Good Queen Bess, famed for her lovely complexion, once sent the Sultana a small bottle of her secret skin care treatment, and the Sultana sent an extravagant gift of fine textiles to thank her. Women everywhere value that magical substance that will give them a beautiful complexion. Fortunately, we've come a long way from mixing lead and beeswax to put on our faces. (You had to "mind your beeswax" because if you smiled or frowned it could crack!) Or have we?

Thanks to the better-living-through-chemicals mindset of the past century, it's only recently that most of us began to question whether synthetic skin care is safe or even sensible. There's still a mystique attached to high-tech ingredients that promise to give us flawless skin.

Most importantly, the use of synthetic and chemical ingredients is hugely profitable for manufacturers, so they are loath to change their ways. It's also very convenient for them, since synthetics are 100% predictable, always available, and tidy compared to whole plant ingredients. (Most likely, whoever made the Queen's special potion had to collect a huge number of rose petals, know when certain precious herbs were ready to be harvested, and follow painstaking procedures to get everything ready to mix together smoothly, all the while hoping that the weather wouldn't turn cold before a certain tincture had acquired the proper potency, and so on.)
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As consumers we have become increasingly aware of what we eat, carefully checking labels and avoiding ingredients that could be harmful to our health. But even conscientious consumers might not know the hazards found in cosmetics. Women are especially susceptible to the $35 billion cosmetics industry, which encompasses a wide range of products including make-up, perfume, deodorant, toothpaste, lotions, moisturizers, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, shower gels and sunscreen. Even if you don't use make-up or perfume and utilize a minimal skin care regimen, you could still be unwittingly absorbing toxins.

Those of us who use only "green" products might think we're steering clear of harmful ingredients, but many brands marketed as "natural" or "organic" contain dangerous chemicals and synthetics. Following are important facts about the skin care industry, along with a list of ingredients that can be found in the top "green" brands. Common sense tells us that clearly these ingredients have no place in our skin, our bodies and, consequently, our environment.
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