Gillian Deacon - Theres Lead In Your Lipstick

Praise for Theres Lead in Your Lipstick

Our toxic chemical exposure is nothing short of a calamity. This book is essential to understanding what is at stake and how to make healthier choices every dayfor the planet and for our families.

David Suzuki

The genius of this book is that it connects the reader to the issues and the solutions in an engaging way. A can-do roadmap to a better and more healthy life!

Dr. Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence and bestselling author of Slow Death by Rubber Duck

This book just made me realize Ive unknowingly been putting cancer-causing ingredients onto my head every day in my hair conditioner! Its also reaffirmed my love of cocoa butter. A wake-up call to ease the chemical burdens on our bodies and our planet.

Sarah Harmer

I love this book! Thank you to Gillian Deacon for your bravery in writing such an honest and comprehensive book about what we need to know about the products we put on our bodies.

Stacy Malkan, co-founder of Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and author of Not Just a Pretty Face

As someone who doesnt wear lipstick, I thought this book may not apply to me, but as Gill points out, anything we put on our skin finds its way into our body. Theres Lead in Your Lipstick is the definitive guide to ensuring we dont inadvertently smother ourselves in chemicals and animal byproducts, thereby increasing our risk of disease.

Brendan Brazier, bestselling author of The Thrive Diet and Thrive Fitness

Gillian Deacon has given us all a generous gift: a comprehensive, exhaustive and timely guidebook to the Great Unwash.

Gord Downie

A wake-up call to look beneath the gloss of the beauty industry. Essential reading.

Emily Haines

PENGUIN CANADA

THERES LEAD IN YOUR LIPSTICK

Award-winning broadcaster and bestselling author gillian deacon is one of Canadas best-known environmental advocates. She is the author of the national bestseller Green For Life (Penguin, 2008), a guide to making sustainable living the new normal, and has been a columnist with Chatelaine magazine. On television, Gill hosted CBC TVs flagship daytime talk show, The Gill Deacon Show, and before that was co-host of @discovery.ca for five years on Discovery Channel Canada and Discoveries This Week for Discovery Science Channel in the United States. She was also a weekly arts correspondent for CBC News: Morning.

Gillian is a director on the board of the Evergreen Foundation. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their three sons.

ALSO BY GILLIAN DEACON

Green for life

Theres

Lead

in Your

Lipstick

Toxins in Our Everyday Body

Care and How to Avoid Them

Gillian Deacon

PENGUIN CANADA

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published 2011

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (WEB)

Copyright Backbone Inc. FSO Gillian Deacon, 2011

Skin Feeding Sunscreen from THE GREEN BEAUTY GUIDE. Copyright Julie Gabriel, 2008.

Reprinted with the permission of Health communications inc. www.hcibooks.com

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Manufactured in canada.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Deacon, Gillian

Theres lead in your lipstick : toxins in our everyday body care

and how to avoid them / Gillian Deacon.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-14-317250-5

1. cosmeticstoxicology. 2. toilet preparationstoxicology. 3. womenHealth and hygiene. 4. sustainable living. 5. consumer education. i. title. ii.title: there is lead in your lipstick.

RA1270.C65D42 2011 363.19'6 C2010-906722-3

Visit the Penguin Group (Canada) website at www.penguin.ca

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For Miles, Harper, Reggie, and little Alexander.

May you all grow up safe, strong, and caring.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

My husband and I often begin our bedtime rituals at the same time. Having wrestled our boys into bed and mopped up the remains of dinnertime chaos, we trudge upstairs together and begin to clean the day off our faces and teeth before falling into bed.

At least, thats what he does: he brushes and flosses his teeth, washes his face. Done. Then he pulls out the latest issue of The New Yorker and climbs into bed.

He probably reads a full page about world politics and culture before Ive even managed to finish moisturizing. As it is for many women, my nightly ablutions ritual is a multi-step process.

Having already washed with my moisturizing facial cleanser, I spritz with organic rosewater in a misting spray. Then I spread a drop of hyaluronic acidin swirling circular strokes, mindacross my damp face. Following that are four dropsone for each facial quadrantof organic rosehip oil with vitamins A, C, and E, massaged gently into my now glowing visage. Next, I apply my nighttime moisturizer (not my daytime moisturizer, heaven forbid!), scented with essential oil of rose.

During this protracted pampering session my husband will occasionally glance up from his reading with a slightly perplexed look, as if to say, Are you still rubbing stuff on your face? Ive been immersed in the intricate details of an architectural reimagining of the Detroit skyline and youre still standing right where you were a page and a half ago. How many creams does one face need?

A NATURAL NUTRIENT

Hyaluronic acid is a carbohydrate polymer that our bodies produce naturally, as part of cell tissue and in the process of healing skin wounds. Applying this natural nutrient directly on the face smooths fine lines by renewing skin cells beneath the surface. Hyaluronic acid is a powerful antioxidant that helps to prevent free radical damage to the skin from sun exposure and other sources of ultraviolet light. Be sure to look for hyaluronic acid products that are free of parabens or synthetic fragrance. Use a single drop on damp skin, right after applying toner, and it will spread easily across the entire face, adding a layer of deep moisture. Follow with a cream or an oil moisturizer.