All Entries in the "Teporah's Corner" Category

You have allergies, what brands of mineral makeup and skincare can you use?

Your skin is itchy, or irritated, red and flaky, with blemishes. You are tired of this, as it’s been going on for years, so you’ve begun looking for ways to relieve your symptoms, which may be respiratory, or manifest as skin irritations. As part of your search, you my be invetigating a natural diet, fragrance-free home care products, and less irritating personal care products. You are not alone; allergies are on the rise in the U.S, and theories abound. It’ often attributed to diet and environmental pollutants, which may cause toxins to build up in your system. Theories state that a toxic body leads to multiple allergies.

Here at Monave mineral makeup, we get many calls from women looking for products and food sources that they can trust to either alleviate their allergies, or prevent further acceleration of the symptoms. When it comes to makeup and skin care, we have some suggestions for what to avoid.

It may sound obvious, but for starters, we suggest avoiding long ingredient lists. This includes long lists of natural ingredients, such as extracts, and essential oils. A long (we’re talking in excess of 10-15 ingredients) list of ingredients means more probability of something in the bottle being an allergen. It also increases the possibility that one or more ingredients in the product can react to each other and create toxins or allergens. When it comes to actives, such as extracts, and essential oils, your skin benefits from limiting these to the more soothing ones, such as rose, lavender and chammomile.

In general, women overdo it, and apply much to many products on their skin with multiple possible allergens in each product, fragrances, preservative etc. We suggest shopping at your natural grocer for starters. If you don’t have one in your town, you can browse online. What you want to look for is at the minimum a mission statement from the company whose products you buy, that emphasizes that it is specifically designed for people who are sensitive to possibly allergenic ingredients. It should state on its website, and/or packaging, what is not contained. Look for these key points: free of fragrance, dye, petroleum products, carmine, sodium laureth, and sodium lauryl sulfates. These are the heavy hitters. In addition for mineral makeup brands, beware of bismuth oxychloride and talc, as they are minerals, but can trigger itching, redness, and bumps, especially in hot weather.

Another trick, very inexpensive, is to create a single-note routine. Single-note means picking one whole food item to use to clean and moisturize your skin. This is a great way to start the process of determining what your skin likes. The problem with products in bottles is that you may be allergice to one item on the list. Here’s an example; virgin organic coconut oil. Another one; cold pressed olive oil. These oils are rarely, if never, cited as allergens, and as long as they are cold-pressed, and organic, you’ll be avoiding synthetic chemicals. Simply rub the oil onto your face until all of your makeup is dissolved, and use an organic, chlorine free tissue to wipe it off. Do this until all of your makeup is gone. Follow up with a warm, wet wash-cloth to hydrate your skin, and use some of the oil as a moisturizer. Oil, wax and water are the basic components of a moisturizer. This may seem too simple to be effective, but try it for a few weeks. If you have oily skin, you can apply hazelnut oil on your skin after cleansing with one of the other oils and water.

When you hunt for makeup, moisturizers, cleansers, and toners, look for simple. Look for a company with a commitment to your issues. And finally, avoid soy, corn, and products with gluten (wheat, oats, barley, and rye). Gluten is another common ingredient that many people have a sensitivity to, but are not aware of.

For your makeup, stick to mineral makeup that is loose, not pressed, and that has only iron oxide, zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide, mica, and ultramarine blue. There are many myths on the internet about mica and titanium dioxide being allergens, but this is only in industrial settings. Make sure to use the softest brush to apply your mineral makeup, or mix your loose mineral makeup foundatin into a light moisturizer to avoid brushing dry, or irritated skin, especially if you have rosacea.

Try some of these tips, and you may be able to start determining which ingredients to avoid. It’s a process of educating yourself, and listening to your body.

Popularity: 42% [?]

In celebration of Black History Month

February is Black History Month in the U.S. At Monave we have put many of our most popular shades with our African American sisters on sale. You can browse these sale items here: Monave Sale Items for February.  Some prices are up to 30% off, so it’s a good time to stock up! The sale items will be available until our Spring sale sometime near April.

