divine green: Sustainable Home, Beauty, & Lifestyle

by Claudia Graziano

Ever since my aesthetician’s first utterance of the words “sun damage,” I’ve been on the lookout for a natural sunscreen for my face that also doubles as a moisturizer—and that doesn’t cost more than a bag of groceries at Trader Joe’s.

Like many women suspicious of the chemicals listed on most drugstore-brand ingredient lists, I turned to organic and so-called luxury brand sunscreens to shield my sensitive, freckle-prone face from the sun’s harsher rays. But not only are these sunscreens expensive (the Jan Marini brand my aesthetician recommends costs $28 for a small tube), they also often feel greasy or heavy on my skin. Worse, I found that some—geared toward wrinkle-conscious women my age (over 30)—contain such rich ingredients they can bring on complexion trouble.

A few months ago, however, I discovered Beyond Coastal, a sunscreen that has become a staple of my morning beauty routine. This organic, mineral-based sunscreen is a respectable $11.99 for a 2.5oz tube, and uses zinc oxide and titanium oxide to provide factor 30 sun protection. Best of all, this creamy, non-greasy wonder-blend contains vitamins A, C and E, alpha lipoic acid, shea butter, and aloe, algae and green tea extracts, which my skin seems to so apparently love that I now use it in place of my moisturizer.

Beyond Coastal does have a few downsides, however. First, even though the label says it is water resistant, I have found that it slides right off at the first sign of moisture. Second, it’s not what I would call an all-day sunscreen (although I do use it as such). Because it absorbs so nicely into your skin, it really doesn’t last more than an hour or two. If you’re going to be sitting out in the sun for any length of time, its best to reapply or use an alternate sunscreen with better staying power. But for incidental sun exposure—going from home to office to the corner café with your work friends—it’s the best I’ve found.

Davines’ NouNou hair care may not contain 100 percent organic ingredients. Nor is it easy to pronounce. But more product makers should follow the cue of this hair care line, which comes packaged in thinner plastic. Davines, based in Parma, Italy, sells NouNou in malleable tubs and bottles made of 30 percent less plastic than the average bottle of conditioner, according to company spokesman Jorge Blanco. Squeeze the soft tubs and you can imagine they take less recycling time.

NouNou is also Davines first “zero-impact” product in the company’s 25-year history, Blanco said. That means that Davines has bought carbon offsets through the Italian green-living conglomerate Lifegate, which plants trees in Costa Rica to balance the emissions created by the NouNou hair care line. It’s a nebulous claim for many companies, but Blanco said: “We planted 85,000 square meters of new forest in Costa Rica last year.”

As for its efficacy? NouNou’s “nourishing illuminating” shampoo with Chestnut milk doesn’t inspire an extra finger-twirl in your hair. But the line’s “nourishing illuminating” conditioner with tomato extract and vitamin F softens dry hair and smells like sweet almond butter. Highly recommended.

People are often more concerned by what they eat than by what they put on their body. But the skin is our largest organ and absorbs all those lotions, deodorants and perfumes directly into the blood stream, without the natural toxin catchers of the digestive system. That’s why it’s good to be choosy about what you slather on the skin.

Last year, fashion designer Stella McCartney unveiled a line of certified organic skincare–which after three years of development was considered the first luxury brand in an industry with a largely crunchy image. Few skincare lines carry a certified organic seal because the bar is set so high to obtain the moniker from standard bearers like the USDA, yet Stella’s 100 percent-organic-ingredients line, called “Care,” was approved by eco-regulators like Ecocert in Europe, where it’s made. (Yes, you’ll have to buy carbon offsets to buy these creams guilt-free in the United States.)

I’ve been testing Care’s 5 Benefits Moisturizing Cream and its companion Radiance and Youth Elixir for the last two months and my skin has never been softer or more generally healthy. 

(more…)

Can Clorox–a brand synonymous with synthetic bleach–green-ify its business? That’s an increasingly important question as major corporations known for polluting the environment try to capitalize on consumer demand for healthier, more eco-friendly goods. For example, L’Oreal, which was recently named one of the 10 worst luxury brands (story here) by environmental measures, owns natural body care lines the Body Shop and Kiehls.

But Clorox is an emblem of the eco shift, having just launched a line of plant-derived biodegradable cleaning products called Green Works to challenge companies like Method and Mrs. Meyers–early success stories in the earth-friendly cleaning business. (Clorox said that Green Works will be in stores this month.) And in November, Clorox bought Burt’s Bees for a hefty $913 million.

(more…)