Supernatural efforts to get (truly) natural products

So there's buzz about this-paraben and benzo-that being scary bad for you. The parabens, for one, are bad. Whether or not they are carcinogenic isn't yet scientifically proven, but one thing's for sure... LOTS of people are allergic to parabens. That lotion that gives you a rash or that deodorant or face cream that makes you break out? Might be the parabens. I, for one, am allergic to something in lotions. I'm not sure it's parabens, but almost everything makes me itch, burn, turn red, or all of the above. (If your skin is flaky and irritated... but you don't have horribly dry skin, it might be contact dermatitis - and parabens are definitely proven to cause this reaction).

So, I decided that I'm going to go all-natural by 2009! Except for relaxer. What can I say? I've been bitten by the all-natural tree-hugger bug. I'm a total sucker for organic products.

To get started, I said adios to many of my favorite products, and had a great excuse to go shopping. Alot. (yay!) One of my favorite stops is Ricky's in Kips Bay or thereabouts where I endlessly torture the manager (who I secretly call my hair guru) with my endless circuitous questions about his stock. I'm a sucker for whatever he recommends, too. But he's been dead-on so far.

Let me tell ya... some of these "natural" and "100% vegan" brands are pretty sneaky. Unless it has this logo on the package


... it's not all organic. It's legal to put "natural ingredients" and still add funky chemicals. They didn't say ALL natural, now did they? I researched on drugstore.com for hours, went to Ricky's to stare at labels, went to Flatbush Food Co-op to stare at more labels.... you can see that this went on for weeks till I was completely out of shampoo, conditioner and facewash. I don't just want organic, I want organic and miracle-producing! Ha! If you find it, let me know.

So I gave up looking for certified organic products and just read the labels to make sure it didn't contain anything I didn't like, then sniffed it to make sure it wasn't too stinky, and looked like it might be miracle-producing. Ha! I gave up. I did, however, get to prove that chemistry class IS useful in everyday life. Necessary, even.

So the first thing I tried was a facewash - Avalon Organics' Lavender Facial Cleansing Gel.

There must be a whole lot of women out there who looooove the scent of lavender, evidenced by the abundance of lavender everything on the shelves, but..

I. Hate. Lavender.

No other scent annoys me more than lavender. I think it stinks. There's nothing soothing about it to me. It's plain annoying.

Anywho, I totally bought the facewash because it was the only one I could find that didn't have parabens and didn't look like it was made in someone's garage.

And I love it!!! Except for the stinky lavender.

I really notice a difference. I can wash my face and NOT have a big red flare-up on my neck. Whoo-hoo! And, it also has ingredients like licorice root (calms irritation, evens tone) and flax oil (Omega-3 fatty acids). I notice my skin looks better. Maybe it's because I'm not torturing it every day.

I'm so not switching - this is going to be a new addiction. But I'm getting the moisturizing formula (the Cleansing Milk) next. Summer's over. Time to load on the moisture.

If only it didn't stink....