My New Day Cream

(I had written up a post about how great my new Burt's Bees Day Creme is. And how much better it is than the lotion I previously used. Then I remembered, after I bought Burt's Bees, to do my research at the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep website. And I found out they scored the same! They both received a 4 out of 10 on a hazardous scale. 0 being not hazardous, 10 being highly hazardous to your body. Well, I tweeked my post a little but here it is.)

My Oil of Olay day lotion finally ran out. So I went out and bought Burt's Bees Carrot Nutritive Day Creme. I trust Burt's Bees brand so I didn't do any research for a new day cream for my face. I just went to Long's and bought it. After I bought it I found out the EWG gave it a 4 out of 10 hazard rating. That's not horrible but I think I can find better. But I will use it all up before buying a new cream.

When you open the jar you immediately smell the the ingredients. It is not a bad smell, somewhat neutral, just natural. I am used to the artificial smells of lotions that manufactures think we want to smell like. The texture of the cream is thick and smooth. When I went to put it on my face I was a bit worried that the cream would not dry enough and make my make-up float. It did not, I am very pleased and relieved to say. What was surprising to me is the color, it has an orange tint. I mean it is a natural carrot cream, so it has beta carotene as an ingredient. You know, the stuff that makes your skin orange. But you need to eat quite a bit to have that happen. But what if you use it everyday? Will my skin turn a tint of orange? I doubt it, but it sure did cross my mind when applying it this morning.

Overall, so far, I am very pleased with the creme. I have pretty normal skin, slightly oily on my forehead and nose. This cream blended nicely with my skin. It doesn't make it feel greasy or dry. I think it works all day.

The only draw back is that I wanted a day lotion/creme with a sunscreen it it but if you want all natural then you can't have sunscreen. Something about nano-particles in the sunscreen being absorbed into your skin. Here is an article from the Green Guide about it.

As for the score of 4 at the EWG's website, I was a little shocked and concerned. A 4! So what is wrong with Burt's Bees Carrot Day Creme? Well, reading the report it looks like the big concern is the frangrance used in the product, it was scored an 8! That is really high. The report states that the fragrance can cause allergies and it is a neuro and immune system toxin. Well, that doesn't sound good. (I knew my mama nose was right when I became sickened by fragrances after having babies.) The next concern was the tocopheryl acetate. My take is that it is toxic to your skin and organs. But it scored a 4, which is pretty low. All the other ingredients scored fairly low.

And what about the Oil of Olay scoring a 4? Well, it scored high, 8-9, in fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin. The DMDM Hydantoin has toxins and comes with quite a few warnings and violations. I think the this lotion received a lower rating because the EWG regards UV sunscreen as good because it helps to deter skin cancer.

There are other factors to consider. Burt's Bee's does not test on animals and the signed the EWG's Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Oil of Olay may test on animals and has not signed the Compact. Also, Burt's Bees came in a handy dandy reusable glass jar. Olay, #5 plastic.

So in conclusion, I'll stick with my Burt's Bee's Creme for now. And look for something without a frgrance for next time. I did look in the EWG's Face Lotion Datbase and my head is spinning. There are 1000's. So if anyone has a good face cream let me know.