Caring for My Home: Mrs. Meyers

I will admit, I LOVE the smell of clorox when I walk into a home. Usually when I walk into patients homes or SRO rooms it is a sign that the place has been cleaned and therefore not as likely to be hosting bedbugs. Often times I question my patient's safety when I sit with them in a counseling session surrounded by the items they found on the street or are holding for friends (because they were the lucky ones to get a permanent room). Either way, the discussion of making sure that their place stays "clean" always comes up. Studies have shown that unkept rooms are associated with poor health, and while that could mean something to a lazy teenager at home with their parents; it means an entirely different thing to someone who used to be homeless, has a compromised immune system, and may or may not have a hoarding problem: "if your environment is disorganized, chaotic and out of control, then your mindset, decision making, goal setting and motivation are likely also disorganized, chaotic and out of control."(Dr. Malone, 2013)

In my own home I have personally become a fan of Mrs. Meyers (I also may or may not have gone overboard one day while cleaning the bathroom with a bottle of Clorox which may or may not have caused me to faint). 

Mrs. Meyers prides itself as being the aromatherapeutic cleaning solution; which is really nice when you think about it while washing a pile of dirty dishes, or three weeks worth of laundry- I'm feeling calm just thinking about it right now! The company's goal is to create clean and happy homes, and that while it may be tough on grime, it will be gentle on the house. 

An item that I use quite a bite...if you can consider a bit everyday/all day is their hand soap (in particular the rhubarb scent). The ingredients, which are posted on the back do a wonderful job at informing what you can find in the bottle and what you won't find included. Active ingredients include: plant derived ingredients, natural essential oils, aloe vera extract, glycerin, and olive oil. What is missing from the hand soap you may be wondering? Items like artificial colors, formaldehyde, and triclosan are all not invited to this cleaning party, and why? Because not including those products is not only gentle on the house-but in this particular case it is incredibly gentle on the skin. BUT there is an issue here....so do not get too excited. 


Mrs. Meyer's does one thing badly...they lie about the ingredients in their product. A spin of the bottle shows you very difficult to pronounce words in a very small font. Here ingredients read like a recipe for Cheetos, and upon further investigation through a fellow bloggers like "I Read Labels for You," I came to find that Mrs. Meyer's is not so gentle- in fact, she is down-right harsh. 

The soap contains ingredients like Cocamidopropyl Betaine (a foam booster) and Sodium Benzoate (a preservative). It also contains PEGs which the soap has two of and while some “natural product” resources have determined that this is oay, the EWG has voted otherwise stating that the PEGs in the Mrs. Meyers products are not ideal for continued use. PEGs (Polyethylene Glycols) have been known to get contaminated as a result of the ethoxylation process used during production. Trace levels of 1,4-dioxane, which if you remember from the previous post is associated with cancer. Another item to look at on the soap is fragrance. While the company makes a note to state that rhubarb is one of the “first signs of spring,” the use of fragrance in the soap leads to search for signs elsewhere. Fragrance is an undisclosed mixture of chemicals, meaning that the company can pretty much just make a mixture and call it fragrance without having to report what it is they’re actually using. The EWG gave the Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap a rating of 8 because fragrance mixes have been associated with allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress, and potential effects on the reproductive system. 

Overall I think I am going to pass on Mrs. Meyer's from here on out. While I have come to find myself growing as a conscious product consumer I still find myself looking back on the days of Clorox smelling bathrooms, but I have to keep moving towards the "Conscious Right" as I like to call it. Further investigation has lead to use Dr. Bronner's, they're ingredients not only being great for the skin, but also on the water going down the drain. When I help patients shop for cleaning products I won't advise them to buy the items that are going to get the job done (those 99.9% killing cleaning products), but instead I will work with them on being conscious consumers in regards to their cleaning products and that while it may not feel like it is getting the job done the way Clorox would, it is and it's actually a lot better for them and their new environment. 

Personal Care: Clarification on Purification

I will admit that I'm one of "those." "Those people" that consider themselves to be socially aware, and environmentally conscious-especially when it directly affects me. It would be nice to think that I'm conscious about the greater good, and while I try (my oh my does 'she upstairs' know how I try) to work for the greater good, it's hard. I remember when I started making attempts, or my first baby steps as I like to consider that time to becoming more environmentally conscious. I couldn't get the Prius- for one, I don't drive; and I just couldn't jive with low pressured water (I need it to be skin breaking strong). I started with my personal products, small yes, but after all If I can't make the change for that which I directly absorb, how could I start to think about ways of greater environmental impact? Yes, I changed my face wash in order to think about ways of changing systems of operation for the environment. I was on a mission!

