The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances (46 page)

Some so-called herbal hair dyes, such as Herbatint, are not much different from conventional coloring kits sold in groceries and drugstores. The last time I checked, some of the most popular “herbal” dyes contained p-phenylenediamine, p-aminophenol, resorcinol, ethanolamine, and tetrasodium EDTA, to name just a few offenders. The only thing green about these hair dyes is the color of the boxes. Don’t be fooled by natural-sounding names. Always check what goes in the product, and don’t be seduced by “green” claims until you verify yourself that they have any substance.

There are several plants that can be used as natural coloring agents. Henna is the oldest and most popular one. It was used in ancient Egypt, most notably by Queen Cleopatra, and today henna remains an important beauty tool in the Middle East and India. There are three types of henna: red henna (
Lawsonia inermis, Lawsonia alba,
and
Lawsonia spinosa
), neutral henna (
Lyzifus spina christi
), and black henna (
Indigofera tinctora
). To achieve color variations, all three types of henna can be blended together, with the addition of indigo and iron oxides. The active ingredient in henna, lawsone, has the chemical name 2-dihydroxy-1,4-naphtaqiunone (not directly related to hydroquinone or 1-naphthalene), which makes henna a stable, yet semipermanent hair dye. It will nourish your hair and bring out beautiful golden highlights in dark hair.

Henna is the only colorant to have been safety-approved by the FDA. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always produce the expected hair shade. If your hair has been previously dyed with conventional hair dyes, henna is not recommended. Wait for a few months to let the chemical color wash out, and then perform a strand test with henna, similar to a patch test. Blend a small amount of henna according to package instructions and apply it on one lock of hair, preferably behind the ear.

Many women use henna not for color but for other benefits, such as increased volume, scalp irritation relief, and improved manageability of hair. To reap the benefits of henna without dyeing your hair, you can use shampoos and conditioners with neutral henna. This plant extract will not change your hair color.

Among the better hair dyes with henna, I would choose Light Mountain Natural (nonbrassy shades that flatter all skin tones, including Chestnut,Medium Brown, and Dark Brown) and Aubrey Organics Color Me Natural, which is both perfectly permanent and natural.

Green Color Maintenance

A switch to green, all-natural hair color requires courage, especially if you are used to changing your hair shade at a single whim of fashion. There are plenty of color-boosting shampoos, conditioners, gels, and sprays that help protect your natural new hair color. They contain plant extracts that play up color tones and prevent color from fading. For lighter hair colors, choose treatment shampoos and masks with lemon, chamomile, sunflower, and calendula. Redheads must include products with henna (neutral or golden) in their hair care regimen. Dark hair colors benefit from black walnut, black tea, coffee, and licorice root in their conditioners.

Sadly, most “natural” hair color preserving lines—including ShiKai Color Enhancing line, Nature’s Gate Organics In Living Color, and Aveda Color Conserve and Color Enhancing shampoos and conditioners—are formulated with paraben preservatives, polyquaterniums, disodium EDTA, and urea. Some of the safe green products for colored hair include Kiss My Face Miss Treated Organic Hair Care Shampoo, Aubrey Organics White Camellia Ultra-Smoothing Shampoo, and amazing Colorcare Henna Hair Shampoo for dark hair by Logona. Colored hair conditioners are more scarce. From all that I tried (and I tried a lot), Real Purity Native Earth Moisturizing Hair Rinse and Dr. Hauschka Jojoba and Marshmallow Conditioner are the best. For deep treatment, a dry mask Zen Hair and Scalp Detox Spa Therapy by Morocco Method is simply unrivalled.

For added hair health, use the following all-natural home treatments weekly to maintain the shade of your hair.

Chamomile
Rinse for
Blond Hair

6 tea bags chamomile tea

1/2 cup plain yogurt

5 drops lemon essential oil

Yield:
4 ounces

This rinse will bring beautiful highlights to naturally fair hair
or revive your existing highlights for a sunny, summery look.

1. Boil 1 cup of water and steep the tea bags for fifteen minutes.

2. Add yogurt and lemon oil to the chamomile tea and mix thoroughly.

3. Apply the mixture to dry hair, working through to the ends. Cover with a non-PVC plastic shower cap and relax for twenty minutes. Shampoo your hair as usual.

Alternatively, you can add 1 cup of dry chamomile flowers to 3 cups of boiling water and simmer on low heat for fifteen minutes to prepare a concentrated chamomile infusion. You can add a pinch of vitamin C to act as a mild preservative and store it in a spray bottle in the refrigerator for up to one month. You can use this infusion as a leave-on conditioner: simply spray evenly on freshly washed hair and air dry or blow dry as usual.

Chocolate
Brunette Hair
Rinse

2 cups purified water (do not use mineral water)

5 tablespoons dark roast ground coffee

1 ounce black chocolate

Yield:
4 ounces

This rinse will not ruin your highlights but instead will make
your brown color deeper and more vibrant. Do not use a coffeemaker
to prepare the rinse, as the concentration of coffee
won’t be strong enough.

1. Boil the ground coffee in two cups of water in a shallow pan for 10 minutes.

2. Add the chocolate while the coffee is hot. Let the mixture cool and carefully soak your hair with the flavorful blend. Beware of the spills!

3. Cover with a non-PVC plastic shower cap, wait for 10 minutes, rinse off, and shampoo as usual.

Red Hair
Shine Enhancer

1/2 cup beet juice

1/2 cup carrot juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

Yield:
4 ounces

Word of caution: Do not use this blend if you have highlights.
Use only if your hair is relatively uniform in color.

