The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released their annual sunscreen scare report to help mislead consumers about how to take care of their skin. On the 24th of May, the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group sent out a press release stating that retinyl palmitate (a form of vitamin A) in sunscreens is linked to skin cancer and tumor growth. Not surprisingly, within hours of the release we received a flurry of emails from concerned consumers. Once again, the EWG has propagated incomplete, ridiculous information under the guise of being consumer watchdogs—and once again lots of consumers are eyeing their sunscreens with the same suspicion they’d normally reserve for an unmarked vat of toxic chemicals.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) was implicated in this report, with the basic sentiment being that the risks associated with retinyl palmitate and skin damage was something they were aware of yet failed to warn the public about. Reading the EWG report, you’d think a large percentage of sunscreen-wearing consumers would be stricken with cancer (never mind that sun exposure in and of itself is the most potent carcinogen we’re exposed to on a daily basis) by the very products they’re using in good faith to prevent this disease. In fact, the EWG report points to the increased use of sunscreen as the cause for the increase in current skin cancer cases. This is the very definition of stupidity. The real reason for rising skin cancer rates is the simple fact that today’s skin cancer cases are the result of decades of long-term unprotected sun exposure. There’s also the fact that research shows only 10% of the population even uses sunscreen on a regular basis. 10%! Now that’s a statistic worthy of a press release!

The EWG’s assertions about sunscreen efficacy flies in the face of hundreds of published, peer-reviewed studies from medical and research centers all over the world proving sunscreen can prevent skin cancer as well as wrinkles and skin discolorations.

In terms of vitamin A in sunscreens being a concern, the EWG seems to be completely ignorant of the fact that retinyl palmitate is one of the primary sources of antioxidant protection found naturally in skin (Source: Toxicology and Industrial Health, May 2006, pages 181–191).

The Personal Care Products Council, lead by former FDA chief John Bailey (himself a scientist), was quick to respond to the allegations in the EWG’s report. This group represents the global cosmetic and personal care industry, and is on the leading edge of not only product innovation, but of safety. Here are the highlights you must know:

Sunscreens: General Info

• The safety and efficacy of sunscreen products have been thoroughly studied and tested by scientists and regulatory authorities throughout the world.

• There is an extensive body of research supporting the safety and efficacy of commercially-available sunscreen actives—far too much to list here.

• Daily use of a well-formulated sunscreen rated SPF 15 or greater is recommended not only by the FDA, but by the American Academy of Dermatology, the Skin Cancer Foundation, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

• Sunscreens in the U.S. are regulated as over-the-counter (OTC) drugs by the FDA and must undergo pre-market approval that involves rigorous scientific assessment including safety and efficacy substantiation according to FDA standards. You will be pleased to know that these standards are among the most rigorous in the world.

The EWG’s Inaccurate Sunscreen Assertions

• EWG’s statements against sunscreens are in direct conflict with the established scientific and FDA safety assessments of sunscreen products and their ingredients. This includes scientific and regulatory bodies in the European Union, Canada, and several other countries.

• According to the Personal Care Products Council, the EWG has invented its own method for calculating how much protection a sunscreen provides; however, this system is “based on very questionable scientific methodology” that has “proven to be inaccurate and unreliable by sunscreen experts around the world.”

• Dermatologist Dr. Zoe Draelos had the following comments about the EWG’s latest report: “I think it’s very sad. A lot of their sunscreen recommendations are based on very old technology, and some of the best sunscreens on the market have newer chemicals that are much more effective. A lot of their opinions are not keeping pace with technology and an understanding of the science of these formulations.”

Vitamin A Isn’t Going to Give You Cancer
Here are the key facts about vitamin A (including the retinyl palmitate form) and sunscreen use that you need to know:

• Retinyl palmitate is approved by the FDA as a food additive, as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug, and a prescription drug. To achieve premarket approval, the FDA requires extensive and rigorous testing. This vitamin wouldn’t be widely used if pre-market tests showed it to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing).