I don't use a lot. Some face wash, shampoo, and some eye cream that has now come in handy as a grad school self-care attempt. While I have come to consider the products I use to be "safe" and "environmentally friendly" since I buy them at environmentally conscious places like Whole Foods and Rainbow Grocery -I'd be surprised to see how they fare, especially since their whole goal is to "clarify" and "purify" my life. Let's take a look:

Neutrogena Naturals; Purifying Pore Scrub

While the product works to "gently [scrub] away impurities that can build up in pores to improve complexion for fresh clear skin," I wonder what else besides the promoted willowbark, bio-nutrients, and jojoba bead scrub, is in this wash...not to mention, what in the world is "bio-nutrients?!"The Brand does a good job at labeling its ingredients, even providing its alleged source for the material. With ingredients like: glycerin, hydrogenated castor oil, cocamidopropyl betaine, xanthin gum, guar hydroxpropyltrimonium, sodium benzoate, and fragrance. After doing some research on some of four of the ingredients that are giving me some concern here is what I found:
Guar Hydroxpropyltrimonium: Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride is a water-soluble, organic compound that is a "quaternary ammonium derivative of guar (cluster beans), what this means to my face is that it is a substance whose chemical structure has four "carbon groups attached to a positively charged nitrogen atom." While plant derived, there is a synthetic portion to it. In terms of its safety on skin and hair (for which it is a very good softening agent). With an EWG (Environmental Working Group) score of 1 and a rating of "good" from Paula’s Choice, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride is deemed to be very safe, a non-irritant, and is biodegradable. Score!
Cocamidopropyl Betaine: While the package says "coconut derived" which sounds great because I love coconut ANYTHING, but of course  some Googling led me to find that CB is a synthetic surfactant, where surfactant is more so a wetting agent than anything else, sad. CB as used in products has been associated with irritation and allergic contact dermatitis, reactions that could be due to the ingredient itself or to impurities present in its compound, such as 3-dimethylaminopropylamine, which apparently is nothing but a colorless binding agent with a fishy oder- not good. EWG gave it a score of 4, which allows it to fall in the "good" category, but the fact that the chemical itself causes irritation leads me to think that this could maybe be one of the reasons why my face is a little red after using.
Xanthan Gum: XG is a polysaccharide, a sugar-based polymer produced by bacteria (great); it is used as a viscosity agent for personal care products. Some research into its EWG scoring shows that the agent itself has a low rating in regards to its hazardousness on the body-giving it a rating of "fair," as an ingredient in products. I beginning to have second thoughts about this product.Fragrance: While my research on what the actual "fragrance" of this product was (and yes, I smelled and tried to guess) what I found through EWG (an incredible source!) was that fragrance in the product is cause for some concern because of connections to allergies/immunotoxicity, irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), and organ system toxicity (non-reproductive).While I have come to love this product because of how smooth my skin feels afterwards, and how clean it looks post use, I have to admit that even though EWG gives it a score of 3, putting it into a "low" category in regards to potential harm, the limited available data on the ingredients and its overall effects on the body is leaving feeling a little insecure as to whether I want to continue with this or not. While Neutrogena may be "dermatologist recommended" I might have to take a pass and move on from this one.

Source for Information: LINK

Juice Beauty; Smoothing Eye Concentrate

This has by far become my new best friend. Long nights studying and reviewing best practices for health services has left a mark on my face, in fact two dark circles that make me look like a very tired and knowledgable raccoon. While I am proud in my accomplishment of acquiring new information on care services and best practice models I don't this new feature (the circles) to become permanent. While a good nights rest is ideal, right now, in this moment its more of a dream than a reality (there is just so much to knowledge to gain and so little time). I did a search my new friend, almost like the way you stalk a guy that you're going to go on a date with. Here is what I uncovered:

