Truth in Beauty

A few days ago I hosted our second Truth in Beauty forum for senior health and beauty editors and members of the beauty press. Last time, our topic was absorption and Professor Jonathan Hadgraft discussed precisely what can (or, as it turns out, what can’t) penetrate through the skin. He successfully disproved the beauty myth that 60% of what we put onto our skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. The figure is more like 1-2% and even this small amount is doubtful (you can read more on this subject in our Blog archives from October 11th 2007, October 19th and November 9th 2006). This time we turned our attention on busting yet another pervasive beauty myth and one that has caused much scare-mongering and worry. The subject under scrutiny was how safe are the preservatives in skincare? You may well have read articles over the years with attention-grabbing, tabloid headlines such as Toxic Toiletries! or Killer Cosmetics! - especially when a group of preservatives called parabens are mentioned. So I invited leading independent dermatologist Professor Michael Cork, together with Dene Godfrey, a technical specialist with more than 25 years expertise in this field, to discuss the issues and examine the scientific evidence for such fears.

As it turns out, there is a danger with preservatives – but it is not what you might expect. The danger is in not using preservatives – especially in a formulation such as a moisturiser or body lotion which is a mix of oils and water. Any formulation that has water or aqua in its ingredient labelling needs to be properly preserved to keep it safe for us to use (and even those made without water may need preserving too). Professor Cork is a leading eczema specialist and his interest in this subject was triggered by patients who were using un-preserved natural remedies for their eczema and developing dangerously septic skin conditions as a result. One little boy very nearly died simply by using a non-preserved cream that was full of bugs on his damaged skin. Professor Cork showed plenty of gruesome slides to illustrate his point. His team are just completing a clinical study highlighting the perils of not using properly preserved skincare and this is due to be published in the next few months in a leading international medical journal. I’ll write more about this when it’s published.

So, as preservatives are so important for our health and safety, which ones should we be using? You may be surprised to hear that some of the safest and most effective are the family of parabens, first used in the 1920’s but largely out of favour due to incredible scare-stories about their safety. So, what is the truth here? Are parabens dangerous? Again, the answer may surprise you as it is a total and unequivocal No! As a result of our expert forum, I am now in the process of putting together a factsheet on the subject of preservatives in general - and parabens in particular. This will be available shortly on our website. In the meantime, I can tell you the following facts about parabens which might give you some reassurance if you have been worried by the many misguided media reports: Parabens are nature-identical ingredients first found in fruit where they occur as a natural preservative. You’ll find parabens in produce such as apples and blackberries and they are the main reason why blueberries stay fresh longer than strawberries. They first began to get a bad press following studies in 1998 which discovered that some parabens (no activity was discovered in methylparaben) have mildly oestrogenic properties, which could in theory have the potential to disrupt hormone activity. However, far from being perilous, these studies showed the very weak nature of this activity – weaker than, say, the oestrogenic activity from eating an apple and far less than the activity found in health foods such as whole grain cereals and soya. So although oestrogenic activity was established, it was proven to be so low as to be barely there. You could reasonably argue this actually proves the very safety of parabens. So what happened to cause the panic? The principle reason was the publication of a study in 2004, linking parabens in breast cancer tumours to the use of underarm deodorants. This study has since been found to be highly flawed and the professional review during our press forum showed it to be staggeringly inaccurate. In this particular study, all the samples studied, including 6 blank controls, were found to contain the same microscopic traces of parabens. In fact, in some cases, the blank controls (supposed to be just that – blank) actually had a higher parabens count than the breast tissue! Clearly a major flaw. This study does not prove any link at all between parabens and breast cancer. It also does not link deodorants with breast cancer either as the vast majority of deodorants and anti-perspirants do not contain parabens – and never have done, ever! Some have suggested that ingredients in underarm toiletries can ‘migrate’ into breast tissue, but this supposes firstly that they are significantly absorbed through the skin (they aren’t) and also defies basic anatomy. Both our blood circulation and our lymphatic circulation flow in the direction from the heart and down the arm, not the other way around. So unless these ingredients can swim upstream, they are not going to flow toward the breast. If present at all, they would be flushed in the opposite direction.

