Summer's start

Can you tell I'm already checked out for the summer? We're headed out of town for Memorial Day weekend, and I'm pretty excited. But blogging doesn't stop!  I promise I will get back to a regular schedule again soon?

Have you seen EWG's 2014 Sunscreen Report? Check it here. Me, I'm all kinds of pissed off at my local Whole Foods for putting out a nice display of Kiss My Face sunscreen products and pricing them without regard to health and toxicity. The 8-oz Mineral Formula spray was $17.99!!! Amazon is selling it for $18.65, and Drugstore.com doesn't even carry it (but tried to tell me that the other spray sunscreen lotion is 'natural' with all its avobenzone and other junk. Snort.). 

What gives, retailers?? Mmm?? It's not enough to hardly ever carry actually safe, gentle products -- when you do carry them, they have to be priced so outrageously to lower demand and prevent consumers from making informed buying decisions. 

WHAT. EVER.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!!
-- Jazzy

Price alert

I was at Whole Foods yesterday and noticed that one of my new favorite products is on sale this week. It's everyone soap by EO Products. WF normally sells a 32-oz pump bottle for $9.99, which I thought was a good value, and now it's on sale for $7.99. EO sells the stuff direct for the same price, but then tacks on $5 for ground shipping, so this price at my local store is a pretty good deal!

Have I mentioned how much I love this stuff? I think a product review is in order, no? Let's get that in the queue.

Happy Tuesday,
Jazzy

Olay Stories

Have you seen Olay's latest campaign? #OlayStories. Olay's put the whole thing on Pinterest, of all places. I am loathe to keep shining a spotlight on companies/ads/products that are misleading and borderline dishonest, but I suppose we have to do that to find the man behind the curtain.

Olay is playing up big time the 'everywoman beauty' as it has for a few years now. Great. But the new campaign takes it up a notch by featuring, as its first "Best Beautiful" story, skin cancer survivor Hillary. Her personal story, along with professionally-shot video and portraits, are the launchpad of this campaign.

On its face, I don't disagree with it. I am thrilled to see a company buck the trend of using one version of today's woman as the only version. But that's pretty much where my admiration for #OlayStories ends.

Turns out that the campaign is no different than Revlon's breast cancer awareness campaigns. Both companies are using cancer as a marketing tool. It's gross and irresponsible.

Hear me out. Olay is touting specific products as spokeswoman Hillary's 'beauty regimen' -- without regard to the fact that these products contain harmful chemicals. Revlon did the same thing with the series of ads featuring actress Emma Stone and her mother, a breast cancer survivor.

For kicks and giggles, I looked up 'Hillary's favorite' -- Olay's Total Effects 7-in-one anti-aging moisturizer with sunscreen. Parabens, check. Avobenzone, check. Oxybenzone, check. I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

Used to be that the endorsement of a celebrity was all a company needed to sell its cosmetics. Nowadays, the endorsement of a cancer survivor has so much more weight. Is that right? What's the message here? 'She's just like you, only she made it through what was probably the most horrific experience of her life. And now she's choosing our products, so you should, too.'

How much is Hillary being paid for this gig? I'm not saying that to be flip. I'm really curious. Consumers are hip to how much celebrities are paid for their endorsements -- potentially loads more than their actual vocation -- so how do the companies handle their deals with regulars like us?

Look, I don't like sh*tting on a fellow survivor, who probably more than anything wants to raise awareness for skin protection, and I don't fault her for getting caught up in Olay's smoke and mirrors. That said, I will NOT overlook or ignore instances of cosmetics companies exploiting cancer survivorship as a means to push their crap products. Olay, until you clean up your products, consider yourself on my sh*t list.

Righteously indignant,
Jazzy

Survivor's guilt

Late showing today, folks. My day began with news that hits a little too close to home. The death of a former high school classmate who spent the last few years of her too-short life aggressively fighting cancer. I am sad, angry and guilty. Shaking a little as I realize how much devastation I managed to avoid -- for reasons I'll never know or understand -- in my own tangle with the disease.