American born Julian, with a rich red-brown Island complexion

We had a customers recently email us, asking how Monave Mineral Makeup is different than other brands for African American women. The answer stretches back in time to the origins of the line itself. As a multi-ethnic woman, I found it virtually impossible to find a foundation shade to match my light olive skin. I still remember (and always will) braving for the first time, a makeup counter in the mall to try to have a salesperson from Prescriptives custom blend a shade for my skin. Her opening statement was something to the effect that my skintone was ’sallow’, and that she would create a ‘pinker’ shade to ‘fix’ it.  Many years later, I went to another custom-blend business and had the owner tell me exactly the same thing. I insisted the second time that she match my complexion exactly, because I liked my skintone. I can say from this experience, that it hurts when someone in the beauty industry tells you that something intrinsic to your heritage is unattractive, and needs to be ‘fixed’ or ‘covered up’.

This pervades many aspects of beauty and how we see ourselves, including our body shape (naturally curvy?), facial features, and for women from the African diaspora, hair texture. In pop culture, icons such as Cher (Sarkisian), or Michael Jackson do nothing to help with multiple plastic surgeries to create more mainstream facial feaures, or lighter skin. I have cousins in my family who all have exactly the same perky ski-slope nose created by a plastic surgeonto replace the beautiful, signature Armenian shape. It takes someone telling us that we are beautiful growing up to believe it, but oftentimes, it is our mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers telling us to fix what is naturally beautiful. So we grow up never really believing in our own beauty. We may look in the mirror and see something pretty, (or not!) but we have nagging, persistent image problems that pervade our personal relationships, and our core beliefs about our self-worth.

There are many deep-rooted problems within beauty industry when it comes to the African American diaspora. Essentially, the industry doesn’t understand it from the get-go. “African-American”, or “Black” is a label that by definition uses the rascist concept of  ‘one drop’. This concept creates a classification that has nothing in common with color theory. So many makeup lines don’t recognize the huge range from light to dark, the huge variation in tones from pink, yellow, olive, copper, red, chocolate, and blue, and the dual-tone aspect of medium-to dark skin tones. There is a tendency to be heavy on the darker end, and to focus only on red and yellow undertones. In addition to this, traditional makeup from larger brands use dyes and cheaper pigments which  have a matte finish. This does not bring out the natural glow that darker skin tones exhibit.

All of these mistakes in the industry are fueled, in my opinion by poor formularies that are generated without the crucial relatioship of formulator, and client, as well as pervasive rascist classifications of people within the American identity.

Why is Monave different? I’m not a chemist. I’m a makeup artist, and my specialty is color blending, and mineral makeup. So, when I first started creating makeup, I was doing it from a void of formal education. This gave me the fantastic advantage of working without boundaries, and intellectual hindrances. The first Monave foundations (Keaira, Ashlie, Teporah, and Yolanda) were made at the Monave retail store in Baltimore in 2000, which had a clientele that was at least 50% African American . With limited access to pigments, and a simple coffee grinder, I learned from scratch, from mistakes, and from repeated applications on my clients, what worked, and what didn’t. This process led to unique formulations that have been mimicked by many smaller brands who recognize the benefits of pricier pigments. The larger brands can’t really ever compete with what we do, because their top priority is profit. Monave’s top priorities are quality and healthy ingredients.

monave mineral powdered foundations

So, what are the advantages of Monave for darker African American women?

1. Monave offers a huge range of mineral makeup foundation shades, natural lipsticks and glosses, as well as matte, and shimmer shadows for light, medium, medium-dark, and dark skin tones.

2. Monave has a unique formula that complements the dual-tone aspect of darker skin tones. This unique mineral formula uses two types of pigments that co-exist within the product. One mimics the darker chocolate tones around the jawline and forehead, while the other highlights the gold, copper, and red tones along the tops of the cheeks, forehead, and nose. The finished face never looks matte, or mono-chromatic, but looks just like real skin.

3. The finest pearlescent pigments are added at just the right quantity to accentuate the beautiful glow that is natural for medium-dark complexions.

4. Many African American women are health concious, and Monave uses only non-irritating mineral ingredients in the formulas. They are soothing, and skin-loving formulas that cover blemishes while removing irritants found in mainstream, and even mineral makeup brands.

