Jumping on the eco-friendly bandwagon, haircare giant Pantene released its new natureFUSION Pro-V Moisture Balance and Smooth Vitality shampoos and conditioners with natural ingredients like aloe vera and cassia.
Though the products contain relatively low-level chemicals, there are still a few like methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone, both of which received a ranking of 6 out of 10 in toxicity by the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.
The natural (or what's considered natural by industry standards) products are to help hair maintain shine and strength and protect against damage.
A photo montage dedicated to the lives of the creatively fascinating pairs of shoes living in their natural habitat inside the blue bins at the local Goodwill thrift store. These shoes translated into Halloween attire though we know we would wear them on the regular.
While visiting my sister in small-town Wisconsin where Wal-Mart reigns supreme in retail shopping, I found boxes of bleaching creams only in the section for beauty products for women of color.
Of course, we can go into the racial division of beauty products, but it really touches on the racial consumerism where women with darker pigmentation are told by companies the goal of lighter skin can be reached with the contents inside a little box that costs $5 or less.
Years ago, during my freshwoman year of college, I wrote an essay about black women and the chemical punishments of beauty which included bleaching creams. I guess after I wrote the essay I thought these types of harmful products, which contain dangerous chemicals such as hydroquinone and mercury, magically fell off shelves.
It's simply devastating to see such products targeting specific women in the aisle of a friendly department store. Beauty should be taking care what you have instead of haphazardly metamorphosing your body.