It is hard to believe that so much comes in just .5fl oz, but apparently the old saying "big things come in small packages" holds true. The concentrate contains the following ingredients: organic white grape juice, organic aloe, vegetable glycerin, vegetable oil, cetearyl alcohol & glucoside, organic jojoba seed oil, organic sunflower seed oil, organic avocado oil, cetearyl olivate, sorbitan olivate, gluconolactone, sodium benzoate, behenyl alcohol, organic evening primrose oil, organic linseed oil, organic borage seed oil, meadowfoam seed oil, tocopherol, hesperidin methyl chalcone, dipeptide-2, palmitoyl tetra peptide-3, xanthan gum, steareth-20, carrot seed oil, extracts of cucumber, green tea leaf, algae, honeysuckle flower, and Japanese honeysuckle, vitamin K1, panthenol, vitamin C, hesperidin, ethylhexylglycerin, tetrasodium glutamate diacetate, sodium hydroxide, and sweet orange essential oil.According to The Beauty Proof, an incredible site that provides information and access to natural beauty products, the ingredients for the eye concentrate range on their Scale of Safety in the "extremely safe" to "reasonably safe." Considering that only three of the ingredients fell into the "reasonably safe" range I decided to take a closer look at the make up of the ingredients to figure out why. 

Sodium Benzoate: SB, a synthetic chemical that is produced when benzoic acid (found naturally in some fruits and spices) is combined with sodium hydroxide. Since SB contains a natural ingredient, it is probably safe, right? While I would like to think this, I have to correct myself. While the FDA, has labeled this chemical as "acceptable" when consumed in low amounts since SB  is already present in low levels in berries, apples, plums, cinnamon, and several other natural foods. There’s nothing scary about the chemical in these items, after all natural is the key word. But lab-synthesized SB (and its cousin benzoic acid) are a different story, especially since apples and cinnamon sticks are not listed ingredients in the eye concentrate. It is noted that manufacturers add SB to health and beauty products such as mouthwash, shampoo, body lotions, and deodorant to prevent bacteria from contaminating these items. (a major thank you to them) Over-the-counter and prescription drugs such as pills, cough syrups, and topical medications also can contain sodium benzoate as a prevention method. While not ideal, considering that the product is going very near my eye (since its organic it is actually safe to use on the upper and lower lids of the eye) it is nice to know that the manufactures of Juice Beauty products are using bacteria fighting agents to keep the concentrate fresh. (Source: LINK)

Steareth-20:Steareth-20 is a synthetic polymer composed of PEG (polyethylene glycol) and stearyl alcohol, which is used reduce the tendency of finished products to generate foam when shaken (as I am recommended to do every time I use the cream). When used in the formulation of skin care products like eye cream, Stearyl Alcohol acts as a lubricant on the skin surface, which gives the skin a soft, smooth appearance. Due to the presence of PEG, this ingredient may contain potentially toxic manufacturing impurities such as 1,4-dioxane. Dioxane, is considered to be many things. While some would consider it less harmful than table salt, the US Department of Health and Human Service reported that dioxane (any number) is classified by the National Toxicology Program as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” What does this means to my eye cream? Further research concluded that in regards to its use in cosmetics and other body products, dioxane is used as a byproduct of the ethoxylation process (a process that is found in many moisturizing products). The ethoxylation process makes the cleansing agents found in the moisturizers less abrasive and offers enhanced foaming characteristics, which is good when taking into account that it is being used on the eye lid where the skin layers are thin. 1,4-Dioxane overall has been found in small amounts in cosmetics and moisturizing products (like the eye cream), while not encouraged in regards to their use, it is not heavily regulated by the government. How do I feel about this? A little scared, but not entirely perturbed when I read other health reviews on the cream and each one labeled the day and night cream as “safe to use.”(Source: LINK)

Sodium Hydroxide:Sodium Hydroxide is an inorganic compound used to control the pH levels (power of hydrogen) or serve as a buffering agent in many cosmetics and body products like lotion, shampoo, conditioner, hair gels, and other moisturizers.  SH has been approved by the FDA, and has received the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) rating as a direct food additive, that is safe to use in products and in fact is also used for washing produce before delivery to the grocery stores. Although SH has been linked to cancer, specifically of the esophagus, it is only after the SH was directly consumed and since I have no plans on drinking my eye cream, I think that my esophagus will be fine.(Source: LINK)

Overall the three ingredients in question do not raise that much concern to me, especially since the ingredients in question only cause major harm to the body when consumed or absorbed in large amounts on a regular basis. While the company prides itself on being "the organic solution," it is understandable that they would use some non-organic organic products in order to keep the moisturizer fresh, and manageable for application. Therefore, I think I will definitely keep using. 

Source of Information: LINK