5. Monave mineral make up covers! Some African American women have skin discolorations and variances that they want to even out without chemicals. Monave mineral makeup foundation offers medium coverage with a bare skin look, that never looks pasty. For even heavier coverage for more challenging blemishes, there is a special formula, called the concealer foundation formula.

6. The understanding of the true nature of the mult-ethnic complexion blend labelled ‘Black’ in this country, provides a complete selection of shades from lightest of skin tones to darkest chocolate complexions that represent the variety of undertones and overtones present in this slice of the American population.

7. Monave respects and honors the sisterhood of all American women. We do not conduct market research to determine whose dollars matter, and whose don’t. Our line is inclusive by necessity and nature, not by design, and invites all women to experience the quality of micro-formulated mineral makeup.

So, I hope this answers the question well, as to what makes Monave different for African American women. W strive to offer only the best for all women.

Teporah Bilezikan,
President, Formulator, and Founder

Popularity: 51% [?]

How fragance can contribute to cancer

Hello,

I just had occasion to look at a slide-show of a Breast Cancer Awareness event, and noticed a sponsorship banner for a prominent, national candle company displayed near the stage area. I commented to the coordinator of the event about how ironic it would be for this particular company to show interest in breast cancer awareness, since their products contribute to cancer.

She was totally unaware of the issues surrounding synthetic fragrance and cancer, so I thought I’d take a minute to go over it in this post. Oddly enough, she mentioned that this company sent unscented candles to donate to the event. When I asked why, she said that the scented candles that had been sent the year before gave everyone headaches. That’s no surprise.

Synthetic fragrances are one of the top contributors to the rise of cancer, especially among women. The reason for this is that each note (ex…apple) in a fragrance is created with as many as 300 chemicals. Many, many of these chemicals are carcinogens. This is public information folks. You can read about some of these ingredients in places like Skin Deep. You see, the disturbing thing about this is that when you read a label that says, ‘fragrance’, it will never disclose those three hundred chemicals, because that information is considered proprietary, and therefore sheltered from FDA regulated ingredient disclosure.

So, for example, let’s say you go to purchase a Burt’s Bees lotion, and it has an ingredient list with innocuous ingredients such as aloe, olive oil, almond oil, beeswax, shea butter…etc! It all looks good. Then the last ingredient is simply, ‘fragrance’. There is absolutely no way for you to know what else is in that bottle at that point, so you are being misled by the manufacturing, many times without their knowledge as well.

The funny thing is that proponents of synthetically fragranced products say that the amount needed to fragrance a bottle of lotion or a candle is so low that it doesn’t have an impact. In fact, this is quite untrue. Tests that have been done on women and men in the U.S show much higher levels of hundreds of individual toxins in women’s blood than in men’s, and they are linked to the ingredients in fragrance. Men typically want unfragranced products, women, fragranced.

The other problem as I see with this argument is this: I call it, ‘the poop in the pool’ argument. If you were swimming in a standard pool and a child released well…you know…a little nugget, would you continue swimming, and just say to yourself, ” It’s only a little bit, and the pool is so large “? Hell no! You’d beat it out of that pool as fast as you could.

That’s essentially how I see that one drop of fragrance. It suspends in the lotion or shampoo, and contaminates the whole bottle.

So, how do you know if a product has synthetic fragance in it? If it’s natural, it will say ‘essential oils, resins, or flower extracts’ right on the ingredients label.

For example, ‘lavender fragrance’ : no go. Lavender essential oil: good stuff!

Fragrance doesn’t give you cancer, what it does is enter into your body through your olfactory system (nose), get into your blood stream, and then deposit tiny amounts of these chemicals into your fat. This builds up over time. The cells become damaged. Then cancer starts to occur. The best defense against cancer is to maintain healthy cells!

So, if you have those little plug-ins in your house, take ‘em out! Go to a natural products store, or a metaphysical store, and purchase a diffuser. You can even just drop a few drops of essential oils into a pan of water on the stove and lightly simmer it. The essential oils will come in little bottles, and you can mix and match them.

If you purchase products like Tide, commercial shampoos like Suave, lotions like Lubriderm…check out the labels, then chuck them, and look for unscented or naturally scented alternatives. Try your local grocery store, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, or the internet.

And about that candle company. They bought out Aroma Naturals, a wonderful natural candle manufacturer, then shut them down two years later. Just trying to kill the competition.

