Oatmeal Cleanser

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfast foods, and now it's also one of my favorite beauty products because it makes a simple, safe, frugal, and effective cleanser for sensitive dry skin.  I used to wash my face with Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, which seemed reasonably priced and worked well.  But when I checked it out on SkinDeep, I found that it contains parabens, which have been linked to endocrine disruption.  No thanks.

Oatmeal contains avenanthramides, phenols possessing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as avenacins, saponins that give the plant cleansing properties similar to soap.  In addition, oatmeal contains starches and beta-glucans that help to protect the skin and hold water, so it also has moisturizing functions (Pazyar 2012).  These properties, combined with a long history of safe use, make oatmeal the perfect cleanser, especially for someone like me, with sensitive dry skin and mild rosacea.

Oatmeal Cleanser

Ingredients:

Approx. 1/2 cup Rolled Oats

You will also need a coffee grinder and a clean, dry, airtight container.

Method:

1.  Put the rolled oats into the coffee grinder and grind into a fine powder.

2.  Keep the powder in a clean, dry airtight container.

3.  When you are ready to wash your face, take a generous pinch of the powder and place it in the palm of your hand.  

4.  Mix in enough tepid water to form a paste.

5.  Splash some tepid water on your face and neck.

6.  Gently massage the oatmeal paste onto your face and neck.

7.  Rinse off by splashing with several handfuls of tepid water.

8.  Gently pat dry.

9.  Follow up with moisturizer.

I love my oatmeal cleanser.  It leaves my skin feeling fresh and clean, without any of the tightness or dryness that comes after using regular soap.  It keeps redness at bay.  Also, an entire canister of oatmeal costs just a little over a dollar and will last for several months, so it's very frugal.

Image Source:  http://pixabay.com/en/oats-oat-field-arable-cereals-8946/

References:

Environmental Working Group (EWG) SkinDeep Database:  http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Pazyar N, YaghoobiR, Kazerouni A, Feily A. Oatmeal in dermatology: A brief review. Indian JDermatol      Venereol Leprol 2012;78:142-5.  doi: 10.4103/0378-6323.93629.

Splitting Hairs, Part Two - Beat the Heat with Hot Hair

The Problem

Frizzy Days are Here Again

Well, here in south Texas, the polar vortex is over.  About 15 seconds after the vortex ended, the heat and humidity set in.  (That 15 second interval in between is what we refer to as Spring).  So, while the calendar may say that it's only April... yeah, its actually already summer.  Which in south Texas means heat, humidity, and the potential for plenty of bad hair days.

Well, everybody's different, so your problems might be different from my problems, and what works for me may not work for you.  Personally, I have a head full of fine, thick, wavy hair.  (By fine, I mean each hair is very fine.  By thick, I mean I have a whole lot of those fine little hairs growing on my head). So when the heat and humidity set in, my hair becomes a hot frizzy mess.

Image Source:  Microsoft

Honestly, the only way to get my hair to look decent is to use some form of heat styling device - be it a blow dryer with a diffuser, hot rollers or a flat iron. The problem is that heat is very damaging to hair.  For years, my go-to solution was TRESemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray.  At about $3.98 for an 8 oz. bottle, it's affordable. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen it recommended in beauty magazines, and in my personal experience, it seems to work well.

Another product that I cared for very deeply was John Frieda Frizz-Ease Dream Curls Curl Perfecting Spray.  This stuff provided just the right amount of hold to provide perfect definition for my loose waves, without leaving them too stiff and crunchy.  I would often spray it in and just let my hair air dry, but on days I was feeling frisky I would use a little Dream Curls, add a little Heat Tamer, then blow dry with a diffuser attachment for extra bouncy waves.

So you can imagine the wave of desolation and loss that flooded over my soul when I discovered that John Frieda Dream Curls earned a score of 6 (Moderate Hazard) on SkinDeep, and even worse, TRESemme Heat Tamer received a score of 8 (High Hazard).  I won't torture you with the details of all the sordid ingredients, but fragrance, formaldehyde releasers and parabens top the list.  I swear, it felt like I had gotten dumped by an old boyfriend!  So I did the only thing I could - picked myself up, dusted myself off, and found my own way.

