this and that

[floatingleaf]

First, an amendment to yesterday's post. Here's where you can check the safety of any cosmetic product you are using: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ (mostly US products; some European brands I'm familiar with were not included). If you haven't paid much attention to the topic so far - like yours truly - the results will likely surprise you. For example, if you assumed that the name Herbal Essences must imply stuff that's at least relatively wholesome... you were mistaken. Most of their products range from moderate to high risk according to the website's guidelines. Same goes for Garnier (l'Oreal), Pond's, Olay and the really cheap brands like Suave (no surprise here, I guess). Aveno seems not THAT bad, but there isn't much info on it, and I don't have any Aveno products at home right now to check the ingredient list. Anyway... there were rather few 'low risk' products among the stuff I checked - and I checked pretty much everything I could think of. And even so, 'low risk' still doesn't mean 'safe'. However, there's a variety of natural, non-toxic alternatives out there if you know what you're looking for; I have bookmarked several links. Some of that stuff is expensive, yes, but not outrageously so; and I have already come to the conclusion that I'd rather pay a few more bucks now for good cosmetics than spend a fortune on medical bills later if I happen to develop some weird skin disease. Besides, the first thing I'm going to do is to reduce the overall number of skin care products I am using, eliminating superfluous stuff like toners or 'cleansing towelettes' - so even if I buy a more expensive basic moisturizer, shampoo etc., the total amount of money I spend on cosmetics should stay roughly the same. And since I was never one for radical solutions, I will still use up everything I have at home right now - gradually replacing whatever I run out of with a healthier option. And before I start ordering the good stuff online and paying for shipping as well, I will take a more careful look at what's available in stores - like Whole Foods, for example, where I haven't shopped since last year, I think. I'm never going to buy food there again - that was moronic, since you CAN get wholesome foods at reasonable prices elsewhere - but I do seem to recall they also had a wide variety of natural cosmetic products, usually not available at other grocery stores. So I'll be sure to check them out. That sounds like a plan I can handle. Actually, I'm pretty excited about it, since now I have a legitimate excuse to acquire some of that pricey organic stuff.:P

Also, I was reading about the supposed 'war on Christmas' - namely, the US religious conservatives claiming that liberals are 'destroying' their holiday by being too inclusive of other (non-Christian) ideological implications of the season. gairid has posted extensively (and very interestingly) on this topic - I just want to add my own few cents, or rather quote a couple of commenters from AlterNet.org. One person said the following:

Christmas was co-opted by capitalists long ago. For example, it was back in 1939 that Montgomery Ward commissioned a copywriter to invent Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. The image of Santa Claus that we all are most familiar with came from Coca Cola.

Face it. It's the end of the year, and corporations are going through the last push to enhance their profits so they can close out their fiscal year. They have the public well-trained. You will put up your Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving (when the Christmas ads have already been running on TV for a week) or face social ostracism, even though Christmas STARTS on the 25th, and ends on January 6th (The Feast of the Epiphany). Often, by that date, the discarded trees will have been waiting for the trash pickup for a few days already.

Which reminds me that back in Poland we used to decorate the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, perhaps a day or two earlier - but certainly never in November. And we usually kept it up until early February. I was extremely puzzled by its November appearance when I first moved to the States.

Anyway... one more quote:

(...) perhaps the true culprit in this "war on Christmas" isn't the easy-to-blame face of the "liberal left", but the corporations, advertisers and media conglomerates that profit immensely from holiday consumer-frenzies. There are certainly just as many Christians who line up at Volde-Mart to get their new big screen plasma TV for the holidays as there are non-Christians, and I know from experience, there are just as many Christians who throw "goodwill toward men" out the window as soon as they are behind the wheel of their SUV at the Costco parking lot.

Yeeeah. That pretty much sums it up. And Volde-Mart... heheh. I like this one. *snicker*

Comments

[stormatdusk.livejournal.com]

a legitimate excuse to acquire some of that pricey organic stuff

well, i'll buy less (not that i buy much now), but i'll appreciate it and enjoy it more! :)

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the plan.:D

*lols at your icon, yet again*