Teporah

Popularity: 22% [?]

Do you need to adjust your mineral makeup foundation? Is it that time of year?

As I put on my mineral foundation this morning, I noticed that it looked a little to orangey. I was able to buff it in and create a softer look, but I realized, with chagrin, that summer is now rolling to a close. sniff sniff.

Although I always, always wear my monave mineral makeup foundation, which keeps my skin protected from UVB and UVA rays, I still get a little color, so I ramp up from Caroline to Teporah. Now I’ll have to refresh my supply of Caroline and start blending them together.

The beauty of loose mineral foundation is that you can easily blend two colors together. There are a few different ways to do it. You can apply the lighter shade first, and then top off your look with the darker shade.

Another method is to use a small ceramic dish and tap a few crumbs of the two shades into the dish, and swirl it around with your brush. As you apply it, and begin buffing your mineral makeup foundation in, the two shades will easily blend together and create a natural looking blend.

One more method is to pre – blend your makeup by taking equal parts light and dark and rolling them around in a ziplock bag. Then gently pout it into your cosmetic jar. You may need to adjust it by adding more or less of one of the shades until you find the right match. I personally prefer the second method, because my skin seems to change color often, and I don’t like to mix too much of it ahead of time.

And one final trick is to use Rum Bronzer either on the cheeks over the foundation, or gently mixed in using one of the techniques above.

Also don’t forget, as the season gets drier, you’ll need to up your moisture a bit so as not to become dehydrated!

Teporah

Popularity: 24% [?]

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics? friend or foe?

I’m writing a brief note to try to help mineral makeup users understand the data that they are seeing on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. It is very confusing, even for those of us who have been doing this for years. If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, it was designed to create healthy standards for cosmetics in the U.S., since our industry is underegulated. Unfortunately, the information and studies used to create the hazard ratings are oftentimes wholly unrelated to the usage of the ingredients, thereby making the data completely useless, and actually faulty.

Many of the studies quote animal testing, which I find painful to read at best. The Campaign states that it does not support animal testing, yet it quotes study after study in which very tiny animals (rats, mice, and rabbits) have ingredients injected or fed to them, that then make them sick. I believe that quoting these studies in and of itself, is an implicitly implied support of animal testing, in complete opposition of the Campaigns public statement against such testing.

Here are some specific errors that I find in the tabulation of evidence. I used zinc oxide as my example:

1. Inclusion of other minerals in the list: Several of the quoted studied referred to ‘zinc compounds’, instead of zinc oxide. Zinc compounds are not the same as zinc oxide and should not be included.

2. Tacking manufacturing practices onto the end user (end user being Monave in this case): This is especially evident as it relates to ecological concerns that are raised, ie, that if large quantities of zinc oxide are dumped into waterways, that contamination and degradation of wildlife occurs. This is the case with any ingredient dumped into waterways. For example, in Baltimore, there is runoff from yards, and farms into our Bay, and that runoff includes fertilizers. It doesn’t matter if they’re natual, or synthetic, the concentrations of fertilizers, combines with warm water in the summer, creates an overgrowth of algae, called an algae bloom. Then all of the fish go belly up, because there isn’t enough air for them to breathe. Is the fertilizer at fault? No, it’s a multitude of factors that cause this problem. So people fertilizing their lawn, and the manufacturers are not at fault, it’s lack of public legislation that would prevent and control these factors. So, back to zinc oxide, what would prevent contamination of aquatic life would be legislation prohibiting manufacturers of mineral compounds, and mining companies, from having access to waterways for waste removal.

3. Testing that uses routes of entry unrelated to normal consumption of end product: One of the studies quoted this as a concern

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

It begs these questions:

How was a high dose administered? Was it injected into a rat? Was it fed to a mouse? Do we eat it, or inject it into our veins? It’s placed on our skin, and doesn’t absorb. That’s the beauty of minerals is that they don’t absorb, as do carbon-based ingredints. That’s the main reason why mineral makeup is easy on people with allergies, because it sits on the skin as opposed to entering into it.

So if a poor mouse in a lab who weighs a few ounces developed problems from high doses of zinc oxide injected or fed to it, how high of an amount would you have to consume to have those results, and if you apply a mineral makeup with zinc oxide in it to your face, does that have anything realistically connected to such data?

