Affordable Organic Skin Care
While organic skin care ingredients can be expensive, Sally B's makes every effort to keep cost down and be an affordable natural and organic skin care company. Sally B's affordable organic skin care products are formulated with intention, using only necessary ingredients to create effective and beneficial skin care. No fillers or fancy named ingredients just because.
In addition to being an affordable natural and organic skin care company, Sally B's helps to keep costs down in other ways, too. Using organic products can keep you healthy, free from devastating cancers and other ailments, as well as protect the planet, which keeps ingredient and packaging costs down.
Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer By Using Organic Products
Breast cancer is a widespread disease, with no definite cure, that affects about 1 in 8 women in the United States. There are so many dedicated and commendable organizations, researchers, and doctors working towards a cure that the survival rates are optimistically increasing. However, the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer still remains from year to year and that’s something we worry about.
There are so many different and great ways to support the fight against breast cancer, but one we feel most passionate about is raising awareness about harmful toxins in your daily life – mainly those found in personal care products - that can be potential causes of the disease. More and more research is showing alarming rates of personal care ingredients accumulating in breast tissue that we believe by avoiding toxic ingredients you can reduce your risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Reducing your risk starts with your vigilance in reading the ingredient labels of the products you use. Though we’ve all been fooled in the past, never have we been able to trust product packaging to tell us if a product is safe or not. Take this brand of shampoo and conditioner for instance:
Thanks to the mainstream media, it’s becoming known sulfates (think: sodium laurel sulfate) have been linked to skin irritation, blindness, hair loss, and even cancers, so at first glance this product looks safe with its “0% Sulfate” claim. However, the truth of the matter is, the company is just trying to dupe us. Sulfates are the cleaning agents responsible for creating a bubbly lather in shampoo, something you would never find in a conditioner. And check out the shampoo, which contains "0% Silicone." Silicone is an ingredient found in conditioner to create the silky feel to keep hair tangle-free, so it would never be found in shampoo. Flip over both bottles and you'll see silicone listed in the conditioner and sulfates listed in the shampoo, which means if you're using both products like the company hopes you will, you're being exposed to both ingredients despite the 0% marketing trickery. You'll also find that both include other harmful ingredients like artificial fragrance, artificial color, and chemical preservatives. Not so healthy, once you take a closer look.
Once you’re looking at the ingredient list of a product, here are some common ingredients that have been linked to breast cancer to keep an eye out for:
- Petroleum Jelly. The European Union has banned this ingredient from use in skincare products and experts are concerned about its link to cancer. Studies have show that women with breast cancer have twice the levels of hydrocarbons (substances found in petroleum jelly in their breast tissue.
- Parabens. Parabens are the most commonly used skin care preservative (mainly because of its low cost), yet have been linked to breast cancer. In fact, one 2012 study published in The Journal of Applied Toxicology found parabens in nearly 100% of all cancerous breast tumors studied. Spot them on ingredient labels by looking for the word paraben. Often times it will start with ethyl-, methyl-, propyl-, butyl-.
- Artificial Fragrance. The term "fragrance" seen on a product label can indicate that any number of toxic ingredients have been used, including phthalates and synthetic musks. These "hidden" ingredients are known hormone disruptors and mimic estrogen, which can promote the growth of breast cancer cells. Spot them on ingredient labels by looking for "fragrance", ethylene oxide, or Dibutylphthlalate (DBP, DEP, butyl ester).
- Aluminum. Found in deodorants and antiperspirants, aluminum is a hormone disruptor that mimics estrogen and can acculumate in breast tissue to promote the growth of breast cancer cells. Spot it on an ingredient list by looking for Aluminum Chlorohydrate (ACH) or Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex GLY (AZAG).
- Tricolsan. Most commonly found in hand sanitizers, Tricolsan is a known hormone distruptor, mainly mimicking the thyroid hormone. While the studies continue on this ingredient, considerable research shows that it can produce estrogenic effects and can perturb normal breast development and health.
Until there is proper government regulation against harmful ingredients like these, we must self-police the personal care industry to safe guard our personal health. One organization taking action in this arena is the Breast Cancer Fund (www.breastcancerfund.org), which works to expose and eliminate environmental causes of breast cancer. We support their cause wholeheartedly and applaud their partnership with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to raise awareness about the potential dangers found in the personal care aisle.
Lastly, your actions, though they may seem small, do make a difference. Stop purchasing products that contain harmful, toxic ingredients in exchange for healthier products made with organic ingredients to influence a market shift. Also, you can write to your legislators and urge them to support healthy skin care initiatives, like this one here: https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6098/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=1546
Collectively our message will be heard and bring about change within the personal care industry.
Sally B's Uses Recycled Packaging To Keep Costs Down + To Protect The Planet
We love to say that Sally B’s is good for people and the planet. As you know, we go on and on about how our affordable non-toxic skin care products and ingredients are good for you, but rarely do we talk about our environmental commitment. Having an earth-friendly commitment goes hand in hand with a company like ours. Our earth gives us our ingredients, which are the cornerstone of the Sally B's line, so it is important for us to do everything in our power to keep it healthy and thriving.
Our company inherently does good through the use of affordable non-toxic skin care ingredients. We are not passively introducing toxins into our environment. Just think: every time you wash your hands, face, or take a shower, you are sending products down the drain and into our waterways. By using non-toxic products you’re ensuring that our rivers, streams, and wildlife are not being exposed to damaging toxins.
