The Truth About Beauty by Kat James

In The Truth About Beauty, author Kat James explains the negative side effects of conventional beauty products and promotes the idea of a beauty transformation from the inside out.  She devotes a sizable section of chapter 3 to establishing why natural products are often overlooked by the media and why your doctor probably is not informed about the latest research on natural treatment options.  Her “process of shedding” has us ditching all kinds of harsh ingredients that only propagate the downward spiral of product addiction and symptom recurrence.

And then, there’s the resource guide.

The Living Beauty Resource Guide in the back of Kat’s book contains sixty pages of detailed information on the purest, most luxurious natural products on the market.  I found Kat’s book at the library, but the resource guide alone is reason to buy a copy for myself.  These aren’t your everyday “health store” beauty products.  I’ve seen some of them at Whole Foods, but others are from small businesses Kat refers to as microbrewed cosmetics:

microchemists [who] are saying no to mass productions and warehousing protocol and are giving up vast profits to create biologically active skin and body products that contain live, unadulterated ingredients.

Here are just a few of the intriguing products that caught my attention:

• Seaweed and algae wraps from Spa Technologies: My research into iodine deficiency has me contemplating the health-giving benefits of the ocean.  Who knew you could buy powdered algae in natural red, white, or green?  Helps remineralize the skin and reduce water retention.
• Hair care mineral cleansers from Logona Naturkosmetik: I’ve been using a baking soda rinse and a diluted apple cider vinegar rinse in my no-poo routine so far,  but it would be nice to have some variety.  These clay mineral cleansers are probably more nourishing than baking soda, too.
• Leave-on conditioner from Seachi.com: A quality leave-on conditioner is an important part of the Curly Girl method.  This one from Sea Chi is made from organic herbs and kombucha tea! It is pricey, but I just might have to try it.
• Scar-Dissolving products from BioCutis: Kat seems impressed by the main ingredient in these products, Helix Aspersa Müller GlycoConjugates (it’s made from snail secretion!). You definitely won’t find this one at CVS.
• Natural Insect Repellants from Mosquito Solutions: Researchers at Iowa State University found catnip was ten times more effective than DEET at repelling mosquitos! Why don’t we know about this? Remember what Kat says about natural products: natural = unpatentable.
• Waterless hand sanitizer from Sensibility Soaps: According to Kat, natural antimicrobials are too complex for bugs to adapt to, so these products won’t end up hurting the environment like conventional anti-bacterial hand soaps do.

In addition to all the great beauty product recommendations, Kat’s guide provides information on where to go to research ingredients, the most cutting-edge health newsletters and databases, and even resources for blood work and other important health tests.

I could go on, but you might as well just read this one for yourself. Or you can check out Kat’s website at www.informedbeauty.com.

*This post is part of Monday Mania hosted at The Healthy Home Economist, Real Food Wednesday hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop,  Works for Me Wednesday hosted at We Are THAT Family, and Fight Back Friday hosted at Food Renegade.