In Case You Missed It

Summer might be officially over, but this current heatwave has kept the sun out in FULL force. I pretty much melted biking to class today...

Growing up with nicknames like Casper, Snow White, and just "pale", applying sunscreen is now actually an involuntary muscle contraction. As I rubbed in my Neutrogena face sunscreen (SPF 50+) this morning, I rather clumsily got some in my eye. The ensuing BURN got me thinking (and crying) - what is in this stuff?

Naturally, I took to the interwebs, and ended up at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) website's 2012 Sunscreen Guide and turns out my daily sunscreen is............ 

Moderate.

While I didn't delve deep into the science of this score, I did learn it exceeds the 0-2 "safe range" and that there are what EWG considers "healthier" options out there (lower scores = better performance).

Now here's the In Case You Missed It Monday Montage of recent skincare and sustainability stuff from around the interwebs:

• Now the FTC's Green Guides requires companies to provide proof of any stated environmental benefits on product labels - this includes "eco-friendly" and "green". It also now accounts for "environmental tradeoffs," meaning if a company claims their lotion has organic lavender extract, they must prove it didn't get shipped from the other side of the planet. Is it just me, or are these things obvious?? What were they considering before??

• As I referred to above, the EWG SkinDeep 2012 Sunscreen Guide provides consumers with a "Hall of Shame" that profiles some of the sunscreen industry's worst offenders. Tsk, tsk. 

• Online retail giant Amazon.com recently launched a green-focused shopping site Vine.com - though not the first of its kind, having a mainstream commercial parent company may help Vine reach more customers. I know what I'll be doing during class in my free time.

• Following last year's pledge to remove "chemicals of concern" from baby products, Johnson & Johnson is now pledging to remove potentially harmful and carcinogenic chemicals from its lotions and adult toiletries by 2015. 

• For any GLEEks out there, Lea Michele's recently signed deal with L'Oreal cosmetics has caused controversy due to a) L'Oreal's animal testing and b) Lea Michele's activism against animal testing. Ummm what was her agent thinking!

• The Sustainable Cosmetics Summit in Paris next month will for the first time cover the impact of technology on the cosmetics industry. Read more here. I wish I was going to this...

It's funny how one Google query can turn into a multiple-hour internet exploration, isn't it?

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!