I get a ton of e-mail pitching green products, some actually eco-friendly, some not.
Here's two of the ones that fell flat.
One cosmetics company touted allegedly eco friendly products that sounded high-priced for me and the earth. The boasted that the were made of products long prized for keeping the faces of Sudanese woman looking young. Seriously?
First, that makes me think it's being shipped from the Sudan, which uses a lot of carbon. Secondly, the situation in Sudan is not amendable to skin-care products. I'm going to guess there isn't much shade or sunscreen in a refugee camp. The 2009 life expectancy for a woman in the Sudan is 52.4 years. Maybe the "old" women look young not because of their cosmetics but because their version of a 100-year-old is actually a 60-year-old.
AngryGreenGirl.com sells itself as the "new must-see web portal" promoting "environmentally conscious ways of living. In these short (1-2 minute) webisodes, Angry Green Girl delivers straight talk on how to Green Up, Dumbass! on topics ranging from global warming to water conservation." Seriously. That's how they are selling this. From what I could stomach, it's a vaguely hot chick delivering insults to boys while telling us things every idiot who gives a crap already knows. It's clear from the negative comments that it's geared toward college boys who, if they're smart, will hit mute so they can tolerate this woman. They'll learn nothing.
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
I've never bought into the whole cosmetics thing. I don't wear any makeup on any regular basis. For some special event where it's expected I have but we are talking once a year, maybe. Wouldn't it be better for the environment, our skin, and perhaps the test animals if we just didn't use cosmetics at all?
But for now, I will cancel my Sudanese order of lip gloss. :)
Preach it, sister! :) You're totally right, of course. I wish I could shake that expectation. I will confess that I probably only put on make two or three times a week. But most of the time it's out of sheer laziness. And when I do bother, it's eye stuff only because my skin gets hives from just about any foundation, etc.
I forgot to say that I do mostly eye stuff (too) or basic lip gloss. I confess to wearing lipstick once or twice a month in the winter.
As for foundation, when I was younger it all felt really heavy and smothering. The foundations out there now are much more tolerable and do not leave a heavy feeling on the skin. But again I have to ask, if the goal of makeup is to give your skin a healthy "natural" glow, why don't we just stick with regular cleaning and some kind of facial cream to keep the skin smooth and be done with it?
I want to know who decided we were ugly unless we wore makeup? I know some beautiful women who do wear makeup daily and when they don't people comment on how plain they look that day. Plain? They look great without makeup so it's sad that they are made to feel less than pretty without it.
Ok! I'm done preaching! :)
Everything has a green hue to it anymore. Now it's a matter of separating good from bad. Nice to see someone calling out the charlatans.
Thanks for the tip on AngryGreenGirl. PS: She's definitely hot...Just like the planet.