But in the areas where there are decisions to be made, we make the earth-friendly choice whenever possible, even if it does cost a little bit extra on our end. One area that we do not compromise our environmental integrity is product packaging. Our landfills are packed to the max and we have plastic garbage patches floating in our oceans. We do not want to be a part of the problem, so we use packaging that can be recycled to be part of the solution.
First, we do not package our products in unnecessary boxes. We include all our product information on our product labels to eliminate the need for additional packaging, which is one less thing for you to throw away or recycle. Plus, we believe that you should have all the information about your products readily available to you. We use glass jars, BPA-free plastic containers (for those products used by wet, slippery hands), and aluminum lids, all of which can be recycled at the end of their usefulness. We also believe reusing containers whenever possible. Get creative!
As a small company, when it comes to product packaging we are limited to what is available. If you have noticed that our packaging changes from time to time, it is because we have found a new, better solution or found a new, recyclable option. Or you might have experienced a few dents in the aluminum lids. We call them causalities of the cause and we thank you for understanding.
We do everything in small batches – from ordering to mixing products – so you may continue to see tweaks to our packaging as the cosmetic packaging market expands. But rest assured, even if we do upgrade a bottle, tube, or sifter jar, we will still use the same non-toxic ingredients that you love inside.
We thank you for recycling and supporting our mission to be as people and planet friendly as possible.
Protect the Planet by Choosing Organic Products
Because you use Sally B’s Skin Yummies affordable natural and organic skin care products, you’re already doing a heap of good for the planet. Each time you make the choice to use one of our non-toxic, organic products, you are indirectly keeping chemicals from entering our delicate ecosystems…and a whole lot more!
HOW USING SALLY B’S IS HELPING THE PLANET
- We aren’t sending any toxic ingredients into our waterways. Everyday we passively introduce our personal care product ingredients into our environment by washing our hands, face, or body. We ensure that the Sally B’s products that you send down the drain do not have any chemical toxins that could harm aquatic life or their eco-systems. We use only high-quality natural and organic ingredients from the Earth that can safely be returned there.
- We’re keeping plastic out of the water. Exfoliation beads are commonly found in exfoliating facial cleansers, body washes, and scrubs, but we avoid them at all costs. Research shows that one bottle of facial cleanser could contain as many as 300,000 plastic microbeads, which enter our waterways after they have been washed down the drain. Not only do other chemical toxins leach onto the lingering beads, but fish eat them, confusing them for fish eggs, thus allowing dangerous toxins to enter our food chain. Instead, we rely on the natural ingredients from our Fruit Acid Toner and B Green Mud Mask for facial exfoliation. Neither of these products pose a threat to our finned friends.
- We also keep the environment safe from Tricolosan. A common ingredient in hand sanitizer and liquid hand soap (but not in our Foaming Hand Soap!), Tricolosan has been linked to hormone disruption and brain damage. Not only a risk to our personal health, it also poses a serious risk to our waterways since it is so frequently washed away. When exposed to sunlight in an aqueous environment, it is converted to dioxin, and when combined with chlorine (found in tap water), it forms chloroform, a known carcinogen. Read more about the dangers of Triclosan here.
- We are sustainably focused. We have done our research about what ingredients are plentiful and sustainable. We avoid using ingredients derived from plants that are at risk or in danger or those that are harmed during the harvesting process. We are conscious of our delicate eco-system and choose ingredients that are rapidly renewable.
- Our packaging in minimal…and recyclable. Our landfills are packed to the max, so instead of adding to the problem, we choose to use recyclable packaging to be part of the solution. We do not package our products in unnecessary boxes or outer packaging and instead use glass jars, BPA-free plastic containers, and aluminum lids that can all be recycled at the end of their usefulness. In addition, we use recycled materials when available. This includes printer paper, shipping boxes, packing material, and customer shopping bags. Read more about our planet-friendly packaging commitment.
- You’re supporting Honeybees. The honeybee is directly responsible for pollinating 1/3 of all our fruits and veggies, and indirectly responsible for the production of nearly 70% of our entire food source. Needless to say, without the honeybee our farming practices and food creation would drastically change. Plus, your favorite Sally B’s products may not exist since it is the honeybee that makes our ingredients like beeswax, avocado oil, lavender, and camellia seed oil (among many others!) possible. We support the bees by sourcing our beeswax from responsible beekeepers that help to maintain the bee population. We also do our part in keeping toxins out of the environment, which could be a contributing factor to Colony Collapse Disorder. For more information on about the honeybee, click here.
- We champion clean air. While we can’t remove the pollution from the air (oh how we wish we could!), we are doing our part by not using artificial fragrance in our products. Dermatology researchers rank fragrance as a top five allergen. As many as 3,000 chemicals, mostly synthetic, are used to manufacture an artificial fragrance. Use of these chemicals has been seen to cause topical reactions like contact dermatitis or itchy skin rashes. Worse they can exacerbate asthma and a range of problems in the immune, reproductive, and nervous systems.
These commitments to you and the planet have been at the core of Sally B’s Skin Yummies since the very beginning and we will continue to uphold the utmost respect for our environment as we continue to grow. It is our belief that to create a healthy, balanced life for us, we need to work in tandem with the environment. Our planet provides us our beneficial and enriching ingredients, so it is in our best interest to keep it healthy and thriving.