• According to the Personal Care Products Council statement, “In 2000, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) published a notice stating that it would study the potential of retinyl palmitate to enhance UV radiation-induced photocarcinogenisity. While the study is listed as ‘in progress,’ the NTP recently released preliminary data on their Web site; scientific peer review of the entire study is now scheduled for late 2010 or early 2011. Peer review is essential before the results of a study can be accurately interpreted or used to support conclusions. It must be noted that this NTP study was not designed to study retinyl palmitate in the presence or absence of sunscreen formulations.” Therefore, the EWG reached their conclusion based on preliminary, inconclusive data.

• A truly credible scientific organization would never evaluate such preliminary data and make recommendations based upon it, especially those that lead to consumer confusion and fear (with fear being what the EWG seems to thrive on).

• Retinyl palmitate has been shown in UVB exposure studies to offer sun protection all by itself, and it is a potent antioxidant (Sources: International Journal of Pharmaceutics, October 2007, pages 181–189; and Journal of Investigative Dermatology, November 2003, pages 1,163–1,167).

• In vitro (test tube) research showed that pure vitamin A (retinol) has a mutagenic effect on cultured skin cells when exposed to UV light. However, the conclusion reached was as follows: “Vitamin A in the skin resides in a complex environment that in many ways is very different from the chemical environment in solution and in vitro test systems. Relevant clinical studies or studies in animal models are therefore needed to establish whether the pro-oxidant activity of photoexcited vitamin A is observed in vivo [on human skin], and to assess the related risks.”

• The studies examining vitamin A’s role in the presence of UV light did not involve the use of a well formulated sunscreen or credible sunscreen actives. Although damaging effects upon exposure to UV light were tied to vitamin A, there was no comparison to see what would happen if the lab samples were treated with sunscreen prior to UV exposure (Sources: Toxicology and Industrial Health, November 2007, pages 625–631; Toxicology Letters, May 2006, pages 30–43; and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, June 2006, pages 185–190).

• We know that vitamin A is an antioxidant, and we also know that antioxidants break down in the presence of sunlight, generating by-products that can potentially cause damage. This is how antioxidants work to protect your skin from the greater source of damage, which is sunlight—and it’s precisely why daily sunscreen use is essential!

The EWG’s Own Conflict of Interest

You may have noticed that the EWG recommends a small percentage of sunscreens. But did you also notice that the sunscreens they recommend as safe are available for purchase via links from their site? By linking to the sunscreen manufacturer’s Web site and making a purchase, you are adding to the financial coffers of the EWG, giving them the support they need to continue these unfounded, needlessly alarming reports. This represents the EWG’s commercial interest; they only want you to purchase the sunscreens that they think are safe (and they leave out hundreds of sunscreens we know to be perfectly safe and effective). If they were really concerned about your health and well-being, they would be more open to presenting accurate, peer-reviewed information and would have to admit that their stance on sunscreens is mostly without merit.

In summation, there is no credible, substantiated reason to avoid using sunscreens that contain any form of vitamin A, including retinyl palmitate. Following the EWG’s advice about sunscreen use and which sunscreens are safe not only severely limits your options, but is not based on criteria that even a novice scientist would consider wise.

First things first: I love my mom. She’s an incredibly sweet, caring woman and it is because of her nurturing I was able to develop an inquisitive, determined nature (as a kid, I was the human version of Curious George and no end of exasperation for my mother).

Like women all over the world, my mom checks with me in my role as the director of The Cosmetics Cop Team about some of her beauty concerns. Lately, it’s been about hair-care products. At age 63, like many women Mom is experiencing thinner, more fragile hair. Mom states that her hair is thinner, drier, and harder to manage than ever. She’s always on the lookout for new styling products, and often asks me about the Redken items her salon uses (I advise her to save her money and she typically doesn’t fall for the sales pitch).

Not too long ago, she became overly interested and excited about Kerastase, the ultra-expensive salon brand owned by L’Oreal. It didn’t help that her sister (who definitely has money to burn) raves about the products. My mom took her recommendations seriously because they have similar hair types. Eventually, she wrote to me asking for less expensive alternatives (I had a feeling the high cost of Kerastase would get to her). Her Kerastase phase seems to be over, and she’s been happy with some of the comparable products I recommended from another L’Oreal-owned company, Garnier Fructis.