4. Quoting industrial inhalation risks as a concern for end users: This relates back to point number 2, in that industrial inhalation can cause cancer. As far as I know, any large inhalation of dust particles will cause lung disease. There is a litany of them. Again, this points back specifically to the regulation of the chemicals production industry itself. There are strict regulations concerning allowable levels of  particulates (dust) in a workplace. Proper ventilation is required, as are personal items, such as masks. If a company is not following these procedures, there are consequences that can be enforced by the regulating agencies, whose job it is to check on manfucturers.

So, the documentation in the Skin Deep database implies that if Monave Mineral Makeup contains zinc oxide, then our products are connected to cancer. No so. You cannot get cancer from putting your makeup on each day, and my lab has an industrial ventilator that control our particulate levels to maintain a healthy work environment.

That data needs to be tacked onto the manufacturers of said minerals.

If you’re still reading this, you are a dedicated learner. Please feel free to comment. In summary, while the goal of the Safe Campaign and Skin Deep are laudable, the data base itself is faulty, and many of the small companies that were with the campaign from its inception have signed off, and will no longer support the efforts. I for one, hope that someone knowledgeable in this industry, will begin to sift through the data,  and either explain it to the cusomters browsing the site, or remove erroneous, or unrelated studies.

Deb

Popularity: 23% [?]

Brilliant Women I Admire

Wow

After the number of years I’ve been in this business, I am still amazed by how much I learn from the brilliant women that are featured as speakers at our twice-yearly Mineral Makeup Crafting seminar.  This year, Kimberly Platko was the main speaker, besides myself, and Julie Edwards stepped in for a mini-workshop. In previous years, she’s conducted two-hour workshops that seemed short!

I have very deep respect for the vast knowledge and experience these women have to offer. Kimberly has the most amazing tricks for making hand-made products look professional. During one of her workshops, she showed us how to make a pressed shadow look like a million dollars, the first step being to roll the product into a little ball, using gloves of course, and then using a calibration weight, and tiny piece of cloth, to create a perfectly formed eye shadow. What a creative technique. And how wonderful that she’s willing to share these tricks with ‘newbies’ and the rest of us as well.

If anyone missed this seminar, we are going to stream it again in a few weeks, on West Coast time, so please check back for news on the site.

Deborah

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Ingredients Discussion: Sodium Borate

Sodium Borate is another controversial ingredient on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics/Skin Deep data base. In this post, I’ll be going over some basic information to help consumers understand from a practical perspective, what the hazard ratings, and test studies really mean.

Where does sodium borate come from? This is what Wikipedia says:

Borax occurs naturally in evaporite deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. The most commercially important deposits are found in Turkey, Boron, California, and Searles Lake, California. Also, it has been found at many other locations in the Southwestern United States, the Atacama desert in Chile, and in Tibet and Romania

It’s basiccally a salt that occurs when a lake starts drying up. The material is exposed above water line and is carried away in trucks.

So…if I could present a simple statement: Not all things ‘natural’ are ‘good’ for the human system. On the top end of the scale would be something like mercury, which wreaks havoc on human brain functions if it remains within the blood and fatty deposits.

So, as natural as sodium borate is, I’m not saying that you can eat it for dinner. The important information is what is a safe usage?

Here is a statement from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics about toxicological studies (performed on rats) that were reviewed by the managers of the Skin Deep data base.

” Given the incomplete information made available by companies and the government, EWG provides additional information on personal care product ingredients from the published scientific literature. The chart below indicates that research studies have found that exposure to this ingredient — not the products containing it — caused the indicated health effect(s) in the studies reviewed by Skin Deep researchers. Actual health risks, if any, will vary based on the level of exposure to the ingredient and individual susceptibility — information not available in Skin Deep. “

Essentially, what is in question here, is whether you are spreading some raw sodium borate on your skin, and leaving it there, or whether there is a percentage of sodium borate in your products that is low enough not to cause reactions.

The internet nets this statement about the toxology of Sodium Borate:

Borax, sodium tetraborate decahydrate, is not acutely toxic. ^[9] Its LD₅₀ (median lethal dose) score is tested at 2.66 g/kg in rats. ^[10] This does not mean that it is safe, merely that a significant dose of the chemical is needed to cause severe symptoms or death.

