Phthalates – it may look funny but that’s all that’s funny about it. Pthalates (pronounced THAYlates) are found in many products and have been found to be highly toxic. According to “Not too Pretty” – the CDC found 7 different types of phthalates in 289 people tested. Every single person had dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in his or her body. DBP is the most toxic – and all phthalates are linked to birth defects in the male reproductive systems.

Women aged 20-40 were found to have the highest levels of DBP in their bodies. Yep – that’s right. Highest levels of this toxic chemical that can cause birth defects in males and impact their reproductive system. And this is found in women in peak childbearing years.

So where are these coming from? Well – they did a lot of research on why women would have the highest levels. DBP and other phthalates are found in things like vinyl shower curtains and are responsible for the “new car smell”. But that wouldn’t explain why women have the highest levels. Of course, it turns out that the reason is that they are found in cosmetics. Nail polish was the biggest culprit, but it is also found in other products ranging from shampoos to deodorants.

In “Not Just a Pretty Face”, it states: “In 2005 there were more than 57,000 nail salonsin the US, employing more than 380,000 licensed nail technicians – 95% of these workers are women, and 59% are women of color. The average age of the workers is 38.”

EWG reported in their 2002 Not Too Pretty report that they found phthalates in “72% of personal care products, including fragrance containing shampoos, deodorants and hair gels. None of the products listed phthalates on the label.” Seems a little scary to me…

Another interesting and highly disturbing bit from Not Just a Pretty Face. The average woman uses a dozen personal care products containing 168 chemical ingredients every day. Men use about six products a day with around 85 chemicals.

We carry man-made pollutants in our bodies. We get them from the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the products we use to “clean” our homes and make them “smell nice” and the products we put on our bodies each day.

I have been paying a lot of attention to TV and magazine ads these days. The first thing I have noticed is there is a steady stream of ads touting skin creams and lotions from companies that top Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ list for worst offenders of chemicals in personal care products.

But I have also noticed a huge increase in the number of products that are out there to make our homes smell good. It is astounding. Just from Glade alone there are spray cans of air fresheners, “plug-ins” so we get chemicals in our air 24/7, candles, waxless candles, and oils. Do our homes smell THAT bad?

WebMD did an article recently about the dangers of burning candles in the home. Some wicks have lead in them and can cause lead poisoning. Additionally, the soot in the air can cause air quality issues.

From the article: “Candles are fast becoming one of the most common unrecognized causes of poor indoor air quality,” says Diane Walsh Astry, Executive Director of the Health House Project, an American Lung Association education project in St. Paul, Minnesota.

We really just need to stop wasting our money on these products that not only unnecessary, but they are potentially harmful. Want your house to smell nice? Buy some flowers. Open the windows. Bake something.

Weeeee. Since last week’s offer was a success, I am going to continue with my “one day sale” thing. This week’s offer is a FREE travel sized You’re Fresh face was AND Even Ste(pH)en toner. Each is a 1 oz. bottle perfect for traveling.

To get your very own set – just put the words “DEC 17″ in the comments section when you order (you don’t need to use a coupon code since these are freebies).

To get to the website, just click here: www.gardengirlskincare.com

Have fun and may your face be happy and fresh

I have read a pretty incredible book and decided I would start sharing snippets from the book. The book is called Not Just a Pretty FaceThe Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry by Stacy Malkan. Stacy is the Communications Director of Health Care Without Harm and a media strategist and cofounder of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

The book is an eye-opening look at the cosmetics industry and the lobbying efforts that have allowed big name companies to continue to use chemicals that are known to be harmful in humans.

The book starts by writing about a study that was done in 2004 by the American Red Cross and the Environmental Working Group, and Commonweal, a California health and environmental group. In the study, they measured chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of newborns born at randomly selected hospitals across the country. These babies had not yet been in direct contact with industrialized society. “The researchers detected a total of 287 chemicals in the babies’ cord blood, including 180 chemicals that can cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 that are toxic to the brain and nervous system and 208 that cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal studies.” OK – that was on page 2 of this book. Needless to say I was more than curious to read on.

I will continue to post learnings that I found very interesting.

OK – I’m going to try something new. I am going to offer a weekly, one-day only discount for Garden Girl. It might be a % off or $ off, or it could be a deal on a specific product or two, or even a free product with purchase. For the first few weeks, I’ll send an email. After that, you’ll just have to remember to come find it. I will post it on Sunday night, and it will be valid for Monday only.

We’ll see how this goes!

So, (drumroll…..) the first discount is valid on Monday, December 10th only, and it is for

10% off your purchases.

No minimum, no strings attached – except it is for online purchases only.

Go to http://www.gardengirlskincare.com/, place your order, and then at checkout,

use coupon code: DEC10

Have fun!!

A couple of months ago my husband and I decided to bite the bullet and “invest” in an organic latex mattess. With all of the news about the chemicals in mattresses, it wasn’t a difficult decision. I mean – we SLEEP for HOURS on our mattress – and I just could not imagine doing that on something laden with toxic chemicals.

So, me being me, I wanted to try to shop local which meant I did lots of research and found what seemed to be a great New England company, based in Maine. I contacted a few other companies but decided to go with the Maine company, SimplyOrganicSleep.com. Well, were we in for a treat.

First they told us the mattresses were made in New York, but it turns out only the mattress cover is made there. The latex is actually poured in Sri Lanka. Hmmm.

Second, the mattress was on backorder. So a VERY long story (involving 2 days off from work, shipping NIGHTMARES with DHL where the packages went from NY to PA to OH to PA to RI back to OH back to RI) short, we finally got the mattress parts about a month late.

Then – we got to put it together. Yes – it came in 3 pieces. Each one is a dead weight – a huge floppy 70lb piece of latex. The great thing is that you can customize how you want it – soft, medium, firm layers – any combination. But it was a bear to put together the first time. Plus we found lots of rips, tears etc crom the shipping experience. What a nightmare. We asked to have new latex shipped. It arrived a week later – but it was terrible. It was all really soft – totally different from the first set.

Well – I’ll spare you the rest of the details and frustrations but the end result is that we kept the original set to avoid putting the mattress together for the 3rd time.

And you know what? We actually LOVE the mattress. (Thank goodness). I have to say it is incredibly comfortable. We sleep very well and have far fewer aches and pains in the morning. But would I recommend the company we used? Probably not. There are plenty of others out there – so definitely check them out.