Here’s where things went awry: Mom’s looking for a lightweight styling product to tame her hair and add shine but not weight. I recommended the Aveeno Nourish + Style Volumizing Foam. It’s a good, inexpensive liquid mousse that should work really well for her, as she heat-styles her hair. She thanked me and then proceeded to check out this product online. Several minutes later, another email from Mom landed in my Inbox:

“Honey, one person who reviewed this product said it left a residue. Now I’m not so sure about it.” I wrote back and asked why she zeroed in on the one negative comment (which we didn’t find to be true in our review for this product) and seemed to ignore the 20+ positive (I mean really positive) reviews also posted there. She didn’t have an answer but that one negative comment stood out like a sore thumb and her trepidation soared despite what I had told her. She was worried it would feel heavy on her hair, too.

I responded as follows: “Mom, I understand your concern, but you don’t know anything about that woman and why she wrote what she did. For example, what if this reviewer doesn’t wash her hair that often? What if she uses a hairspray that leaves a residue, or double processes her hair? What other products does she use? What is her definition of residue? What kind of hair does she have? Without more information there is no way to know why she liked or disliked a product.”

Of course, the sobering truth is Mom just didn’t believe me—at least not 100%. She’d rather believe an anonymous woman online than her own son, despite the fact I’ve been studying and writing about cosmetic products (including hair care) for over 10 years. I mentioned this exchange to Paula, and she could relate. She remarked that it was years before she could get her mother to stop shopping for skin care at Neiman Marcus in tandem with her friends who only wanted to believe expensive meant better (Paula’s mom didn’t break this habit until Paula created her own line PaulasChoice.com).

Sigh. It isn’t easy being a Cosmetic Cop. There are so many hurdles to overcome like obnoxious advertising and thousands of opinions from people without the research or expertise to evaluate or really understand what they are using. Personal experience means something, but given the wide, often fickle range of preferences and expectations, it’s not the most reliable way to assess a product’s value or efficacy.

But my own mother! That is just disheartening. I love you Mom (and, to be fair, I’m not the perfect son and, like everyone else, have my weaknesses) but sometimes I just want to pick up the phone after these email exchanges and yell saying, “Mom, just buy what I tell you, I am 1000% right. I have the science, research, and the largest comparison database of cosmetic products in the world I use to base my recommendations on!” Of course, if I did that she’d likely acquiesce and promise to listen better next time. But I know it’s only a matter of time before she sends me another question about a product a friend, co-worker, or her hairstylist mentions, and we’ll go around and around again.

A caller to my weekly Internet radio show had a question about a skin-care product she had been using. With earnest, she told me she bought a product called AminoCare and wanted to know what I thought of this alleged “Genetic Solution for Anti-Aging.” Before I could say much of anything, she made sure to tell me AminoCare was created by a doctor who had a brilliant reputation for curing cancer. Wow! Somehow, this phenomenal achievement was missed by mainstream media, leading medical organizations, and the FDA. Along with stopping cancer in its tracks, this doctor found time to create anti-aging skin care capable of stopping cells from aging (I guess if you can cure cancer you may as well keep going and stop aging, too).

She had heard about AminoCare from a friend, who heard about it from another friend or something like that. I was choking back laughter and frustration, though I’m fairly certain I was yelling, “You can’t really believe this crap!” or worse. But she did believe it (at least enough to buy the products), just like lots of women do. But the reason she was calling, despite her enthusiasm about this doctor’s credentials, was she was now having doubts. After some prodding on my part, she said she and her husband had been using AminoCare for a year but hadn’t noticed any difference. Obviously, AminoCare hadn’t cured aging after all. What a shock. Now this vulnerable, naïve, dear woman was going to try something else (I can’t remember what products she was ready to believe could stop wrinkles and aging) and asked what I thought of these new ones she was considering. She mentioned the products were supposed to lift skin back into place, which started another round of ranting on my part—thousands of products with thousands of identical claims and we wonder endlessly which story sounds the most convincing.

But back to AminoCare: It was clear from the ingredients in these products that they weren’t even well formulated and the entire scheme was banking on the snake oil ingredient tamanu oil. Period. That’s the doctor’s answer to stopping aging and wrinkles. Imagine: curing cancer and wrinkles with two creams and some supplements! Now if that isn’t the epitome of marketing nonsense I don’t know what is.