The Solution

Beat the Heat Sweet Wheat Hair System

Image:  E. Kertesz

Trehalose

As I began to research heat-styling solutions, I came across a study abstract published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science which reported that human hair treated with trehalose solution prior to being straightened with a hot iron maintained the hairstyle even when subjected to high humidity (Pye 2012).  I noticed that the abstract didn't say anything about trehalose acting as a heat protectant, but still, a substance that can hold a style even in high humidity is definitely something that intrigues me.  But what on earth is trehalose?

It turns out that trehalose is a naturally occuring sugar molecule which is synthesized by many different non-mammal life forms. Scientists have found that this molecule functions as a bio-protectant on the cellular level against environmental stressors such as heat, cold, dehydration, etc., and as a result, it has many potential applications for use in food, cosmetics, health products, and even in cryogenics.  (Jain 2009).  As an ingredient, SkinDeep gave trehalose a score of 0 (Low Hazard), which is great.  

Trehalose can be used as a sugar substitute, and is available for online purchase from natural health retailers such as Swanson Vitamins.  Not that I'm advertising for Swanson, or that I expect them to give me a cut, but I thought you might want to know where I found this stuff, so here is the link.  

When my trehalose shipment arrived, I was very excited, but I still had a big problem to solve.  The study abstract said that trehalose provided good hold in the face of humidity, but it did not say that it actually protected the hair from heat styling. 

Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein

After much searching, I finally came across a study performed by scientists with International Specialty Products which tested thermal degradation of hair treated with a few selected substances: PVP/DMAPA acrylates copolymer, hydrolyzed wheat protein, and quaternium 70.  All three products were found to reduce the rate of Tryptophan (amino acid) degradation in the hair by 10-20%.  (McMullen 1998).  This post on The Beauty Brains Blog provides a nice, easy to understand discussion about the findings of the study and is helpful if you are interested in how heat protectants work.

I checked SkinDeep, of course, and as stand alone ingredients, PVP/DMAPA acrylates copolymer, hydrolyzed wheat protein, and quaternium 70 all received Low Hazard scores.  The problem is, once these ingredients are combined in a commercially prepared formulation, they usually have been preserved, stabilized, emulsified, etc. with other ingredients that are hazardous.

There are a few commercially prepared products which received good scores on SkinDeep, but found that they were way out of my budget.  So then I looked online to see if I could just buy straight hydrolyzed wheat protein (the most natural-ish sounding of the three tested ingredients) and make my own heat spray.  And it turns out I can.

If you decide to try this on your own - be careful.  First of all, if you are allergic to, or think you might be allergic to wheat - DON"T try it!  Second, there are a few different retailers that sell hydrolyzed wheat protein, but be sure to check the ingredients to make sure you know what you are getting.  Sometimes they add preservatives such as DMDM Hydantoin (which is a formaldehyde releaser).  

I ended up purchasing mine from a retailer called Green Beauty Products (here is the link).  It does not contain any preservatives, so it has to be refrigerated.  I should also point out that the hydrolyzed wheat protein is not meant to be used alone at full concentration - it must be diluted.

The Recipes

Originally, I tried combining both the trehalose and the hydrolyzed wheat protein together with water in a hair spray.  However, I discovered that the hydrolyzed wheat protein does not keep long at all once mixed with water, so I've found that it's actually better to use the products as a two-part system.

Trehalose Spray

The inspiration for this recipe came from Whole New Mom's recipe for Homemade Alcohol-Free Hairspray.  I simply substituted trehalose for the sugar.  Whole New Mom uses 4 teaspoons of sugar in her recipe, but I've found that 2 teaspoons of trehalose works better if you are planning to straighten your hair, because it is a bit easier to comb through.

Ingredients

1 cup filtered water

2 teaspoons trehalose

You will also need a clean spray bottle.

Directions:

1.  Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan or tea kettle.