As a company, we have always taken the safety of all our formulations extremely seriously. You have probably read our ingredients policy which we highlight in each newsletter we send out. We carry out many highly stringent tests to ensure that we more than comply with the steps needed to make sure our entire range is safe to use. Actually for us, parabens are not important ingredients as we only use tiny traces in six of our formulations (we’ve found many other high quality preservatives over the years). So why spend time highlighting this beauty myth? I bother about it simply because it is wrong to create false fears. I now have no doubt about the safety of these naturally occurring group of ingredients and am angered by the needless worry caused by poor research by some - and deliberate scare-mongering by others. I strongly advise those with a lowered immune system, such as the young, the elderly, those with skin disorders or those being treated for conditions such as cancer to take great care and use properly preserved skincare. Preferably preserved with safe and effective ingredients – and that includes the parabens family. We must seriously hope that no-one ends up getting hurt by using toxic skincare – not toxic because it contains preservatives, but toxic because it doesn’t.

New Year Zing!

I’m also thrilled that we now have the delicious new Energising Body Wash (UK, US) – I adore the rosey aroma of Energising Hip & Thigh Gel (UK, US), so having two new products with this aroma (also Energising Body Scrub) is heaven for me – I will be using these post-pregnancy to get me back in shape! The new trio body wash offer is inspired – one for me (Energising), one for my husband (Men’s Face & Body Wash) and one for our baby, in due course (Orange Flower). We listened hard to our customers, who loved the natural foaming agents in our body wash formula (a mix of corn & coconut, with soap bark) and so at last we have a choice for devotees. Let us know what you think…

Bridal Ideas

Today, as Liz and our show team headed to the QVC studio, just over the bridge my colleague Louise & I attended a special bridal event at Peter Jones, for the press.

It was so exciting to be part of their bridal ‘shower’, and it really did feel like my wedding day all over again, seeing all the guests dressed in stunning wedding outfits, complete with beautiful hats and fascinators, and delicious catering. Even the flowers were edible! The room was at the very top of the Peter Jones building, on Sloane Square, with glass walls on two sides - it felt like a sunny conservatory, with rooftop views across London – revealing a truly beautiful, sunny January day.

As well as helpful John Lewis services on display - such as setting up a wedding gift list and also wedding insurance - there were inspiring examples of bridalwear, gifts and floral arrangements (Peter Jones have a florist in-store). For brides-to-be, or mothers-of-the-bride-to-be (phew, what a mouthful!), the styling team had propped a stunning boudoir area with Peter Jones furniture – our corner had a simple, cream dressing table, with Venetian mirror & lamp, with glorious decadent boudoir additions such as satin gloves draped over the open drawers, which we crammed with our travel gift ideas, and a stunning silk 1930s-inspired clutch bag with our key products carefully styled on the dressing table top. It was quite breath-taking and inspired me to redecorate my bedroom all over again! (We do have customers who love to decorate their bathrooms around our muted  packaging colours – always a big compliment to us!)

It all reminded me of some desk-side press visits that I took part in before my own wedding, in the summer of 2006. This involved meeting beauty editors of bridal titles literally at their desks – a good option when deadlines are tight and you want some quality time with the journalists. I helped our PR team put together a bridal press release at the time, and seeing my quotes again brought back lots of memories of my own skincare dilemmas, in the build-up to my own big day. The countdown to any wedding day is fraught with both excitement and nerves – and this can take its toll on your skin, so I do hope that these tips help any brides-to-be out there:

•    I’m surprised how many brides-to-be don’t have a regular skincare routine.  The run up to your special day is the perfect time to start with an easy, simple regime such as our cleanse, tone and moisturise. If you have never used skincare regularly before, this is also the perfect way to start now.

