No More Dirty Looks!

This post is not about what you may think it’s about…..I haven’t been giving the judgey bitch face to people…

It’s a book I read.

No More Dirty Looks: The Truth about Your Beauty Products–and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics

Have you read it?

Amazon says:
It started with a harmless quest for perfect wash-and-go hair. Every girl wants it, and Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt finally found it in a fancy salon treatment. They were thrilled—until they discovered that the magic ingredient was formaldehyde.



Shocked, O’Connor and Spunt left no bottle unturned. If it went on their body (and thus, was absorbed into their skin and bloodstream), they researched it. As it turns out, many of those unpronounceable ingredients in your self-tanner and leave-in conditioner are not regulated and the “natural” on your face wash doesn’t mean what you think it does.
Now, with the help of top scientists, dermatologists, and makeup artists, the authors share their compelling findings and the easy way to detoxify your beauty regimen. No More Dirty Looks also reveals the safest, most effective products on the market and time-tested home recipes. Finally, you don’t need to sacrifice health for beauty—because coming clean is the best look yet.

I say:
This book was an eye opener.  I’m not all green and crunchie (but I can totally see myself slowly going in that direction) and didn’t know what to expect with this book.  It gave a just-enough-sciencey-detailed look at the ingredients and byproducts used in beauty products, as well as a not-boring-at-all education on the FDAs rules about the beauty/cosmetics industry.  It’s actually quite scary that carcinogens are allowed in our beauty products, and in baby products too. (creepy!)  Hey, it’s known to cause cancer, but you’ll look pretty…for now!

I recently started looking for natural sulfate free shampoos and natural conditioners totally for vain reasons.  I didn’t want to use super drying products in my already dry hair.  I picked this book up thinking it would give me some good options and brands to buy.

Boy did I get a whole lot more.

After reading this book and learning about the carcinogens in a lot of the products we use and learning how companies get around the FDA’s rules, I think I’m going to go a wee bit further into natural territory.

I really got to thinking about what I put on my skin, and why.  For example the drying soap, which leads me to then be forced use a thick moisturizer. (All of which are chock full o bad crap)

I’m not going to get all deep into it and start making my own makeup or anything (if you’re into that, the book gives a few recipes) but it would be very easy to swap out some of the cancer-causing “bad guy” products for good ones. 

I already use coconut oil like it’s God’s gift (which it totally is) so I’ll just swap my body moisturizer for coconut oil or another natural moisturizer.

I have recently changed from using the Irish Spring that John loves to using african black soap, but I’m going to look for an even “cleaner” soap next time I’m in Whole Paycheck Foods.

As for hair products, I’m going to purchase the natural ones “okayed” by the book and I’ll definitely be checking out other “green” beauty books to see what else I can learn.


Do you use natural products? What are your fave brands?  Have you read this book and what did you think of it?  Any other natural health/beauty/wellness books you would recommend?