The day after my radio show was broadcast one of my listeners sent me this (with a few edits from me):

The lady who called into Paula’s show yesterday about a product called AminoCare: she stated something about the reputation of the product’s creator. I would highly encourage your staff to perform a web search for Stanislaw Burzynski. I am not sure what she knows about his “excellent” reputation, but he has made the news a lot here in Houston over his controversial cancer treatments.

I don’t know much, other than what I’ve read; however, the gentleman apparently has a long history of not following federal laws or FDA regulations and has been indicted (although not convicted) several times over the issue. This doctor is obsessed with urine-based therapeutics, so I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to learn that he probably pees in his skin care line.

I personally don’t understand why all of these people make things so hard on themselves; quit the nonsense, and just don’t buy anything without Paula and her Cosmetics Cop team’s blessings.

Best of luck with your research, and thank all of you for making skin care so much easier.

Jennifer

Thank you, Jennifer. Your research is spot on. I decided to see if there was any reference to Dr. Burzynski on one of my favorite medical myth-busting sites, www.quackwatch.org. I wasn’t surprised to find three paragraphs about his shenanigans in an article on questionable cancer therapies. As you mentioned, this doctor has been in lots of legal trouble for his purported cancer treatments, and yes, they are derived from urine. You can read the entire article here.

As far as his AminoCare products, the tamanu oil is absolutely nothing to get excited about. It is just one more of the hundreds of overhyped cosmetic ingredients accompanied by marketing stupidity that blows your hopes out of the water and grabs your money as you drown in useless and limited or problematic skin-care products (for example, AminoCare doesn’t sell a sunscreen and doesn’t recommend one either; I guess this doctor missed the proven association between sun damage and aging). There is no research anywhere proving that tamanu oil can stop aging, reverse wrinkles, or make you look even one second younger.

By the way, anyone considering the AminoCare products should know the company does not allow returns. Here’s part of what you see on the AminoCare site when you click on return policy: “It is our company policy that all sales are considered final and we do not issue refunds for any items which have been purchased, used or unused.” Love me or leave me is this “doctor’s” philosophy, I think that says it all—leave as fast as you can!

Most cosmetic companies don’t help us with the work we do at Beautypedia, especially not in comparison to what they do for fashion magazine writers. Even asking for something as simple as a press release is often like pulling teeth. That isn’t the case with Procter & Gamble, the company behind Olay, Pantene, Aussie, Cover Girl, SK-II among other beauty product lines. More often than not, P&G has provided us with the information we ask for. They have been more transparent than any other cosmetic company we reviewed, and considering we haven’t always reviewed their products favorably, that is really saying something!

So when P&G’s well organized and professional external relations department cordially invited us to tour their innovation labs in Cincinnati, I was sent to represent Paula’s Cosmetics Cop Team. Lucky me!

I wish I could tell you everything about my trip, but to properly document the whirlwind, three-day experience would take several blog entries (however, if there’s something specific you’re curious about, let me know in the comments and I’ll let you know what happened). I will say that P&G kept me busier than I thought possible: virtually from the time I landed until it was time to board the plane back home, I was immersed in a veritable Willy Wonka’s Factory for beauty.

As I toured the facilities, each room was a new laboratory or product in development (all with code names!) to discover. Some rooms were tiny and full of microscopes and slides, while others were auditorium-sized spaces with giant mixers and drums full of products. To my delight, the chemists who oversaw my tour told me that they have well-worn copies of Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me in their offices! How cool is that?

One of the most impressive and memorable parts of the tour were P&G’s hair labs, which seemed an endless maze of zigzagged hallways filled with people busily researching, developing, and testing Procter & Gamble hair products (they own Pantene, Herbal Essences, Nice `n Easy, Frederic Fekkai, etc…). In addition to housing a full service color salon for product testing on real people, P&G also owns thousands of pounds of human hair. This hair is made into small sample sets called “switches,” used to test the efficacy of hair products.

And when I say test, I mean they literally wash, condition, dry, flat iron or curl and then style the hair switch to see how it behaves with each product. Any room I entered revealed dozens of employees, decked out in lab coats and safety glasses, working with the hair: washing, drying, styling, etc. Once they’ve styled the hair switch, they run the tests with machines to measure shine, strength, volume—just about every aspect of hair care you can imagine.