So how do you, as the end consumer, know whether the percentage that Monave uses in its creams is safe? How can you trust a manufacturer with murky, unspecified, evidence out there?

I believe that the truth is in the product. At one time, I had contracted out for a manufacturer to craft Monave’s skincare line, as I was simply too busy with a new baby to do it anymore. ( I won’t mention the company’s name publicly). During the time that I was using the facial creams made by this supposedly pure manufacturer, my face continually broke out. I had dehydrated, and acneic skin. Thank heavens for my mineral foundation at this time which covered and soothed the constant inflammations. Their explanation was that I was sensitive to essential oils (which I’m not). I found out later, after discontinuing our relationship, that this company was buying bases from a vendor that routinely uses allergens, and repackaging it as a handmade product, and that there were many ingredients in it that I was allergic too. ( I have extremely sensitive skin). Once I went back to making my own, my skin healed, and I now have a manufacturer that I can trust.

So truthfully, if you apply our Daily Rose Facial Moisturizer day after day, and your skin improves, I think it would  be safe to say that there wasn’t enough sodium borate in the product to irritate your skin, otherwise it would be irritated. Makes sense? The proof is in the product.

What is borax for anyway? It softens and makes the beeswax in a cream, ’spreadable’. If you put beeswax in a cream, and you don’t use sodium borate, it becomes a bit sticky, and doesn’t move under your finger. The two go hand in hand.

So, that begs the question: Why use beeswax in a cream? It creates a water-in-oil emulsion. That means that droplets of water are surrounded by droplets of oil. This creates a very moisturizing cream, especially helpful for dry skin sufferers.

To bind oil and water together (that’s what a cream is, essentially), without beeswax, the alternatives are mainly synthetic, or plant derived emulsifiers. (one to avoid is emulsifiying wax NF which has polysorbate 60 in it) that create a oil-in-water emulsion. A cream made this way dries faster on the skin, and doensn’t moisturize quite as intensely.

The other advantage to beeswax is that it is a wonderful preservative, very important for a natural product line that is using minimal preservatives. And has many skin-healthy properties associated with ingredients made by bees, such as honey. So in summary:

• Sodium borate is a naturally occuring mineral.
• It’s an essential element in a handmade beeswax cream.
• You shouldn’t eat it or slather it all over your skin
• When used properly, in low concentrations, it is a perfectly safe ingredient to use in skincare
• The capaign for safe cosmetics states that products containing it have not been proven to be unsafe or toxic.
• The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics requires vendors, such as Monave, to report the percentage of sodium borate in products (which we have done), ,to ensure that is being used properly.

Well, I hope that this information is at least somewhat helpful.

Deborah Bilezikian,

President

Monave Mineral Cosmetics

Popularity: 33% [?]

Understanding the Information on Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

I’m writing a brief note to try to help mineral makeup users understand the data that they are seeing on the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. It is very confusing, even for those of us who have been doing this for years. If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, it was designed to create healthy standards for cosmetics in the U.S., since our industry is underegulated. Unfortunately, the information and studies used to create the hazard ratings are oftentimes wholly unrelated to the usage of the ingredients, thereby making the data completely useless, and actually faulty.

Many of the studies quote animal testing, which I find painful to read at best. The Campaign states that it does not support animal testing, yet it quotes study after study in which very tiny animals (rats, mice, and rabbits) have ingredients injected or fed to them, that then make them sick. I believe that quoting these studies in and of itself, is an implicitly implied support of animal testing, in complete opposition of the Campaigns public statement against such testing.

Here are some specific errors that I find in the tabulation of evidence. I used zinc oxide as my example:

1. Inclusion of other minerals in the list: Several of the quoted studied referred to ‘zinc compounds’, instead of zinc oxide. Zinc compounds are not the same as zinc oxide and should not be included.