1. Mix all ingredients together and pour over clean, slightly damp hair. Cover with a non-PVC plastic shower cap.

2. Slowly heat the cap with a hot towel, a hair dryer on medium heat, or just by sitting in the sun for one hour. If using a hair dryer, aim for ten minutes of gentle heating—no need to burn the cap with the blast of hot air! Once you are done heating, rinse and shampoo as usual.

chapter
13

green
baby
care

h
ow many times have you walked through the baby section of a drugstore cooing over all those cute, adorable, teddy-bear adorned bottles and tubes? There’s everything your baby (or any baby in your life) will possibly need: moisturizers, bath gels, body washes, powders, diaper creams, and even sunscreens. They smell like little pink roses and feel much softer and gentler than adult versions. We automatically assume that the creators of these cute-as-pie concoctions have gone to great lengths to formulate completely safe, gentle, and soothing products for all those little behinds and toes. Well, don’t assume anything.

We all know that a baby’s skin is much thinner and more delicate than an adult’s. As a result, it can absorb anything applied to it at a much faster rate. Babies scratch themselves more easily, they are more prone to irritations and rashes, and even a loose cloth tag left inside a onesie can leave scary red wounds that look worse than they are and heal by the next morning. Babies are soft, helpless, vulnerable human beings, and their skin cannot yet protect them from the dangers of the outside world.

Despite this obvious, commonsense information, virtually all conventional baby products you find on grocery and drugstore shelves are filled to the brim with ingredients that are anything but safe for a baby’s health. Fragrances, penetration enhancers, sulfate detergents, preservatives, and synthetic dyes are not safe for babies. Neither are they for any adult. Yet these ingredients are contained in baby products at high concentrations. I know this may sound harsh, but the truth about baby products is that they are often worse for human health than adult ones. Ninety-nine percent of products marketed for delicate, fragile skin are nothing but bottled irritations, chapping, diaper rash, and watery eyes. Here is a quick checklist of things you should by all means avoid in your baby products:

I know this may sound harsh, but the truth about baby products is that they are often worse for human health than adult products.

Propylene glycol.
This penetration enhancer and emulsifier can cause intense burning in the vaginal and perianal area. In 1998, a premature infant went into a coma after absorbing too much propylene glycol from topical applications when this chemical was used as a solvent in antiseptic dressings (Peleg et al. 1998). I certainly hope that your average drugstore baby wipe doesn’t contain enough propylene glycol to send your baby into a coma, but the irritating, allergenic qualities of propylene glycol are well-known and well-documented.

Mineral oil.
Also known as liquid petrolatum, mineral oil is praised for its lubricating action and low price. Mineral oil is a by-product of petroleum distillation, and its production is quite toxic, involving sulfuric acid, absorbents, solvents, and alkalis. It only takes a drop of synthetic fragrance to transform mineral oil into baby oil. In baby products, mineral oil is also used in lotions, diaper rash creams, and baby wipes. While it’s considered to be nongenotoxic and generally nonirritating, mineral oil forms an airtight film on the skin’s surface, preventing it from normal functioning. And there’s another bothering fact about mineral oil. Researchers from the Innsbruck Medical University say that mineral paraffins appear to be the largest contaminant of our bodies, “widely amounting to 1g per person and reaching 10 g in extreme cases” (Concin et al. 2008). They found mineral oil in breast milk and fat tissue in new moms, and since mineral oil is frequently used to protect nipples between breast feedings, babies ingest this petrochemical from the very first days of their lives.

Triethanolamine (TEA)
is a popular emollient and acidity adjuster. We have already learned that this irritating chemical may be contaminated with the potent carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane. Why take chances? There are lots of green baby lotions and creams that do not contain triethanolamine or any member of the TEA/DEA/MEA family.

Paraben and other preservatives.
A baby’s hormonal system is not yet mature, and hormone disruptors can cause irreparable damage to the developing endocrine system. There have been no studies confirming the safety of paraben preservatives for babies. Why should your little bundle of joy participate in this gigantic experiment with an unknown outcome?

Fragrance.
Conventional baby products are usually highly fragranced. These powdery scents are more appealing to moms than to babies, and manufacturers are in no hurry to remove the scents, simply because fragranced products usually sell better than unscented ones. Any synthetic fragrance, as we already know, is nothing but an irritation.

Synthetic color.
Most baby products have a cute pink or yellow tint in them. Babies do not care about the color of their diaper cream or baby wash! All they want is zero irritation. More often than not, the color in baby baths, washes, and lotions is achieved by adding synthetic colorants, such as D&C Yellow 10 (Quinoline Yellow) or D&C Orange 4 (Acid Orange 7), considered to be potentially genotoxic substances.

Want to add more color to your baby’s bath? Steep some herbal tea with berries, such as strawberries or raspberries for at least 10 minutes and pour it into the bath—believe me, everyone will be happier.

Other toxic synthetic junk.
Other chemicals to avoid include fabric softeners such as cetrimonium chloride in baby hair detanglers, formaldehyde-releasing preservatives disodium EDTA and DMDM hydantoin in baby wipes and creams, and petroleum-derived silicones in diaper creams.

Irritating plant extracts and essential oils.
These include peppermint, eucalyptus, ylang-ylang, sage, bergamot, and citrus oils. You may use eucalyptus in a vaporizer during colds, though.

It’s vitally important to avoid all baby products that contain any of the above ingredients. Just a quick glance at the ingredients list will provide you with more information than any cute packaging or adorable scent. Which is more important to you—the cute little baby on the label or your own little pink darling who depends on your ability to discern between safe and unsafe products?

Green Bath for Your Baby

Babies love to be bathed. Bathing relaxes them and may soothe any minor skin irritation, especially if you keep bath time less than ten minutes. And the smell of a baby right out of the bath . . .mmm, it’s so yummy!