Related topics: •  Skin & Hair Care

Drop-Dead Gorgeous: Protecting Yourself from The Hidden Dangers of Cosmetics
By Kim Erickson
McGraw Hill
320 pp $16.95

Sometimes it seems as though you can't read a newspaper without learning that a substance previously considered harmless is actually a carcinogen. So it's not too surprising to find out that products most of us use every day -- shampoo, deodorant, and makeup -- are made from potentially harmful synthetic ingredients. And precisely because these items are so commonly used, a book like Kim Erickson's Drop Dead Gorgeous: Protecting Yourself from the Hidden Dangers of Cosmetics seems especially necessary.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't deliver on its title's promise. Finding out the purpose of indecipherable shampoo and toothpaste ingredients like "sodium lauryl sulfate" and "propylene glycol" is oddly empowering, and one waits expectantly for scientific data on their alleged dangers. But this information is simply not there.

As her sources, Erickson cites mostly books, which are rarely fact-checked or based on reviews of current medical literature. Many notes -- including most of her information on the Food and Drug Administration -- cite a single book by Ruth Winters, whose credentials are never given. In one instance, Erickson even refers to one of her own previous articles as the source! Also, the potential negative reactions she mentions in many cases include irritation and allergic reaction, which technically could result from anything, natural or synthetic.

Still, the idea of all-natural cosmetics was appealing, so I kept reading. By the third chapter, the book had eased into a predictable rhythm -- anecdotes about cosmetics, notes on their historical use, and lists of nasty chemical ingredients, followed by recipes for making natural versions of most products. One of Erickson's most interesting insights is that buying a product at a health food store doesn't necessarily guarantee it's free of the dubious chemicals found in most commercial brands, so making products from scratch seemed worthy of further investigation.

Because not many people I know have the time to whip up their own toiletries, for test purposes I looked for recipes that weren't too complicated or inconvenient. Also, some called for ingredients that might be expensive or hard to get, so I chose a few based on what I already had in my kitchen. This was to be fair to people (including me) who don't want to spend money on hard-to-find items like fresh nasturtium blossoms and certain essential oils until they know what they're getting into.

I started with the simplest cleanser I could find, which was aptly called Easy Oatmeal Cleanser. Basically, you blend a cup of rolled oats until fine, then gently massage a small handful onto your wet skin, and rinse.

This actually worked pretty well. I used plain old Quaker Oats, and blending them took all of 30 seconds. Trying to get the powdered oatmeal onto my wet face was a little messy, but that might get easier with practice. The oatmeal worked into a nice scrubby paste that left my skin feeling clean, but not dry or tight. My only complaint is that it is a little difficult to wash around the hairline, because pieces of oatmeal tend to stick there.

Next was homemade shampoo. Going by the same criteria of convenience and simple ingredients, I chose "Old-Fashioned Egg Shampoo." An additional advantage to this choice was the fact that the other recipes called for castile soap and various oils, both of which required a special rinse to wash away the residue. The number of ingredients and steps violated the convenience rule right away, and because my hair is fine I didn't want to weigh it down with heavy soap and oil.

The list of ingredients for this shampoo was short -- two large eggs and three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. You mix the two together and beat until frothy. Then you're supposed to massage it through your hair and leave it on for a few minutes to "restore softness and manageability." At this point I realized that one of the pleasant things about using shampoo is that it smells nice. Raw eggs and vinegar smell curiously like wet dog. This is not a good scent. (It doesn't fade fast, either.)

Also, you're going to want to keep your mouth shut very tightly. Which is hard if you're trying to breathe through your mouth so as not to smell the raw eggs and vinegar that you have just applied to your scalp. But it's very important because you definitely don't want to accidentally rinse any into your mouth. I didn't last the entire few minutes because I started to get queasy, so I don't know if a couple of raw eggs and some vinegar really do restore softness and manageability. And for future reference, if a recipe for something you're supposed to put on your head ever contains the phrase "to cut the film left by the eggs," it's going to be gross. No two ways about it.

After the egg film, I didn't have the stomach to follow up with the "Mayonnaise Magic" conditioner, but the next day I did try the "Instant Suds Softener" that called for one cup of warm beer. That seemed reasonable enough, and the recipe claimed it would add "manageability and shine to dull, lifeless hair." I simply had to dump a beer over my own head, massage it into my hair for a minute or two, then rinse well with warm water.