2. Tacking manufacturing practices onto the end user (end user being Monave in this case): This is especially evident as it relates to ecological concerns that are raised, ie, that if large quantities of zinc oxide are dumped into waterways, that contamination and degradation of wildlife occurs. This is the case with any ingredient dumped into waterways. For example, in Baltimore, there is runoff from yards, and farms into our Bay, and that runoff includes fertilizers. It doesn’t matter if they’re natual, or synthetic, the concentrations of fertilizers, combines with warm water in the summer, creates an overgrowth of algae, called an algae bloom. Then all of the fish go belly up, because there isn’t enough air for them to breathe. Is the fertilizer at fault? No, it’s a multitude of factors that cause this problem. So people fertilizing their lawn, and the manufacturers are not at fault, it’s lack of public legislation that would prevent and control these factors. So, back to zinc oxide, what would prevent contamination of aquatic life would be legislation prohibiting manufacturers of mineral compounds, and mining companies, from having access to waterways for waste removal.

3. Testing that uses routes of entry unrelated to normal consumption of end product: One of the studies quoted this as a concern

Developmental/reproductive toxicity
type of concern product conditions reference
One or more animal studies show developmental effects at high doses

It begs these questions:

How was a high dose administered? Was it injected into a rat? Was it fed to a mouse? Do we eat it, or inject it into our veins? It’s placed on our skin, and doesn’t absorb. That’s the beauty of minerals is that they don’t absorb, as do carbon-based ingredints. That’s the main reason why mineral makeup is easy on people with allergies, because it sits on the skin as opposed to entering into it.

So if a poor mouse in a lab who weighs a few ounces developed problems from high doses of zinc oxide injected or fed to it, how high of an amount would you have to consume to have those results, and if you apply a mineral makeup with zinc oxide in it to your face, does that have anything realistically connected to such data?

4. Quoting industrial inhalation risks as a concern for end users: This relates back to point number 2, in that industrial inhalation can cause cancer. As far as I know, any large inhalation of dust particles will cause lung disease. There is a litany of them. Again, this points back specifically to the regulation of the chemicals production industry itself. There are strict regulations concerning allowable levels of particulates (dust) in a workplace. Proper ventilation is required, as are personal items, such as masks. If a company is not following these procedures, there are consequences that can be enforced by the regulating agencies, whose job it is to check on manfucturers.

So, the documentation in the Skin Deep database implies that if Monave Mineral Makeup contains zinc oxide, then our products are connected to cancer. No so. You cannot get cancer from putting your makeup on each day, and my lab has an industrial ventilator that control our particulate levels to maintain a healthy work environment.

That data needs to be tacked onto the manufacturers of said minerals.

If you’re still reading this, you are a dedicated learner. Please feel free to comment. In summary, while the goal of the Safe Campaign and Skin Deep are laudable, the data base itself is faulty, and many of the small companies that were with the campaign from its inception have signed off, and will no longer support the efforts. I for one, hope that someone knowledgeable in this industry, will begin to sift through the data, and either explain it to the cusomters browsing the site, or remove erroneous, or unrelated studies.

Deb

Popularity: 35% [?]

Why Monave Mineral Makeup is made without Bismuth Oxychloride

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the ingredient, ” bismuth oxychloride “. It’s in many brands of mineral makeup, including Bare Escentuals, Youngblood, and Jane Iredale.  At Monave, we have opted not to use it in our formulas, the primary reason being that it is commonly known to be an irritant, especially for women with sensitive skin.

I am not going to engage in a scientific conversation here, but rather, base my information on the unending reports from women using mineral makeup containing bismuth oxychloride, of itching, redness, bumps, and irritation. They state that the condition is more pronounced when the weather becomes hot. For anyone wanting to delve into the scientific arguments surrounding bismuth oxychloride, simple google a question,  such as, ‘is bismuth oxychloride irritating to the skin?”. I guarantee that any line that uses bismuth oxychloride, and any supplier that sells it, will defend its use, stating that it’s approved by the FDA, and not a known irritant.

I read one blog that had a comment written by a supplier stating that it is indeed, cheap animal hair brushes that cause the irritation, not bismuth oxychloride. That would imply that all mineral makeup users use cheap animal hair brushes, which clearly is not the case, especially with high quality synthetic brushes now available.  From the Green Beauty Guide comes this statement as to the allergenic nature of bismuth oxychloride:

 ” While bismuth oxychloride has proven antibacterial properties, it can irritate sensitive skin like mad.  “Bismuth oxychloride can aggravate acne, resulting in flare-ups upon use, and even cause the appearance of acne cysts,” says Manhattan-based dermatologist Judith Hellman, MD. “In addition, it may be the source of rashes in patients sensitive to it, especially those with delicate and easily irritated skin, such as rosacea and eczema patients.” No wonder many mineral makeup manufacturers are now eliminating bismuth oxychloride from their formulations “.