2.  Dissolve the trehalose in the water.  (I brought the water to a boil in a teakettle and mixed the trehalose and boiling water in a heat proof measuring cup).

3.  Allow the mixture to cool.  (At this point, you can also add a few drops of essential oil if you want.  I left mine unscented).

4.  Carefully pour into a spray bottle.  The trehalose spray will last longer than the hydrolyzed wheat spray, but you may want to store in the refrigerator so it will last longer.

Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Spray

This is very easy to whip up, because you can just stir the hydrolyzed wheat protein into cold filtered water (no boiling needed).  Since the wheat protein goes bad very fast once mixed with water, I like to make this in very small batches that I can store in the refrigerator and use up within the week.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon hydrolyzed wheat protein

1/4 cup filtered water

1.  Mix ingredients together.

2.  Carefully pour into a spray bottle.

3.  Store in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to heat style your hair, simply spray in both products and style as usual.

At some point, I would like to try using sugar instead of trehalose to see if there is really a big difference, since plain table sugar is much less expensive and easier to find than trehalose.  And, to get a better handle on frizzies and flyaways, I'm working on a recipe for homemade agar/aloe hair gel (inspired by this post from Bonzai Aphrodite) that I hope to share with you soon.

I am absolutely thrilled with my Beat the Heat Sweet Wheat Hair Spray.  I figured out that once I combined all the ingredients in both recipes, it came out to less than $0.30 per ounce, compared to almost $0.50 per ounce for the Tresemme Heat Tamer and more than $0.80 per ounce for the John Frieda Dream Curls.  So it's less expensive, it has replaced both of those products in my bathroom cabinet, and best of all, it's pretty harmless.

References

McMullen, R. and J. Jachowicz.  Thermal degradation of hair.  II.  Effect of selected polymers and surfactants.  
     J Cosmet Sci.  1998.  Jul-Aug; 49:  245-56.  

Pye S, Paul PK.  Trehalose in hair care:  heat styling benefits at high humidity.  J Cosmet Sci.  2012.  Jul-Aug; 63(4):      233-41.  PMID 23193887.  

Splitting Hairs, Part One - Keeping it Clean

Image source:  Bing Public Domain Images

Shampoo

The Problem

Before I began my adventure in cleaning up the beauty routine, I was using Suave Professionals Moisturizing Shampoo with Almond and Shea Butter.  The main reason I chose this shampoo was because of the low cost.  A 28 ounce bottle costs about $2.88, so it comes out to a little over 10 cents per ounce.  It's hard to beat Suave when it comes to low-cost hair care products.  

Aside from the price, I was also drawn to the lovely sage green color and natural imagery displayed on the packaging.  The ingredients list even included a few natural ingredients (in addition to all the others that I couldn't pronounce).  I knew deep down that this appeal to my nature-loving soul was all part of a marketing ploy and had very little to do with reality, but I wanted to believe it, so I caved.

I'm not here to throw anybody under the bus, but I will be honest.  I have a couple of problems with this product.  First of all, it doesn't work well for me.  After using it for a while, I began to notice that my roots were developing an oily build up that could only be washed away with clarifying shampoo.  At first I thought it could have been another styling product causing it, but even after going without other styling products for a while, the build up was still there.

The other problem with the Suave Professionals Natural Moisturizing Shampoo with Almond and Shea Butter is that it contains a number of potentially harmful ingredients. The overall product received a rating of 5 (Moderate Hazard) on the EWG's Skindeep Database. I'm really aiming for something with a Low Hazard rating of 0, 1, or 2, at the most. Here is a table summarizing the ingredients in the product that were rated most hazardous by Skin Deep:

Ingredient	Concerns
Fragrance	Mixture of undisclosed chemicals, often including phthalates (which have been linked to hormone disruption), as well as allergens
DMDM Hydantoin	Formaldehyde releaser, skin irritant, allergen, cancer
Methylchloroisothiazolinone	Allergen
Methylisothiazolinone	Irritant, allergen, potential nuerotoxicant
Cocamidopropyl Betaine	Suspected environmental toxin, allergen
PEG-45M	Toxic to organ systems, potentially contaminated with ethylene oxide (known carcinogen) and 1.4-Dioxane (possible carcinogen),
Sodium Laureth Sulfate	Irritant, possibly contaminated with ethylene oxide (known carcinogen) and 1.4-Dioxane (possible carcinogen)

References

The above table is a summary of the information on moderate hazard and high hazard ingredients in this product provided by the EWG SkinDeep Database (www.ewg.org/skindeep).