I had absolutely no idea the extent of testing P&G does before a product goes on the market. Most fascinating to me was that a lot of the product testing isn’t done for efficacy, but also for cultural and regional preference. It was explained that consumer research shows that Latin Americans, for example, prefer their shampoo not to lather for fear that it’s too drying, while North Americans prefer silkier textures and lots of lather (but not too much), so that these consumers can tell it’s “working.” None of these aesthetic aspects really affect the efficacy of a hair product; they’re all tweaked based on what consumer feedback and trends tells the company they’d prefer.

As a result of P&G’s ongoing regional market research, there are seeming endless permutations of product formulas for Procter & Gamble customers across the globe. And now that I understand how contrived the texture and consistency of products can be, it’s also made me much more aware of some hair care products with aesthetic-based claims regarding silkiness, lather and so on. Good to know!

All of this hair hub-bub leads up to P&G unveiling their massive re-launch of their Pantene hair care line. Even though I’m forbidden (until June) from sharing any of the salient details of the new Pantene products, I can say that we’ve already received all 66 products here in the offices (I know, 66 can you believe that?) and we’ll have each and every product reviewed this summer on Beautypedia!

What about the current crop of Pantene? Expect to see those gone from store shelves by the end of May. And expect to see me back in Cincinnati should P&G extend another invitation to view their remarkable facilities!

Here’s a secret: I didn’t really wash my face until I was 25 years old (Paula is probably gasping right now!). During that time, I kept thinking that if I did wash my face, it would upset the balance of bacteria on my facial skin and cause breakouts. Of course, not only is that theory ridiculous, I now realize it probably contributed to the moderate breakouts I already had. At this point I’m willing to admit that I was just being lazy or arrogant (doesn’t every young person know everything there is to know about everything?). Ah, youth.

Finally, once I started washing my face, it was only sporadically—and never with a well-formulated cleanser (something I’ve learned to identify since becoming part of The Cosmetics Cop Team). Like so many young women and girls, I gravitated toward the cleansers that would tingle (because I thought that meant it was “working”) or the ones that were really strong (labeled as “deep cleaning”) and, sure enough, the breakouts persisted. Then, at around age 30, I started mixing my own facial cleansers at home with olive oil, glycerin and lavender water. Those moisturized my skin well enough, but they didn’t address my blackheads nor did they help my breakouts. And while my homemade cleanser made me feel confident that I wasn’t putting anything mysterious on my face nor was I over-spending for products—alas, my face never really felt clean.

Then, I was offered a job at Paula’s Choice, which I enthusiastically accepted. Once I started working here, I began experimenting with our line of products, which is encouraged (if not expected), and I still remember the first product I used: One Step Face Cleanser for Dry Skin. I followed the directions to the letter, and sure enough, my face felt clean, but not tight; moisturized, but not greasy. My makeup was gone, but there had been no lather and no awful burning in my eyes. It was truly the most revelatory skin-care experience I had ever had—that is, until I tried the 2% BHA liquid the following day! Suddenly things were happening on my face—and not happening on my face—like never before.

It’s been a year now, and the 2% BHA Liquid, or my “Magic Potion” as my husband and I affectionately call it, is the one Paula’s Choice product that I simply could not go without. I’ve tried all of our cleansers and moisturizers, and while I have my favorites, I could certainly substitute one for another in a pinch. That cannot be said for the 2% BHA Liquid. As an equal-to-none exfoliant, it has diminished my blackheads (chin & nose), improved the smoothness of my skin, reduced the size of my pores, evened out my skin tone, and when I put it on at night I can count on waking up with glowing skin. And breakouts are truly a thing of the past! Not only did I never really think this kind of skin was possible, but I certainly didn’t think that a single, affordably-priced product could do it all. I’ve come a long way from homemade olive oil cleansers and half-baked theories about bacteria, and my skin is all the better for it.

All of this has led me to wonder: What’s your can’t-live-without-it product? I’d love to know which ones you love from any lines—but especially ours!

Lots of women love going to a cosmetic counter, salon, spa, or their local Sephora store to play with the skin-care and makeup products on display there (I know I do!). It is almost impossible to pass through the cosmetic section of a department store without something catching your eye. The irresistibly arrayed and easily accessible tester units beckon you to try on a lipstick, foundation, concealer, eye shadow, or moisturizer directly on your face. But you might want to think twice before doing that again because it may be riskier than you think.

