The Carrot Project

Environmental Working Group publishes the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, it’s a great resource for lots of products, they also have animal testing info.

I’m not very familiar with many cosmetics companies, and a broad search for issues did not turn up much for me. What are the specific problems here: marketing, toxins, pollution, animal testing, shoddy manufacturing, exploitation? Which company is the worst offender? And, what brands are big enough to attract attention and be widely distributed?

I think the most important things to focus on are what toxins they use, how much they pollute because of the ingredients they use, and if they test on animals. Thanks for the great feedback, I’m just wondering should I only post ethical products here or should I out the bad companies as well?

We are trying to find the best companies and products here, first and foremost. I asked about the worst offender for more of an overview of the situation. Of course we want to expose them though, any negative issues can be posted on their page for discussion, someday, when we are ready for more categories and pages. In the meantime we can post products, awards, resources and the like here so anyone looking for cosmetics information can find it, search is coming soon (and so are people).

Peta gives annual “Proggy” awards for cruelty free products. Here’s one that caught my eye.

2004- Avon-“In 1989, Avon Products, Inc., became the first major cosmetics company worldwide to end all animal testing for its products and ingredients.”

Burt’s Bees is also really committed to making quality, socially conscious products.

On their website they say, “At Burt’s Bees, our goal is to help create a world where people have the information and tools they need to make the highest ethical choices and do the best for themselves, their families and the environment. That’s no short order, but it is attainable. We’ve started with a strong and on-going commitment to a set of values and activities that support the well-being of people and our planet. We call it The Greater Good.”

That sounds right up the Carrot Project’s alley. They also have a strong commitment to being an all natural cosmetic company which is also trying to be as environmentally sustainable as possible. Social responsibility is a huge part of their mantra as well. Check out their site to be impressed: http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&contentPageId=49

I forgot all about Burt’s, here is their brand page, we can vote on them and talk and learn about them there. We have looked at them for toothpaste (even though I have never actually seen a tube) they do make it, and are becoming more widely available, I look forward to trying it someday, I actually got a shampoo bar from them once as a gift, I wish I could find another. You are right, the Carrot Project loves Burt’s Bees.

They have a bunch of carrots already, but I bet there are more to be discovered. Here is a custom search engine that is soon to be announced, give it a try. It gives a strong third party result for more extra crunchy carrots.

Thanks for being involved here Dani, we have never developed a product category in an open forum like this before, so it’s uncharted territory, you are really helping us out. To create this product category we need a pretty good canvas of the big brands for carrots. Any carrots that we dig up here can be transferred from this thread to the company when the category is created. A link and a rough description is all that we need for carrots, we will take care of the rest, also any carrot for any company can be dumped into feedback at any time. Any non-mainstream brands or alternatives you post on this thread will have to be put in again when the category is created, but sharing them now will help out.

Sorry I didn’t explain all of this sooner, I’m winging it. Thanks again

Hey, so just to be clear (sorry some tech stuff still bewilders me) if I continue to put products in this sections with a link, you will make an actual product to get carrots?

I also wanted to know what can I do to make the make-up cosmetics section an actual section I could put products in.

Thanks for also providing the search field, that has made it super easy to see what has already been posted.

Thanks again.

We don’t actually attach carrots to products, only to companies and their brands, for simplicity. GoodGuide rates individual products, which is great, for internet shopping, but no walk in shop will ever have that large a selection, so we try to identify the best brands for people to choose based on local availability. *We haven’t used GoodGuide as an expert yet, but we want to. maybe an average product score ranking would work for carrots? Seems fair to me, Jake?

To make a formal product category we need to find a bunch of carrots for the companies who make those kinds of products. I figure this is the best place we have to put them for now, maybe Carl and Jake have a better place in mind for the future, site functionality is not my department.

The search isn’t limited to what we already have on the site, all of our current experts get searched, but there are many more sites included that host opinions that should be helpful for the future. It’s a work in progress. A blog post on the carrot/expert relationship is coming soon, it should help everyone settle in a little better here. Our goal is a little vague at the moment, you are not the only one with questions, thanks for helping us work out some more explanations.

Aveda was and is still at the front of the line, in my opinion. Maybe not as “crunchy” as Burt’s Bees and Tom’s of Maine, etc, but for people that want high quality products that are still earth/animal/people friendly, this company has been a leader before it was trendy to be “aware”… www.aveda.com

I absolutely agree, Aveda has been setting a good standard which has proven to be popular among consumers for many years. This has also prompted other beauty supply to follow suit in order to entice the same customer base. Look at Origins new Organics line of beauty supplies. It is the first full line of prestige skin, body and hair care products to be certified by the USDA National Organic Program.

Origins

Dr. Bronners is another crunchie product. This soap has mutliple uses and sinces it’s %100 organic, there are no chemicals to worry about. Since the emergence of the famous “all-in-one soap” they have expanded and they make more products now, but if you ask me, it’s all about the soap! I first found out about it through a friend who used it for shampoo, soap, mouth wash, dish and clothe ditergent and many other things.

Dr. Bronner’s has lead an example by being a certificed Fairtrade company, and since they don’t have any advertising (they rely on word of mouth) they can focus on making the most sustainable (aka crunchiest) products possible. Click on the website to find out more, but I think they are one of the most crunchie “beauty/soap products” on the market. Dr. Bronner’s site Dr. Bronner’s activism site

Chemicals/enviro issues with beauty products and personal care products also enters into the world of baby products…lots of good and many very bad ones out there. This issue has had some good success in Europe and I think US companies are starting to pay more attention. Ideal Byte and Simple Steps (NRDC) have some good lists of things to avoid in products.

Katharine

This is some great information. Is there a link you could provide in order for other users to easily click on it and inform themselves?

I have been getting Ideal Bite for some time and think some recommendations are better than others but they provide links. The one I found the most useful is the following on chemicals to avoid in personal care prodcuts: http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/chemical-independence-resolutions-week

NRDC’s Simple Steps is fairly new and I am working on getting info on how they come to their recommendations…here is their site: http://www.simplesteps.org/content/blogcategory/14/34/