Healthy Beauty for Life


SORRY - ALL THE KITS HAVE BEEN SOLD

How many cosmetics and personal care products do you and your teenagers use on a daily basis? Chances are, your whole family is slathering hundreds of different chemicals onto your skin, lips, hair and nails every day. These products are also making their way into our environment when they are washed away during showers and hand washing.

Sierra Club Canada Foundation’s Healthy Beauty for Life Cosmetic Kits for teenagers (available for order) will give them the knowledge to choose safe cosmetics and personal care products. The kits contain a variety of products and coupons from our non-toxic partner brands (more info these green companies below), as well as informational pamphlets and guides to help parents and teenagers start a healthy beauty regime.

The Basic Kit includes:

  • A Healthy Beauty for Life reusable tote bag
  • All Natural Cosmetics: One Meisha Eye Shadow in four shades and refillable container
  • Bare Organics: Info sheet, coupon
  • Dr. Hauschka: Samples of Translucent Make-Up (3 shades), Daily Revitalizing Eye Cream (2), Regenerating Day Cream and Regenerating Serum (2)
  • Ecco Bella: One of lip smoother, lip liner, eyeliner, or lip gloss
  • EcoTools: One of loofah facial sponges (pack of 6), or mini nail files (pack of 2)
  • Ella Botanicals: One of 5 types of mini soaps *not all kits contain a soap sample
  • Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques: Sweet Chai Lip Scrub, sample of Guava Lip Glaze
  • Lilou Organics: Info sheet, coupon, Suki Foaming Exfoliate Cleanser sample
  • Montagne Jeunesse: One mini Dead Sea Mud facial mask and one mini Peel Off mask
  • Revolution Organics: Full-sized Freedom Gloss
  • Weleda: Full-sized Skin Food (lotion) and pouch
  • Zosimos Botanicals: One of concealer, shimmer dust, or lip balm mini pots

The Deluxe Kit includes the items from the Basic Kit plus:

  • BooBamboo: Revitalizing Conditioning Treatment for hair
  • Dr. Hauschka: One Daily Face Care Kit for Oily/ Impure Skin, one bottle of Intensive Treatment 01 for oily, acneic teen and adult skin under age 25
  • EcoTools: One foot file
  • North American Hemp Co: lip balm

You can get your own Deluxe Kit for $50 (valued at $250) or the Basic Kit for $20 (valued at $100) by visiting our Order Page to order your kit today! If you choose to have the kit shipped to you, additional shipping charges of $15 will apply. For local Ottawa pick up/deliveries or if you are ordering more than one kit, please contact us at info@sierraclub.ca or call toll free 1-888-810-4204. Please note that our supplies are limited - so order today!

Many thanks to our partner companies for their support and generous donations to the Healthy Beauty for Life campaign and cosmetic kits! All of the informational pamphlets, posters, and guides included in the kit are available for free download below!

Why Give Your Cosmetic Kit a Green Makeover?

When teenagers are first experimenting with makeup, it is important for parents to teach their children to think critically about the ingredients they are absorbing into their bodies and washing away into the environment. In a study by the Environmental Working Group, several toxic chemicals found in cosmetics were also found in the bodies of adolescent girls. The chemicals, including parabens and phthalates, are linked to cancer and hormone disruption. Using cosmetics or personal care products containing hormone disrupting chemicals is especially dangerous for teens as they are developing at this age. Hormones guide their development and any changes in hormone levels may affect their growth. Parents want to keep their kids safe and healthy, so limiting their exposure to such risks should be given more consideration.

Another problem is that little research has been done to find out what happens when we’re exposed to several different products containing hundreds of different chemicals in combination. Some chemicals may not cause any harm on their own until another type of chemical is added to the mix. We also forget that when we remove all these products from our skin, lips, hair, mouth, and eyes, it gets washed away and ends up in our water system. US and Canadian studies have detected chemicals from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in the environment. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are becoming a growing concern for sewage and water treatment as it is difficult to filter them out using current facilities.

A study by the Canadian federal government has found that triclosan, while generally safe for human use, is very toxic to our aquatic environment. The next time you and your teens use on cosmetics and personal care products, it is important to also remember that those products inevitably end up in our bodies - but our environment too!

Sources and Further Information:

  • Read the media release (April 22, 2012)
  • For more information on chemicals in cosmetics, read the article here.
  • Download our informational poster here (11x17).
  • Download our brochure with helpful shopping tips, facts, and the Top 20 cosmetic ingredients to avoid!
  • Download some great homemade cosmetic recipes.
  • If you want to check the toxic rating of the products you use, check out the Environmental Working Group (EWG) online Skin Deep database here.
  • Also check out the EWG report on chemicals found in teens’ bodies from cosmetics and other environmental sources.
  • Here’s another interesting article on the chemicals we absorb from beauty products.
  • Watch the video The Story of Cosmetics for an interesting look at the cosmetics industry.
  • Bookmark this webpage and check back regularly!

A Big Thank You To Our Campaign Sponsors!

For more information contact:

Laura Woodward, Coordinator
Health Beauty Campaign
lauraw@sierraclub.ca
Tel: (613) 241-4611