•    In the run up to the wedding, almost every bride-to-be is troubled by an occasional blemish emergency – never fear though, as our Spot-On is a bridal beauty must-have - an emergency ‘miracle’ roller ball applicator full of hard-working essential oils: antiseptic and antibacterial tea tree oil, purifying melissa and lavender to inhibit spot-causing bacteria.  Highly concentrated, with no alcohol or water, it really is the fastest way to heal blemishes, in-an-instant, and can even be applied over make up. (I also used this on my honeymoon to help calm mosquito bites – it’s so handy as it fits into even the smallest evening purse!)

•    As a bride-to-be myself once, I do know how difficult it can be to relax.  Dip into our special treatments when you feel you need a little extra help. Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask is sanctuary for lacklustre, stressed-out skin.  The perfect pre-wedding skin treat, use overnight or whilst soaking in the bath.

Globe-Trotting Skincare

I’m on the trail of finding a good organic source of avocado oil here in Kenya and so spent the day with a farmer friend in Naivasha who grows many different tropical fruits. Avocados grow well here and are a cheap, plentiful food for the local people – I bought a big basket full and worked out they cost about 3p each! They were twice the size of anything I’ve seen back in the UK and far tastier too as they ripen naturally in the Kenyan sunshine. Avocados are fabulously good for the skin as they are naturally rich in essential fatty acids which help prevent moisture loss. They are also a good source of lecithin (useful for processing cholesterol in the body) and also provide good amounts of Vitamin E. We eat them chopped into salads at lunchtime almost every day here. After strolling through her fruit trees, Colleen showed me the latest addition to her family – three tiny baby warthogs, recently rescued. They are so young that they have to be fed powdered baby milk with mashed up Weetabix and Colleen has started to add oils to their feed as their skins are so dry. I told her that this is exactly what I did for my four children when they were small and suffering from patches of dry skin and eczema! These babies really were very cute and incredibly friendly – although they’ll soon outgrow the small, fuzzy stage and grow sharp little tusks, so they’ll have to be re-integrated back into the wild before long. Returning home in the evening dusk we had our own wild animal gathering at the waterhole which was just teaming with game. A herd of young buffalo were there, alongside half a dozen huge hippo, twenty or so zebra and some impala. It was fascinating to watch the animal hierarchy – first the buffalo came and dominated the water, seeing off the hippo who waited in the wings. They were only allowed to drink once the buffalo had finished, followed by the zebra and lastly the antelopes. Finally a lone warthog trotted up when all was quiet.

A funny thing then happened later in the evening. I went to supper at a friend’s house to celebrate the birthday of a young Dutch vet who has recently moved here with her flower farmer husband. There were only about 8 of us there and I took her a small bag of skincare treats as a birthday present – a Cleanse and Polish Starter Kit (UK, US) (of course), the Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spray (UK, US)(perfect for the hot weather here) and a Smoothing Line Serum (UK, US) to help rehydrate after sun damage. She unwrapped the products and we started chatting about them when I saw one of the other guests staring at the packaging in disbelief – “where did you get that?” she asked. “My mother came to stay at Christmas and brought me some of this – she’s just started buying it on QVC and says it’s fantastic – I’ve been using it since Christmas Day and my skin is so much better, I love it – how come you have it here too?” When I told her who I was, her chin nearly hit the floor! What a very small world we live in – it seems Naturally Active Skincare is a real globe-trotter and you’ll find it in even the most remote homes.

Green Solutions

My local council have a brilliant new recycling scheme to upgrade on their current dry recycling. As I live in London where recycling seems to be a bit trickier, they now offer three door-step options: dry recycling, composting (vegetable peelings, plate scrapings, garden cuttings etc) and that leaves you with hardly anything left for the third - land refuse, which is great. How are everyone else’s councils doing in making things greener? I was really pleased to see this and it’s so easy to do .

At work, we have many initiatives to make things greener – here are just some of them:

• We recycle all kinds of materials from cardboard to ink cartridges and even toilet roll inners! The ink cartridges are taken back by a local company called WBS, and a proportion of the money raised is sent to the Island's Hospice.
• We use environmentally-friendly cleaning products that are also approved by the BUAV (who approve products that are not tested on animals).
• We have a paper waste scheme where we re-use scrap paper for internal printing.
• Our Newsletters are printed on Revive 50% recycled paper using vegetable based inks.
• We have removed the use of plastic bottles, in favor of glasses / water coolers for our team.
• We use EcoFlo (biodegradable loose fill) in all our orders.
• We supply complimentary fair-trade tea & coffee etc for our team.
• We started a ‘Turn It Off Campaign’ a few years ago now, to help reduce our energy usage and, in turn, reduce our carbon footprint.
• On a larger scale, we were delighted to achieve the ISO14001 listing in April last year.
• We were also the winner of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce Green Business Award.