Despite the fun you can have at the cosmetic counter, in reality these tester units are almost always rife with bacteria, mold, or fungus (or all three), and that isn’t funny. There hasn’t been a lot of research on the issue, but the little that exists has shown the pretty lip gloss or moisturizer you’ve just tried on is probably contaminated with microbes which can include staphylococcus and even E. coli.

When you think about it, this really isn’t all that surprising. That lipstick you’ve just tried on could have easily been already used by hundreds of other women with unknown hygiene or health (think herpes or pink eye). While preservatives in cosmetics do a great job of reducing the risk of contamination, they only can do so much and they get less effective with time and exposure to numerous microbes from people. Plus, a product’s preservative stability isn’t tested for use by hundreds of users.

In your daily life you would not willingly share your own makeup and skin care with countless women you don’t know, but that is exactly what you are doing when you try on a cosmetic that’s open and available on the counter. It becomes even more problematic on a busy day as a tester is used repeatedly in a short period of time. When this occurs, the preservative system doesn’t have enough time to kill off the contaminants, and that leaves you vulnerable to picking up something you don’t want.

Thankfully, at some cosmetic counters there are salespeople and makeup artists who try very hard to be as sanitary as possible when helping women test products. But given how busy a cosmetic counter can become or if no salespeople are present (which happens quite a bit), or the person behind the counter isn’t well trained, sanitation efforts go right out the door.

While we know there are microbes running amok at the cosmetic counter, the real issue is what are the risks to you? Unfortunately no one knows. Theoretically, if someone with herpes just tried on that lipstick or lip gloss it could get transferred to you, same for getting pink eye from an eye liner pencil or mascara, but there just isn’t any data to reference one way or the other. Theory isn’t fact and there is no evidence anywhere that women are getting any sort of disease from cosmetic tester displays, but they’re not bastions of hygiene, either.

Should you play it safe and avoid the cosmetic counter altogether? Personally I’m not going to give up playing at the cosmetic counter, but there are ways you can still enjoy the experience while playing it as safe as possible:

• Eye shadows, pressed powders, loose powders, and powder blushes have the least risk of containing microbes because they contain ingredients bacteria, fungus, and molds don’t like, so they are probably the safest for you to play with. It can be helpful to scrape off some eye shadow (you want to be the most cautious with your eyes) on to Kleenex and then apply it, but check with the salesperson first before you damage a company’s testers.

• Lipsticks and lip glosses are problematic to trust, but for lipstick you can roll up the tube and take some color from the bottom. You can also ask the salesperson if they have alcohol spray so you can spray the top of the lipstick or the applicator for the lip gloss before you try it on. Be sure to allow several seconds for the alcohol to disinfect before applying the product to your lips.

• Mascaras should never be tested at a cosmetic counter. The application and applicator makes it the riskiest item on the display unit. What about cosmetic counters that offer disposable, single-use brush applicators? They’re a nice touch, but you don’t know if the person before you double-dipped or, for whatever reason, didn’t have hygiene at the front of her mind.

• Eye pencils are best tried on your hand, not your eyes. This especially applies to liquid eyeliners, which are almost always water-based. Used on multiple people, liquid eyeliners serve as a fertile breeding ground for bacteria.

• Foundations should be tested on the side of the face away from the eyes and mouth to be the safest, but using a clean or disposable sponge is best of all so everyone keeps their fingers out of the product.

• For concealer or any product in a tube, squeeze out a little amount on a Kleenex and discard. The contents at the top are the most likely to be contaminated. Next, squeeze out a bit more on a Kleenex and use that to test.

• Skin-care products are best tested on your hands to judge the texture (you can’t tell efficacy with one application anyway so there is no benefit of putting it on your face or eye area), or ask the salesperson for a sample if available.

• Brushes should be sprayed with alcohol before you use them. Wait for the brushes to dry before using them.

• It would be ideal (though given the pervasiveness of jar packaging, not realistic) to test products whose containers kept fingers out of contact with the contents. Products packaged in airless containers or with pump or dropper applicators are safer than those housed in open-mouth jars.

• Tester units at salons and spas which have far less traffic than department stores are a safer bet as well (though of course there are less brands and options to try on—but if you are just trying to judge color these can work great).

