, more chemical-free life. Read the book, and even the skeptics could be converted.

[t1peggy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I asked for this book because I’m learning to appreciate organic food. This book seems the next step. Also I noticed I'm loosing a great deal of hair. I though it might be related to the hair product I've been using the past three years. Unfortunately I still don't have the answer to that question.I received this book during the holidays. This review is very delayed because of two things - the holidays and finding the information I wanted not easily accessible. I just didn't want to give up on the book. It seems well intentioned.This book does not read in one sitting, nor should it, with all the chemistry involved in beauty products. But I just could not get through the first chapters. Within them I read that talc and baby wipes are not recommended to be used, but did not see information that gave details of why not.The author did give tidbits of interesting information, like the chemical used in treating hair lice was banned for that product, but not in any other hair care product! And that the beauty industry first develops the marketing, then the product.I see from other reviews that the recipes have been enjoyed. I have to try again and start from that chapter.