But it doesn’t stop there – lots more to keep working towards. We always say progress, not perfection… watch this space for more news.

Liquid Treasures

This morning I flew with Claire Jones, my glamorous commercial pilot friend in her small safari plane across the vastness that is the Rift Valley from Naivasha to Athi River. We passed Mount Longonot and flew over the famous Ngong Hills, that resemble a row of knuckles on a fist. Whenever I see these green hills I’m always reminded of the first line of Karen Blixen’s famous Out of Africa “I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills”. Actually she had a farm on the outskirts of Nairobi (the area of Karen was named after her), but that’s poetic license for you – at least she would have seen the Ngongs from her veranda view.

We landed on a grass strip on the edge of environmental researcher David Hopcraft’s ranch where we were met by Wayne Barrett of Earth Oils. I’d come to visit his oil processing plant at Athi River and to see some of the many wonderful botanical oils that pass through his doors here. A former farmer forced to flee his essential oil farm in Zimbabwe with little more than the shirt on his back, Wayne and his business partner Campbell have built a wonderful plant oil processing company, with high quality facilities to cold-press many different organically grown oils, including sweet almond, passion flower seed, macadamia nut and shea butter. It’s interesting to hear how these plant oils directly benefit so many small scale family farmers here in Kenya – and other African countries such as Uganda and Sudan too. For example, passion fruit juice is a popular drink here and many small farms sell their passion fruit to the juice pressers. Previously, the seed would have been discarded, but now, these families can in effect sell their crop twice – once for the juice and again for the seed oil. Even the left-over ‘cake’ of empty seed husks can be sold for high-protein animal feed so nothing is wasted. I especially admire the enterprise Wayne has set up for the local macadamia nut farmers: The nuts are collected from the small farmers and graded, with the best going to the snack food industry and the less perfect specimens going for oil processing. All the nuts are now used in this system and the left-over mulch again goes for animal feed – even the macadamia shell husks are used as renewable fuel for the oil pressing machine – a completely perfect eco-system with no waste and lots of benefit for the local economy (and the environment). Brilliant.

Wayne and I discussed many different plant oils – a shared passion – and I learnt a lot more about the way these liquid treasures are processed, which is just as important as how they are grown when it comes to assuring the best quality. Cold-pressing produces the highest grade as the oils are broken down by any form of heat, which encourages rancidity. Unfortunately, cold-pressing is very much harder to do as the cell structure of the oils is harder and so yields less oil. Cold-pressing is also time consuming and expensive, but the resulting oil is far superior. Earth Oils are committed to their cold-processing production and it was encouraging to make contact with a company as committed to quality ingredients as we are.

New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year to you all firstly…..

Great to be back at work again – I’ve been off with a few pregnancy complications, but all’s well. So much going on on the island -  most companies calm down after Christmas, but not us! Interestingly, we had customers surfing on our website on Christmas Day, and even had some actual orders. (Some very organised people using their Christmas money towards good things, I suspect!)

Personally, I’m really enjoying Nourishing Botanical Body Cream (UK, US) like never before – my growing bump is really relishing lashings of nourishment and it makes everything feel so comfortable. In our chat room last week, I met two other ladies who are expecting, like me – it was great to hear their stories and to swap skincare tips & give advice. As I’ve said before here, your skin can become troublesome during pregnancy and a simple regime like our cleanse, tone and moisturise can work wonders, and give  aromatherapeutic benefits.