It's just not fair. So not fair that a young woman, seemingly in her prime, celebrating the birth of gorgeous, healthy twins, is struck down by something so insidious, destructive. So much life and love stolen away.

I do have another post in the queue, a relevant seasonal piece, that will definitely go up today but probably not until much later, not until I can shake some of the guilt that's dancing through my head well enough to form coherent thoughts.

Until then, hug someone you love, real tight.
--Jazzy

Burden of proof

I've always loved that phrase. Sounds very mature, very legal. Harkening back to my days of watching any and all episodes of Law & Order and, before that, taking an undergrad course in communication law. Good stuff.

Last week the only post I was good for was about Living Proof, which puts out a line of haircare products by the same name and is co-owned by none other than the forever perfectly-coifed Jennifer Aniston. Mostly it was a rant about messaging and marketing, so today we're actually looking a little deeper at the products themselves. And why you shouldn't touch these things with a ten-foot pole.

The brand gets similar marks from EWG and GoodGuide -- not so great. The two databases can't agree on which Living Proof product is the least or most hazardous, but then again, both databases are reporting on limited data. We know this usually means ingredient disclosure is less than ideal. Keep inferring and the hole that we're digging here just gets bigger and bigger.

The Skin Deep ratings for the Living Proof line is here, and on GoodGuide here.

I'm lambasting Living Proof not just because their products are pretty toxic, but also to illustrate that packaging and marketing are Totally. Meaningless. For sure it is a huge sales coup for Living Proof to snag the endorsement (and financial backing) of an A-Lister like Aniston, but there is nothing -- NOTHING -- behind the claims that science makes their products better. If anything, the science makes their products more toxic and less consumer-friendly. All that anti-frizz business doesn't happen naturally, you know. 

So please, don't be fooled by seductive marketing. Save your money for safer, gentler products. Value your health and well-being over the need to attain a nearly impossible ideal. Rise above the noisy, destructive messages that women need to look a certain way and instead embrace what makes you beautiful, inside and out.

Yours,
Jazzy

Learning the hard way

I consider myself a conscientious person. Definitely detail-oriented, sometimes almost meticulous. So what gives that I've already gotten a sunburn this season? 

That's the funny thing about sunscreen -- it doesn't work if you don't use it!

I'm not such a great advice-giver if I don't even heed my own advice. 

So let's try that again. WEAR SUNSCREEN. Any and every day that the sun is strong enough to cast a shadow. And believe me, it's strong enough. That sun means business.

What else is on deck for this week? I've had a product review stewing for a while that I need to get posted, we're celebrating SMACK!'s real anniversary (!!) and there's some news from last week that needs discussing. 

And sunscreen. We have to talk more about sunscreen.

Happy Monday!

-- Jazzy

Calling bullish*t

Sorry for that. I don't normally use profanities in my article titles, especially during weeks when my posting schedule is totally jacked and I'll be lucky if this is all I get up on the blog. But, sometimes, that's just how life rolls.

It was just the 10-year anniversary (!!!) of the series finale of Friends, and not so coincidentally I'm seeing Jennifer Aniston's face splashed all around promoting her "Living Proof" line of hair care products.

The Rachel. Aniston famously lamented how much she hated that haircut, once it defined both the character and the actress. So is it ironic that she once again (or still?) is using her hair to help along her career?

According to the full-page spread in my latest Ulta flyer, Aniston is the co-owner of Living Proof, which, according to its own website, was started in 2004 when some biotech guys met up with some venture capital guys and came up with a new concept to fill what they perceived to be a void in the haircare market. She's also the face of what they call the "Perfect Hair Day Campaign."

Some verbiage from their "Philosophy" (fancy name for 'mission statement'):

"We are not a traditional beauty company.We are more than that.We believe in rethinking conventional wisdom.We believe when you can’t find something that works, you invent it.We believe the answers are found in science.We believe that beauty and brains are the best formula.We believe a product should keep its promises.We believe every day can be a good hair day.We believe beauty is more than skin deep.We believe in day-making, bliss-creating, confidence-boosting results.We believe you are the living proof."