After a flurry of meetings in the office the other day, I sat quietly at my desk for just a moment before the phone rang. I picked up the receiver and said, “Thank you for calling Paula’s Choice, this is Deborah, how can I help you?”

While this greeting is considered standard in the world of customer service, something at that very moment struck me and I realized just how different Paula’s Choice is when it comes to our level and dedication to customer service. In fact, we are by most measures fanatic about it. Our company culture truly believes in service at the highest possible level. Each and every department in our organization wants the best for the Paula’s Choice consumer and while we want to generate orders, we think it is far more important to be sure you get the right products (not just sell you more and more products or, even worse, the wrong products), along with services that make you feel comfortable and safe and better help you navigate the complicated world of skin care and makeup.

Upon reflection, I am proud to tell you that many of our meetings are about what we can do for YOU. From specials and upcoming articles to packaging, customer service troubleshooting, generous return policies (better than almost any other company we’ve heard of), easy refunds or credits when you have any problem, and even free rush shipping when we make a mistake. You are always the focus. Although I personally hear from many of you that we are meeting or beating expectations, I thought, why not open this up to further discussion? What I want to know is: Are we meeting the mark we strive for daily? Are we truly stepping up to serve you at the highest level possible?

We do a lot of talking to answer your questions, but we also do a lot of listening and I am curious to hear what you have to say. So now it’s your turn. What’s on your mind about how we can do more for you here at Paula’s Choice?

I think I left off my European travel tales with Harsha heading for Mumbai and me flying off to Rome where I met my girlfriend Julie for our 9-day Italian escapade. Almost everything went off without a hitch. Flights were on time, drivers were where they were supposed to be, the hotel was lovely, our guide was wonderful, and the food, ah, my taste buds and hips will never be the same (but my hips weren’t doing so well when I first got to Europe anyway).

The sole hitch was a struggle at the Rome airport trying to find the right baggage claim area after I deplaned. Seems once you are in the wrong place in the Rome airport, it is a convoluted, circuitous, confusing process to get to the right place. After 45 minutes of asking directions and getting different answers and misreading signs (which make no sense in any language), my frustration had built to a crescendo that finally burst when I asked a policeman for help and instantly started blubbering. I felt like a child lost at a shopping mall looking desperately for a parent. My only solace was not being the only passenger trying to find the right baggage claim location (even Italians can’t make sense of the signs). Organization, Italian style!

Shortly after being reunited with my luggage I was in Roma and hungering for pasta, pizza, and pomodoro!

Without question, Rome is my favorite European city. Most of Italy is a tourist’s dream come true. It is the best of everything: ornate churches, opulent palaces, villas filled with antiquities, art, and sculpture for as far as the eye can see. There is also rolling countryside, greenery, mountains, a shoreline dotted with picturesque villages, incredible dining, charming shops, and palatial museums adorned with stunning décor and art work created by artisans endowed by the Divine. Of course, we went to all the traditional places and I am pleased to report that it was perfect with relatively tame crowds all around.

Visually, there is so much to take in it becomes instantly overwhelming. There are moments of breathlessness mixed with astonishment and wonder. In particular I am still surprised at my reaction every time I see Michelangelo’s Pieta at the Vatican, plus the Vatican is without question one of the most gorgeous buildings in the world. Michelangelo’s Pieta is mesmerizing and haunting, an achievement of sheer genius and passion. But it is all astounding. This time I was surprised to find out that all the “paintings” in the Vatican I’ve stared at during previous visits weren’t paintings at all; rather, they are elaborate, unexplainably complex, intricate tile masterpieces. We finished our Vatican visit with the spellbinding, enthralling beauty of the Sistine Chapel. Viewing the ceiling and walls painted by Michelangelo can be a painful experience as you linger over the art work towering overhead with your neck stretched and wrenched back and upward for way too long so you can take it all in.

When all is said done, all of the art and architecture of Rome are not about the Catholic church, but rather a living testament of the soul’s need to express itself through diverse mediums and arduous endeavor. No wonder all roads lead to Rome; it is truly a Mecca for anyone with eyes hungry to see unparalleled parts of exquisite European beauty prefaced by a torturous, complex history.

