Your Lips

Lips are often the first to show damage and chapping, due to the ultrathin layers of skin and their regular exposure to sun, wind, and cold. Food and environmental allergies may also be responsible for dry, chapped lips. If your lips have become sore, here are some smart tips to help get them back to their original soft, smooth state.
Don’t lick ’em. Licking your lips may make them feel better in the short term, but this will actually dry the skin out and make it more susceptible to chapping. Try everything possible to avoid doing it — and that includes skipping flavored lip balms, which may be so delicious, you’ll lick them!
Keep a great balm handy. Look for formulations that include calendula, cocoa butter, beeswax, almond oil, or sunflower oil, which can help protect the skin from the elements and hold moisture in.
Protect your lips when you’re outside. Apply a thick coat of balm to your lips whenever you expose them to the elements, If it’s sunny outside, use one that contains a sunscreen to help protect against further damage.
Avoid potential irritants. Skip spicy or citrusy foods, which can cause your lips to burn, and lipsticks and lip liners, which can dry them out. Some lip balms may even contain ingredients like menthol, which can irritate the skin.
Stay hydrated. Chapped lips generally occur in cold weather, when the air both inside and out is dry. Be sure you’re getting at least the recommended eight glasses of water, and consider running humidifiers in your home to help moisturize your lips from the outside.
Use a toothbrush or washcloth. Chapped lips usually peel and flake, making them look unsightly. Scrub the dry, flaky skin off gently with a soft toothbrush or damp washcloth, then apply a thick layer of balm or other lip treatment.
Try a natural treatment. Make your own moisturizer with a teaspoon each of glycerine, lemon juice, and castor oil. Apply the mixture to your lips and leave it on overnight. Aloe vera gel is also a great natural healer, and even simple cucumber slices can soothe and moisturize chapped lips.

http://rainontheland.com/Rain_Kiss___Natural_and_Organic_Lip_balm.html

Detoxifying Gel

Detoxifying Gel: This gel contains 8 Essential oils to stimulate the lymphatic system and effectively help treat stubborn cellulite. http://rainontheland.com/Cellulite_Massage_Oil.html

Cellulite can be caused by many factors- poor circulation, a congested lymphatic system, improper diet, and even hormonal changes. This detoxifying gel contains juniper and rosemary to stimulate the kidneys for elimination, lemon and cypress, well known for their astringent properties and cypress is excellent for broken capillaries, which are not broken at all, but stretched out. Sage balances excess fluid and is a skin regenerator. Geranium and Grapefruit are lymphatic stimulators and Petitgrain is an antiseptic, deodorant, stimulant and tonic. Be sure to drink plenty of spring water to help flush out the toxins.http://www.rainontheland.com/

Water Kefir

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3CqePDmp7nFYmEyNmYzMzMtN2E1YS00ZTJmLTk2YjYtMDg0NTc5YTE2ZTk3

Kéfir de agua

El Kéfir es una estructura polisacárida donde conviven en simbiosis diversos microorganismos. Aunque se ha comparado con el yogurt, la microflora del Kéfir es mucho más compleja. Las bebidas que se obtienen tienen propiedades curativas. Hay tres tipos de Kéfir, el de leche, el de agua y el de té. Del primero, el Kéfir de leche, se obtiene una especie de yogurt, del segundo, una bebida parecida a una limonada con gas, y del tercero, una bebida de hierbas. La mayoría de gente conoce más el Kéfir de leche. En realidad, los tres tipos son el mismo Kéfir, con la misma microflora, pero adaptados a medios distintos. En estas páginas web, encontrareis toda la información que he podido encontrar sobre el Kéfir de agua, así como las instrucciones de preparación y conservación.
Sigua el link...
http://www.pipirimosca.com/kefir/castellano.html

Happy Birthday, Story of Cosmetics!

When we released The Story of Cosmetics a year ago this week to rally support for the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, we weren’t terribly surprised when the Personal Care Products Council—an industry front group—called the movie “a repugnant and absurd shockumentary.” After all, for years the multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry had been

