Scent of a Catwoman

The cosmetics world needs more heroes. Fortunately, we have Catwoman (well, a woman who has portrayed her on screen).

Michelle Pfeiffer, whose great acting career includes her movie-stealing performance as Catwoman in Batman Returns, grew tired of trying to find fragrances with safe chemicals. Just like Catwoman, she took matters into her own hands, and earlier this month, she launched Henry Rose, a brand of five genderless fragrances with safety certification from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Watch the video below to hear Pfeiffer discuss the brand.



Pfeiffer has worked with the EWG before by helping promote their work to make cosmetics safer, work that includes their product-evaluation site, Skin Deep. Seeing no satisfactory options in the perfume/cologne industry, she decided to make her own, and for guidance, she turned to EWG. The result is an EWG-verified fragrance line that avoids the organization's ingredients of concern, provides full transparency about its ingredients, and adheres to EWG manufacturing standards. For more information on the certification, click here. Henry Rose also receives gold certification from Cradle 2 Cradle for health and sustainability. To learn more about the brand, click here.

With the weak oversight (especially in the United States) of the cosmetics industry and the difficulty in finding safe brands, Pfeiffer's creation of Henry Rose is a welcome development. She saw a way to help people and took action.

It's the kind of thing that heroes do.

That's the Chap

I've used considerably less lip balm this year.

As you might recall, last summer, I posted about buying Badger Balm sunscreen and unscented lip balm. In that post, I reviewed my experience with the sunscreen and promised to talk about the lip balm later.

After almost a year with the lip balm, I am quite happy with my purchase. It has been part of a systematic decrease in lip balm usage. First, I stopped using my other brand and decided to wait a while before applying the Badger Balm (theoretically giving a clean break between products). That was during the summer, so I didn't need it as much anyway. In the meantime, I realized I'd become accustomed to using lip balm at the slightest hint of dryness. I also realized this habit was unnecessary. Sometimes, my lips would feel dry one day but return to better shape on their own the next.

Second, when I finally used the Badger Balm, I only applied a small amount. That was all I needed to give my lips the moisture they required.

Third, even during the winter (and this winter was windy and cold and had long dry spells), I would go weeks without using the lip balm. I had a tube of medicated Blistex on hand just in case things got bad. (I've had to use medicated lip balm during the winter for at least 13 years.) To my surprise, I only had to use the medicated lip balm once this year. I virtually made it through the entire winter with just periodic applications of my organic, non-medicated Badger Balm.

It feels nice to rely less on lip balm, and I know that when I do need it, I've got an organic option with fewer chemicals.

As bonuses, Badger Balm does not test on animals, and the tube is recyclable.

You can buy the lip balm directly from Badger Balm or at Amazon.com.

Badger Me

In the previous post, I talked about Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group's database of information on the safety of cosmetics. If you visited Skin Deep after reading the post, you probably noticed a special area dedicated to sunscreen; and if you explored that section, you may have noticed one of EWG's recommended sunscreens is Badger.

I switched to Badger sunscreen this summer. The physical barrier provided by its zinc oxide has worked well: no burning or tanning. On top of that, it does not seem to take as much of a toll on my skin as other sunscreens I have used: It has not left my skin itchy or dried out.

One possible drawback of Badger applies to those who don't wish to appear too white. The zinc oxide does leave skin looking whiter than usual. However, because of the importance of keeping both UV rays and hazardous chemicals off my skin, I am willing to rock the white look.

Badger also makes lip balms, moisturizers, and a bug repellant. I have not yet tried any of those products, but most of them are very highly rated by Skin Deep with regard to low chemical content. I did purchase some lip balm but have not yet tried it (perhaps that review will become a later post).

You can visit the Badger Web site by clicking here.

Badger products are also available on Amazon.com, and sometimes, you can find better prices for them there.

Skin Deep Thoughts

Lately, the chemicals in cosmetics have received a lot of attention. Because most of these chemicals have highly technical names and the science behind them is even more complex, it is hard to know exactly what is in the stuff we put on and in our bodies.

The Environmental Working Group makes understanding the safety of cosmetics a little easier with its Skin Deep database. After reviewing products' ingredients, the EWG rates their safety and explains its analyses. It's a nice tool to have. You can check out the products you currently use as well as the alternatives.

Visit Skin Deep by clicking here.