Did you also throw up in your mouth a little? Here's my version:

"We believe in making money.
We are business people first.
We will market the sh*t out of our products until you believe you can't live without them.
We will sell you the promise of having all the self-confidence you crave -- for only $25 a bottle (and your hair will probably still never look as good as Jen's)."

I'm a crusty beeyotch, I know. But this whole thing really gets me. First, this sh*t's going to a pretty specific demographic. I feel like Living Proof is trying to tap the very same fan base that gave Friends such high ratings back in the day. If you wanted to be just like Rachel back in the 90s, maybe you still want to be just like Aniston now? Because you're older, smarter and have more cash lying around...to spend on shampoo? Oh right, I forgot, you deserve to have your products live up to their promises. Because you're so middle-aged and life is too short to have to use inferior shampoo.

Do you see where I'm headed here? Jennifer Aniston is probably the single WORST person to promote a hair care line. Because none of US -- regular, real-life people -- will ever, ever have the same resources that she employs to maintain her beauty. It's an unattainable standard.

And you know what? That's OK. It's ok to NOT have celebrity-level hair/makeup/fashion/whatever. It's ok to NOT need to be camera-ready at all times of day. It's ok to look like you. It's actually more than ok. It's freakin' awesome.

(BTW, I haven't gotten to the part where this Living Proof stuff is chock full of chemicals. I think I'll save that for a follow-up post.)

Yours,
Jazzy

Much needed

Friday, that is. I'm still playing catch-up on all the things that went untended for the few days that I was away. Here's some light reading to start off your weekend.

Vanity Fair plugs Lorde's endorsement deal with MAC...and I'm definitely gloating that her signature look was featured in About Face last month!

That sh*t-poor excuse for chemical legislation? Turns out it would blow the fracking industry wide open. Greaaaaaaaaaat. (MotherJones.com)

HuffPo gives some love to the Think Dirty mobile app. Have you downloaded it yet?

FoxNews doesn't believe in global warming, but they are publishing the right stuff about toxic cosmetics.

Have a great one, and we'll see you on the other side!!

-- Jazzy

Quick thanks

We're approaching SMACK!'s first anniversary (officially mid-month, but let's draw it out as long as possible, no?) and so I've been reviewing stats for the first year and can I say one thing -- WOW. Site visits and page views are up more than 300% from when SMACK! went live in May 2013. Can you believe it?

I am so, so encouraged by the real interest in learning more about the chemicals in our world, and the movement to reduce the toxicity in everyday products. We have a lot of work to do. But the Internet is our friend in this battle for cleaner, healthier lives, and we can use it to spread the word, share information -- and most importantly -- enact change.

I would be remiss to not acknowledge SMACK!'s readers. You are rock star awesome and we owe all of our growth to you, who keep coming back. This little thing called a blog wouldn't be so great without you guys, and I am super grateful. Thank you, love you!

-- Jazzy

The most wonderful time of the year

Cute, huh? That's two Game of Thrones references in as many days. Aren't you lucky!!

It also serves to kick off my seasonal nagging coverage about the use of sunscreen. To me, that's the real sign of Spring and even warmer weather to come -- the need to keep your nose from frying off your face. 

That sun is some strong sh*t, but too many sunscreens are full of nasty, nasty chemicals. As we did last year, we'll look at the best offerings on store shelves for safer sunscreens. EWG usually publishes its annual report in time for Memorial Day, but I'd rather get a jump on the season since UV light doesn't know -- and doesn't care -- what month we're in.

If you aren't already, put on some goddamn sunscreen!! Make it a habit. Every day that there's enough light to cast a shadow. It doesn't have to be beach weather in order for the sunlight to damage your skin.

And if you're unsure of what's safe, or what to avoid, hang around. We'll review ingredients and try to make sense of labels so that you're not wasting your money.

Yours in fairer skin,
Jazzy