largely left alone to decide what was safe to put in their products. You know, things like lead in lipstick. Neurotoxins in body spray. Carcinogens in baby wash.
Why ruin a good thing, right?
But we were taken aback by the number of small personal care products manufacturers who raised concerns about the Safe Cosmetics Act, which would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients and that ingredients are fully disclosed.
Tens of thousands of Americans run small personal care product businesses—making everything from soap to hand cream. Many of the owners of these companies have experienced health issues from personal care products they used themselves, experiences that inspired them to make some of the most healthy products on the market. Quite a number of these companies had been supporters of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics—the co-producer of our movie—with many signing the Campaign’s Compact for Safe Cosmetics pledge.
In response, our partners at the Campaign launched a year-long effort to understand the concerns of these small personal care businesses. Campaign staff held in person meetings and organized phone calls. Rather than dismiss the criticism as the work of a small but vocal group or impugn their motives, the Campaign listened and brought their suggestions to the bill authors.
Then this spring, the sponsors of the Safe Cosmetics Act—Representatives Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin—went to work to come up with a version of the bill that addressed small business concerns, which centered around the proposed FDA registration process and fees, which the mom and pop shops felt would overwhelm their businesses. The result is the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, which exempts businesses with under $2 million in sales from registering and exempts businesses with under $10 million in revenue from the fees mandated in the bill but still ensures that cosmetics ingredients are safe for consumers, workers and the environment.
It turns out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ hard work is not only good politics, it’s good news for all of us.
Current law—if you can call a bill last updated in 1938 ‘current’—allows the cosmetics industry to make its own decisions about what’s safe. The FDA can’t require companies to assess cosmetics ingredients for safety and can’t require that all the chemicals in cosmetics are disclosed to consumers. It can’t even require product recalls—as we recently learned when a popular hair straightener, called the Brazilian Blowout, was found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde.
Still, if the small business support for this year’s bill is any indication—not to mention the almost 800,000 views on The Story of Cosmetics over the past year—the public is ready to give the beauty industry a makeover.
This week, shortly after the bill was reintroduced, the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, a 1600 member guild, released a statement supporting the bill, as did a major ingredient supplier, Wholesale Supplies Plus. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, the top-selling natural brand of certified Fair Trade soap, issued a press release calling on Congress to pass the bill, and the WS Badger Company has penned the helpful piece, “Five Reasons Why the Safe Cosmetics Act Makes Sense for Small Businesses”. Look for more business support coming soon.
If you’re ready to help, you can urge your Member of Congress to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 and share The Story of Cosmetics with your friends.
As the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics knows, we’re going to need all the help we can get!

Is there any chemical hair straightener that’s safe to use?

From The FAQs...For more  See the link http://www.ewg.org/hair-straighteners/our-report/faqs-7/

Is there any chemical hair straightener that’s safe to use?
EWG hasn’t found a chemical hair straightener that we can recommend. Some brands claim to use chemicals that are less toxic than formaldehyde and less prone to cause allergic reactions. But these may require you to leave the product on for a day or two before rinsing, so you’re exposed to more of the chemical – you’re breathing more vapors, and more is soaking through your skin over time. Some “formaldehyde-free” products contain “formaldehyde releasers” that expose you to the chemical anyway. Most of the products we’ve reviewed don’t list their active ingredients, but almost all unlabeled products that have been tested have been found to contain substantial amounts of formaldehyde.

What other hair-care products should I avoid?
Perms and straighteners rely on chemicals to break the hair’s bonds, after which it reforms to a desired shape. You should avoid or be a very careful consumer of both perms and straighteners. We assess many of these products for safety and explain our concerns here: [For more information, click here.]. Minimize your use of dark hair dyes; many contain coal tar ingredients that have been linked to cancer in some studies. “Cold” permanent waves based on chemicals, not heated rollers, rely on some of the same chemicals used to straighten hair.

Brazilian-style straightening treatments: Adverse reactions and injuries

Over the past two years, the Food and Drug Administration has received 47 complaints of adverse reactions and injuries from salon workers and clients who used Brazilian-style straightening treatments, according to FDA records obtained by the Environmental Working Group through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Reported injuries:

• “Within five days of the treatment I began losing large amounts of hair… I have experienced about a 40% volume loss in my hair and it continues to fall out at the same alarming pace.”
• “Hair continued to fall off as she continued to rinse. Blisters also discovered on the back of head… Complainant developed severe stability problems (severe dizziness)… Physician examined and noted hair loss, blisters on scalp and ulcer formation in her mouth.”
• “I immediately experienced burning eyes, burning and running nose and a burning throat… I was in agony during and after the appointment.”
• “flu-like symptoms emerged, including headaches, vomiting… Clusters of her hair were also falling off. Complainant contacted salon owners to obtain BB [Brazilian Blowout] ingredients but was denied. Complainant’s condition continued to deteriorate – persistent vomiting, difficulty breathing, chest, eye and nose irritation developed…Complainant was admitted to [redacted facility name] for respiratory distress… severe stability problems, persistent vomiting… Physician called poison control and was told that BB [Brazilian Blowout] did not contain any “harmful” chemicals.”
• “Severe neck rashes, itching, welting, redness, eventually also rash appeared on sides of face… Severe eye burning reaction, also slight bleeding in right nostril two days later.”

Health agencies in six countries — Australia, Ireland, Canada, France, Germany and Cyprus — have announced recalls of formaldehyde-based hair straighteners. Yet FDA has adopted a “wait-and-see” approach. According to its website the agency says it is “working… to determine whether the products or ingredients would be likely to cause health problems under the intended conditions of use… FDA will continue to monitor this problem and will report on any new developments” (FDA 2010A).
FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System is voluntary and likely underplays the actual number of complaints. In 1995, John E. Bailey, Ph.D., director of FDA’s Office of Colors and Cosmetics, estimated that the agency received one of every 50 reports of adverse reactions received by industry (Stehlin 1991). (More recent estimates are not available.) Under a voluntary system companies have no incentive to report their customers’ injuries and every reason to soft-pedal possible dangers. Consumers rarely report injuries to FDA on their own.
FDA injury reports obtained by EWG are excerpted below and available in full. [6 MB PDF file]
http://www.ewg.org/hair-straighteners/our-report/adverse-reactions-and-injuries-hair-straighteners/