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From The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics:
O: Get Your Story Straight on Cosmetic Safety!
The go-to guide for millions of American women, O, The Oprah Magazine, featured a misleading, slanted article on a topic that we care a great deal about – safety and cosmetics – in its March issue. “Toxic Cosmetics are Safe!” it declared.
Then last week the April issue hit the stands (April already?), ably outlining ways to reduce toxic exposures from things like plastics, household cleansers and, yes, even cosmetics. “Cosmetics are not safe!” it admitted.
“Huh?” said Jane Reader. If you’re as shocked as we were, join us in sending O the gift of thought.
Mostly we’re peeved about the misinformation in the March piece, “If Looks Could Kill” by Jolene Edgar, which ignored respected researchers who have generated numerous scientific studies on the products and chemicals in question, and chose to quote several industry-funded scientists instead.
The article even went so far as to assure readers that “any and all potential carcinogenic ingredients in hair dyes were removed from the market years ago,” so pregnant women need not worry about dying their hair.
Dear friends, dark hair dyes remain one of the most toxic cosmetic products on the market today. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working hard to get hazardous chemicals out of hair dyes – and other cosmetics and personal care products – but as of right now we have a long way to go and we need your help. (Please click here for more details on the incorrect information in “If Looks Could Kill,” and some good sources to learn more about this important women’s health issue.)
We know that O wants to do right by its readers – so what gives?
Please help us send the message to O, The Oprah Magazine, and to women’s magazines nationwide: Your readership wants more of the truth, and less backwash from the cosmetics industry that profits from our purchases, especially when public health is on the line.
Visit O’s Website to submit your letter to the editors.
This is very interesting. I admire your prompt response. The letter written to O is very well stated, you have made a very significant point about improper or bias writting [effecting a great number of women readers]. Thank you.
Hi Shannon,
I spent more than 20 years in the beauty industry. I was also a hairdresser for several years. I remember in beauty school being told that Johnson Baby Shampoo was the harsh shampoo on the market. It could strip the wax right off your floors. You could actually wrap a perm with the shampoo and use a neutralizer and successfully perm the hair. That’s strong. The reason it is so strong has something to do with the ingredient they use so that it doesn’t make the babies eyes burn. So if your hair color turns out too dark, use baby shampoo or windex also works great!
Skinplistic–I can’t take credit on writing the above. It is from The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and I was trying to spread the word. I did see that you wrote about CoverToxTen on your site. I also wrote basically the same thing on Pierce Mattie’s Beauty Pro blog.
Hi Sue–Somehow I can’t imagine using windex in my hair! lol.
Thanks for the informative post. I’m off to O’s website to send my message!
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Ah, the power of one media regulating another media. Cool. I heard in my communication class that when a company receives one letter about a certain issue, they consider it as 200 letters because they know other people must feel this way.
So whenever you feel something ain’t sittin’ right, speak up! Most likely, there tons of others feeling the same way.