I ran into trouble when trying to determine whether different types of beer would yield different results: Would the extra hops in an IPA add even more shine? Or a thick stout more body? I decided on a middle-of-the-road amber, just to be safe. The results weren't noticeably different from my normal shampooing routine, but I did smell like a drunk for the rest of the day, and I couldn't help feeling I had wasted a perfectly good beer.

For those who are squeamish or less enterprising, Erickson thoughtfully includes resources for purchasing commercial products made from natural ingredients. Buying these instead not only saves you time, but also makes more sense economically. Assuming you wash your hair every day, that's five dozen eggs a month for your hair alone, at a cost of approximately $20 (more if you use pesticide-free organic eggs). A 15-ounce bottle of shampoo -- which will probably last much longer than one month -- costs between $3 and $8. Maybe $10 if you get the fancy stuff. Same goes for the beer. For one cup of beer every day for a month, you would need 20 12-ounce bottles, costing somewhere around $20 to $30 (unless you're using the very cheapest beer you can find). That's some expensive hair conditioner, even if you used half as much. And that's also only if you don't see a problem with dumping nearly a case of beer down the drain.

For obvious reasons, Erickson doesn't include recipes for making your own eye shadow, blush, foundation, mascara, nail polish, or other cosmetics, and she never questions their usefulness. By the section on loofahs versus sisal cloths, the book has hopelessly deteriorated into a makeup how-to full of prissy sentiments like "Healthy, meticulously groomed nails tell the world that you care about yourself down to the last detail," and "Nothing strikes terror in the hearts of women quite like the words 'swimsuit season,' " and "Shaving has become so much a part of our beauty routine that we wouldn't dream of letting our leg and underarm hair grow au naturel."

I admit that I don't wear a lot of make up regularly and I don't plan to start. Nevertheless, I tried to be receptive to the possibility of finding a new low-maintenance beauty tip I could add to my routine, which basically consists of washing my face and wearing sunscreen.

I perked up when I got to the section on eyebrow maintenance, because I'm pretty sure I'd be considered one of those women who "must contend with too much eyebrow hair." To her credit, Erickson doesn't suggest plucking them. Her advice? "Simply coat an eyebrow brush with [aloe vera] gel and lightly brush the hairs into place. As the gel dries, it keeps the hairs from straying, leaving you with neat, natural-looking eyebrows." Although I'm sure it does look pretty natural to be walking around with already thick eyebrows shellacked and slicked down with aloe vera gel, it sounds about as comfortable as wearing support hose on a summer day. I decided to pass on that technique.

Sure enough, the book ends with a few perfunctory pages about cultivating true beauty by getting enough sleep, staying fit, keeping stress to a minimum, and being a generally nice person. But these truly simple and natural recommendations seem a little hollow after reading an entire book with the overwhelming message that women need to be scrubbed, buffed, exfoliated, shaved, manicured, moisturized, and perfumed as a matter of course. And it's downright bizarre to read a recommendation for de-stressing your hectic life on one page and a ten-part outline for applying makeup on another page.

I wanted to like this book; I really did. I consider myself a conscientious consumer who's willing to spend a little more time or money to save an animal from unnecessary testing and maybe avoid contracting some lethal disease in the future. And for others like me, parts of this book can be a fun and helpful resource for pampering ourselves with simpler and more wholesome ingredients. But I was ultimately looking for more concrete evidence and practical solutions. And disappointingly, this book turned out to be mostly rehashed generalizations and questionable science with a lot of bath and beauty tips thrown in. Erickson's contradictory messages and largely unfounded claims simply aren't persuasive or compelling enough to motivate anyone to start making lifestyle changes.

Sure, it can be fun to wear makeup. Women have been decorating their bodies for ages, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's also true that women who do choose to enhance their beauty with cosmetics shouldn't have to be exposed to harmful chemicals. But I can't help thinking that by far the simplest, healthiest, and cheapest way to protect yourself from the hidden dangers of cosmetics is to use as few of them as possible.

-- Jennifer Robb is a senior editor at Consumer Health Interactive.

Last updated July 24, 2009
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