The new Superskin Moisturiser (UK, US) has also been a godsend to me over the past few weeks – one of my pregnancy complications was a severe allergic reaction and my skin was a mass of horrid hives. My dermatologist was amazed at how gentle our new moisturiser was, and recommended me to keep using it, once the rash had died down and I was off the topical steroids (to bring it under control initially). Now, a few months on, I have no scars on my face or neck – and I’m sure this is partly due to the moisturiser, as other parts of my body are slower to heal. I smile every time I click onto our homepage and I see those lovely words ‘a bit of magic’ – for me, this has truly been a fab present to set me off to health in the New Year.

North to Samburu

I have been in Kenya since just before Christmas, combining family festivities on our small farm here with some botanical research and field trips. So I must begin this entry by saying a big Thank You to all those who kindly sent messages of concern after the turbulent elections here. I’m pleased to say that we haven’t been anywhere near the pockets of tribal unrest, which have been in far-flung areas of Western province and in some slum areas of Nairobi. The international media painted a picture of an entire nation in flames, which has been very far from my experience travelling around the country. I have only seen calm good humour from those around us – coupled with great sadness for those affected by the localised riots. Everyone here hopes and prays for a swift and peaceful electoral resolution, but in the meantime, fears the damage has been done to the country’s economy which relies so heavily on tourism. Each employed Kenyan feeds 10 other people and the Kenyan Association of Tour Operators estimates the industry’s woes will affect around a million people, plunging more families here into hardship. To put the awful headlines into perspective, there hasn’t been a single incident involving a foreigner or tourist since the crisis began, yet the holiday and travel cancellations has already lost the country $1 billion in the last 10 days. Kenyans are an incredibly industrious and entrepreneurial people but this will be a very difficult time for them and a slow road to economic recovery.

On a happier note, I have had wonderful trips to stunningly beautiful parts of this lovely country, travelling firstly north to Samburu, home of the eponymous Samburu tribe, some of the most remarkable people in all Africa. I stayed with friends from the UK at a new eco-lodge called Sasaab, perched high in the hills in the middle of what seems like nowhere. Sasaab is one of a new breed of eco-friendly co-operatives, where the Samburu lease the land to investors, who in turn run an eco-friendly holiday sanctuary. The revenue is shared and the Samburu use these essential funds to pay for their children’s education and medical care. You can see pictures of this extraordinary Kenyan hideaway at www.tamimiea.com and I highly recommend it (and the other eco-lodges featured) as a holiday of a lifetime with a real difference, that makes a difference.

One of my trips involved travelling by camel train and I visited a Samburu village, where I was greeted by women dressed in colourful beads who danced, sang and clapped as I arrived. They put beaded necklaces over my head as a welcome gesture and made me dance a strange neck-bobbing jig with them before showing me how they live in this extraordinarily harsh but beautiful landscape. My translator (a very fit Samburu warrior called Matthew) explained how the women do 95% of all the work (nothing new there then), including building the low huts out of twigs, sticks and goat skins. They tend and milk the goats, bring up the children, cook and clean as well as make beaded bracelets and necklaces for the women and warriors to wear, as well as to sell to travellers like me. As for the males, the young boys herd the goats between grazing; in their late teens and early twenties they become warriors (watching over their cattle, protecting their community) and in later years they are the village elders who sit under trees playing games and deciding important tribal matters. Not much grows in this arid landscape, although they do use the medicinal properties of the Leleshwa bush, which has antiseptic properties similar to tea tree. In some areas, this pale green leaf is being collected and distilled into a therapeutic essential oil, and I’m bringing some home for us to investigate further. They also use twigs from the toothbrush tree to clean their teeth and massage gums, as these have useful antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties to prevent gum disease. The vast Samburu landscape is coloured a deep brownish red from the earth, with dots of Leleshwa green and the wait-a-bit thorn bush (which gets its name from the annoying way it snags skin and clothing as you pass by, causing you to ‘wait a bit’ as you carefully unhook yourself from its prickles). Every now and then there is a vibrant splash of shocking pink flowers on a Desert Rose bush, which looks very beautiful but is actually deadly poisonous: It’s what the Samburu warriors use to make poison-tipped arrows. It causes instant paralysis, which I guess makes it a tribal version of Botox.