So, to put it simply, our customer base at Monave tends to be women with sensitive and problem skin. I’m one of them. We, as a consumer group, like to see simple ingredient list. For myself, I wash my face with warm water, and use moisturizing creams with as little as 5-6 ingredients. It’s the same approach that I have with my food. I look for birthday cake that has flour, sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder and natural flavor. I remember going to Safeway once to get a birthday cake for my son’s party. I asked them for the ingredient list, since it wasn’t on the box, and what they brought to me had about forty ingredients on it. I went back to Whole Foods, and spent more per inch on the cake, and felt totally comfortable with my choice.

So, I naturally extend this philosophy to my makeup and skincare, as do many Monave customers. There are a few other ingredients that we could include in our mineral makeup, but choose not to, not because they’re going to kill us slowly, or because they are horrible ingredients, simply because they cause irritation, and are unnecessary!

mineral foundation without bixmuth oxychloride

The other really obvious issue that is brought up by many customers who have worn mineral foundation with bismuth oxychloride in it, is that it’s shiny! Now, in my estimation, after having applied mineral make up on thousands of women over the years, there are very few who want ” shine ” on their face! A little dewy glow maybe, but the phrases that I’ve seen used by women who use foundation with bismuth oxychloride in it run along the lines of, ” It makes my face glow like a light bulb “.  So,  in terms of foundation alone, bismuth oxychloride does not appear to be a good choice for inclusion in a formula, with or without  the other concerns mentioned above.

So, why is it used then? Bismuth oxychloride has a smooth, silky, creamy texture. Using raw minerals, such as iron oxides and titanium dioxide to create skin tone colors for mineral foundation is a challenge when it comes to providing a good texture. They are very thick and not at all easy to spread. (Think cold butter on soft white bread). So to temper this unweildy texture, a formulator looks for a silky mineral that will add silkiness. Bismuth oxychloride provides silkiness and also adds creaminess, so the powder doesn’t feel as dry to the touch. It also breaks up clumpy pigments so that the finished mineral powders will have an even consistency.  There are other silky, soft minerals that can achieve the same effects as bismuth oxychloride without the irritation. It just comes down to the formulator’s choice in terms of what their customers needs are.

In conclusion, if someone doesn’t find bismuth oxychloride irritating, then she has many options to choose from in mineral makeup brands. But for women who want the simplest ingredient list possible, and who are faced with sensitive, blemish-prone skin, mineral makeup brands without bismuth oxychloride are a better choice. That’s who we cater to. That’s who we are at Monave!

Popularity: 98% [?]

Is my gluten-free diet making me gain weight?

I’m a celiac. It runs in my familiy. My mom was diagnosed very late after a difficult several years with severe weight loss, rashes, and ultimateldy, some neurological disorders. I was one of the lucky ones. It was first loosely diagnosed as a wheat allergy, so many of my symptoms were resolved before they could have worsened. I went from being extremely ill to being vibrantly healthy in a matter of weeks.

So now, I stick to  a gluten-free diet. I’ve noticed lately though, that I’m experiencing some weight gain, and I’m wondering if my convenience food from Whole Foods is the culprit. They now have a wonderful selection of gluten-free box food, but since I started buying them to eat for lunch, I’ve gained almost five pounds. It’s been about two months. I was already tending toward high-fat, fast burning foods such as Mexican (I’m vegetarian, but not vegan, so the cheese may be part of the problem), and Asian (white rice!).

Being vegetarian, AND gluten-free can be  a real challenge when it comes to just getting enough food in my body to keep me going throughout the day. I may have to stop eating the delicious gluten-free frozen meals for a while (Gluten-free, vegetarian lasagna is such a treat!!!!), and focus on getting some whole grains and more veggies back into my diet.

It’s almost beach season, so I don’t have too much time…I think I’ll walk to work today!

Peace,

Deb

Popularity: 25% [?]