Not so natural after all.  Yes, the product also does contain some almond oil and shea butter, but that's not the whole picture.  What's a girl to do?

The Solution (for now)

At first I set out to find a recipe for low-cost homemade shampoo.  In my research I came across a lot of interesting recipes which may work very well, but I shied away from many of them because they involved ingredients I was unwilling to try in my hair, like honey, raw eggs and mayonnaise.  I needed something more practical.  I did find one recipe that seemed very promising, involving liquid castile soap diluted with water and mixed with a small amount of olive oil, but unfortunately, when I tried it, it left my hair oily at the roots and dry at the ends.  All was not lost, as I found that it did work well as a body wash.

However, I still needed a good daily use shampoo that was effective, affordable and safe.  Using the SkinDeep database, I searched for shampoos with a low hazard score, and decided to try California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo and Body Wash.  Although it is price competitive with most of the other shampoos that achieved low hazard ratings on SkinDeep, it's not cheap. An 8.5 oz. bottle cost me $11.99 at Babies R Us, so that came out to $1.41 per ounce.  I was able to find a better deal later by purchasing the "Calming" version in bulk from Diapers.com, which brought the price per ounce down to $0.95, but still, that's a lot more expensive than the Suave product.  

It works, though.  I've been using it for more than a month now on my toddler and myself, and it leaves both of us with clean and shiny hair.  SkinDeep gave it a score of 1 (Low Hazard), which is pretty good (the best score is 0). All of the ingredients in the shampoo are rated 0-2 (Low Hazard), with the exception of one.

Sodium Benzoate.  Sometimes you just can't win for losing.  

Sodium Benzoate is a preservative that is commonly used in food, and apparently in cosmetics as well.  I checked my fridge and within less than a minute found four products containing sodium benzoate (apricot fruit spread, Tapatio hot sauce, pickle relish and maraschino cherries).  So, it might be more worthwhile to focus on eliminating it from my diet and worry less about using it in a shampoo that goes on my hair for a minute and then gets rinsed away.  

That is also the position taken by California Baby.  On the company's Ingredient FAQ page, in the response to the question, "Why does California Baby use preservatives?", they state that their motto is "skin care should be preserved, but not food."

I'm still not completely satisfied though. During my research, I came across a report abstract (Nair 2001) which summarized study results showing Sodium Benzoate in cosmetics can produce urticaria and nonimmunologic contact reactions. The abstract stated: "manufacturers should consider the nonimmunologic phenomena when using these ingredients in cosmetic formulations designed for infants and children".


I emailed California Baby about the issue to see if they would provide more information on their decision to use sodium benzoate in their products, but I have not received a response. For now, I am happy with the product, and as I mentioned, I have been using it on my son for more than a month now, and I have not noticed any skin reactions. So I'm not too worried.  It's better than the product I was using previously for his bath.  I'm focusing on the fact that I've eliminated 7 other hazardous chemicals from my shampoo routine, and I feel good about that.

One last thing to note. The woman washing her hair in the photograph above looks absolutely adorable, but she's doing it wrong. For one thing, it's not a good idea to pile your hair on top of your head like that when you shampoo, because it roughs up the cuticle and causes breakage.

Also, without the harsh surfactants that are usually present in conventional shampoos, you will never achieve such a foamy lather as shown in the photo. Since California Baby lacks harsh surfactants, it is hardly foamy at all. Personally, I am fine with that. I do understand that for other people, it may be a total deal breaker. If you have to get your foam on, I recommend that you do a little research on the SkinDeep database and find something that works for you.