Happy New Year!

With the party season over and the New Year now upon us, this is the perfect time for a seasonal detox and a fresh look at instilling healthier habits for the year ahead. Back in the days before children I would make a regular fast at this time of year, cleaning out the system with a rigorous week-long fruit and water regime. This is certainly one of the most effective ways to internally cleanse the system and rid the body of its build-up of sugary, highly processed foods, caffeine and alcohol. But as an older, busier, working mother I find I’m less able to cope with the strictness of this extreme form of detox (which can necessitate frequent lie-downs to cope with tiredness or caffeine-withdrawl headaches). So now I have a modified spring-clean, which I still find effective, especially in breaking the cycle of bad habits accumulated over Christmas.

I’ve found that even small changes in what we eat and drink can bring about a big difference to the way we look and feel. The key is to maximise energy-enhancers and minimise energy-sappers. For me, the first thing to go is refined sugar, found in almost everything from breakfast cereals to processed foods and the more obvious cakes, biscuits and sweets. It’s so easy to over-load with sugar during the festive season, so cutting it out in the New Year takes a bit of provisions planning, but brings great benefits. You’ll find you have more sustained energy throughout the day instead of bursts of sugar-rush activity followed by a noticeable sugar-slump. I switch to porridge in the morning, simply made with water and drizzled with a tiny bit of local honey and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds for sweetness. Instead of cakes and biscuits, I stock the cupboard with rice cakes and corn thins and spread these with organic peanut or almond butter – a fantastic energy-boosting snack. I find my caffeine quota definitely creeps up towards the end of the year, so I try to redress the balance now by swapping rocket-fuel expressos for a gentler cup of de-caff or weak tea. However, I don’t go cold-turkey and give up caffeine altogether, as I find the withdrawal headaches are too debilitating and don’t respond to painkillers (not good for the system in any case). My less draconian detox regime involves cutting down on coffee and strong tea by one cup a day, until I’m down to a single mug at breakfast. Only then, after a week or so of gradual withdrawl, will I give it up altogether. Similarly with alcohol, I’ll make a tactical retreat over a week or so, gradually making the couple of glasses or so in the evening much smaller until eventually they’re gone altogether and I haven’t felt too deprived about it. The only thing I’ll dramatically increase is drinking water – yes, I know it’s an old chestnut, but there’s no doubt that drinking much more water (aim for 1.5 – 2 litres a day) really is a tremendous health and beauty benefit.

The plant kingdom offers plenty of detox boosters too. My favourites at the moment are fresh herbal teas – not the kind out of a packet but simply made by adding boiling water to pieces of fresh plants. For an uplifting and re-energising pep-up, try a few slices of fresh ginger steeped in hot water (sweeten with a little honey if needed). This is especially good at this time of year as it’s highly anti-bacterial and is an excellent internal cleanser. I drink lots of this if I’m feeling under the weather and it really helps. It’s also the traditional remedy for any kind of nausea or sickness (even a self-induced hangover…). Another excellent internal cleanser is fresh peppermint. Simply steep a small bunch of fresh mint leaves in hot water and leave to infuse for a few minutes. I find this is usually sweet enough to drink without honey and it’s especially good after meals as a digestive settler and stomach soother. A very good natural remedy for bloating, indigestion or general over-indulgence also.

Don’t forget that the physical process of body-brushing is one of the best ways to stimulate a sluggish circulation and help clear a build-up of toxins from the system. Dry brushing the body each morning, working upwards from the soles of the feet in long, sweeping movements (working towards the heart) might sound strange, but it really helps give our internal lymph system a physical boost, which in turn increases the amount of cellular debris and waste matter that our lymph system carries out of the body. I’m such a fan of body brushing that we have a downloadable fact sheet (UK , US) with further information and we also stock a super natural-bristle brush with a long detachable handle for ease of use. The best time to use this is before jumping into a warm shower, when you can rinse away any dislodged dead skin cells. And right now we have even more reason to make this an invigorating experience, with the launch this week of our brand new Energising Body Wash (UK & Coming Soon in the US) – my new favourite way to start the day.