Another idea that I got from my husband: reuse a "foaming" cleanser bottle. Apparently, the foam is generated from the pump mechanism included in the bottle, not just from the product itself, and we have found that pretty much any type of liquid soap or cleanser will foam up when you put it inside one of those "foaming" cleanser type bottles.

References

Nair, B.  (2001).  Final report on the safety assessment of Benzyl Alcohol, Benzoic Acid, and Sodium Benzoate.  Int.   J. Toxicol., 20 Suppl 3:23-50.

Conditioner

The Problem

I didn't have too many concerns with the effectiveness of the product I was conditioner I was previously using (Suave Professionals Moisturizing Conditioner with Almond and Shea Butter), but it does contain many of the same questionable ingredients that are in the shampoo, and then some:

Ingredient	Concerns
Fragrance	Mixture of undisclosed chemicals, often including phthalates (which have been linked to hormone disruption), as well as allergens
DMDM Hydantoin	Formaldehyde releaser, skin irritant, allergen, cancer
Methylisothiazolinone	Irritant, allergen, potential nuerotoxicant
Methylchloroisothiazolinone	Allergen
Lactic Acid	May be derived from animals, can cause irritation
PEG-150 Distearate	Contamination concerns
Dimethicone	SkinDeep states that there are Environmental Toxicity concerns with dimethicone, but this report abstract (Stevens 1998) makes the case that it is environmentally acceptable
Behentrimonium Chloride	Allergen, suspected environmental toxin
Cetrimonium Chloride	Allergen, suspected environmental toxin

References:

The above table is a summary of the information on moderate hazard and high hazard ingredients in this product provided by the EWG SkinDeep Database (www.ewg.org/skindeep), with the exception of the following abstract about the environmental effects of dimethicone.

Stevens, C. (1998).  Environmental fate and effects of dimethicone and cyclotetrasiloxane from personal care        applications.  Int. J. Cosmetic Sci., 20(5), 296-304.  doi: 10.1046/j.1467-2494.1998.181595.x.

The Solution

I also tried to find a good recipe for homemade conditioner, but again, most of them contained funky ingredients that I didn't want to mess with on a daily basis.  I did try using coconut oil, but it did not wash out of my hair until the next day when I took a shower again.  So it didn't really work on a daily basis, but as a deep leave in conditioner, it worked great.

So, I decided to go with the California Baby Calming Hair Conditioner.  It costs way more than I would like to pay, about $1.18 an ounce.  But overall, I'm happy with it so far.  It smells great, and works pretty well.  In addition to using it as a daily conditioner, I also use it to shave, and sometimes I use it as a leave in conditioner, too.  Overall, it achieved a score of 1 from SkinDeep, and all of the ingredients are rated 0-1 by SkinDeep, so it's much safer than the product I was using before.  

I'm still on the lookout for a lower cost product that is just as safe and effective, and will be sure to let you know if I find one.  In the meantime, I'm skipping days between shampoos to save money on shampoo and conditioner.  :)

For more information, check out these resources:

• The Environmental Working Group's Skindeep Database.  I have been using this fantastic resource as a starting point for all my research, and I can't even begin to tell you how incredible it is.  You can look up more than 73,000 products that have been rated by the EWG on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being the least hazardous and 10 being the most hazardous.  There is even a free app that you can download onto your smart phone that allows you to scan any product barcode (say, while you are in the beauty aisle at the drugstore), and it will pull up the report for you, if they have that product in the database.  If they don't have your product logged in the database, you can also enter information about the product into a form and generate your own report.  They also have ratings for individual ingredients, with links to search results in the PubMed database of abstracts for scientific studies and reports.  
• Cosing.  This is the European Commission cosmetics database.  You can perform a simple search or advanced search to learn more about ingredients that are restricted or banned for use in the EU. I've used this a couple of times when I wanted more information on why EWG rated ingredients the way they did.
• PubMed is a database of citations and abstracts for a vast amount of health-related scientific studies and reports.  In some cases, links to full-text articles are provided as well.  PubMed is managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).