After Rome, Julie and I went to Milan for the penultimate part of our trip to Italy: Opening night at La Scala to see Placido Domingo singing the title role in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. Milan is a lovely city, but it is really just a city with some fabulous shopping for the too thin and too extravagant crowd that also happens to have a mind-blowing massive cathedral (I know, not exactly unusual for Italy). But what it does have that no other city in the world has is La Scala, the pinnacle of opera houses where the who’s who of operatic talent has graced its stage. I couldn’t believe it. Adding to the drama of the moment was the delivery of the tickets I bought almost six months earlier: They didn’t show up until the night before the performance. I thought I was going to faint! When that anxiety ended it was all well worth it. The performances were ardent and the musical quality pure and thundering. I felt blessed and humbled by the experience.

From Milan we traveled to Florence which is yet another scenic, idyllic, art-endowed city with the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, and the Arno River cradled by adobe colored buildings with classic tiled roofs and lush grape-vined hillsides spanning the horizon. Uffizi Gallery was certainly the high point with Botticelli’s numerous breathtaking pieces a prime reason to visit and marvel!

As you already know, the last part of my almost two-month journey was the global calamity caused by that unpronounceable volcano in Iceland spewing its pent-up fury and bowels in a rolling mushroom cloud of environmental and commercial destruction. Every day from April 15th on, when almost all the airplanes in Europe were grounded and hundreds of thousands of people were stranded, we had no idea what we would do. I was working hard on trying to be very Zen about the whole thing, but mostly I was just being a nervous wreck who wanted to come home.

To make a long story short, I wrote this partly on the plane from Rome to London (that left on time and landed on time) and while waiting for the plane to Seattle that also left and landed on time. As I complete this, I am finally at home in my own bed. I can’t believe it. I am flabbergasted and filled with relief.

Of course, I will be hitting the ground running in no time (Vancouver, Toronto, and San Francisco, here I come!) but it has been one of my best trips ever in so many ways, yet, when all is said and done, there is no place like home!

Every now and then we receive a letter from a reader that reaffirms what we know to be true: a large part of the cosmetics industry, and particularly the spa industry, is mostly crazy! It’s not that there aren’t great spas and spa services (massage, anyone?). And there are countless estheticians who have an earnest desire to help their clients achieve and maintain their skin care goals. So before I get attacked for insulting estheticians—this blog entry is about showing how really bad skin-care information gets perpetuated by a company’s product educator that then gets handed down as truth when it is anything but truth. What a vicious cycle!

Dear Paula,

I work in the skin care industry and my company recently sent me to the International Dermal Institute for a class on their Dermalogica products. I was ASTOUNDED. I have worked with that line for over 3 years now, and I always knew there was something “off” about it. My class today confirmed that this is no line I would ever go out of my way to recommend again. The instructor was, in a word, odd. She was also very defensive of Dermalogica’s products. She was immediately defensive when students would ask any question pertaining to irritation from products their clients had experienced.

At the end of class we had “skin bar” time, where we were able to try the products on our own skin. People were actually BURNING from the Multi Active Toner!

I actually have two questions for you: the first is that I saw “Pine cone” listed as an ingredient in one of the Dermalogica products, what is the benefit of slathering pine cone on your skin (or IS there a benefit at all)? The other thing that I found it strange when the instructor stated that in order to have a “true” sensitive skin you have to be of Northern European descent, have light hair & eyes, and also have eczema or asthma. She claimed that all people who do not fit this mold are “sensitized” not sensitive. Is there any merit to this claim?

This is what I replied to her:

Thanks for sharing your experience with us and we’re not the least bit surprised! We are always fuming over training information we’ve seen cosmetic companies provide to the people who sell their products. In the case of Dermalogica, despite their skin-oriented name, they are one of the many problematic spa/esthetician brands around when it comes to their training. Of the 83 Dermalogica products we’ve reviewed on Beautypedia.com, 59 (or, looked at another way, 71% of the line’s offerings) received an unhappy face rating, mostly due to the inclusion of far too many irritating ingredients. Only 12 of Dermalogica’s products were rated highly, including a couple of their expensive serums. This isn’t a line I’d encourage any budding or seasoned esthetician to embrace with gusto!

As for pine cone extract, it can be a good antioxidant and also provide mild antibacterial action for skin. In contrast, pine oil contains several volatile fragrance chemicals that can be a potent source of irritation for skin. Dermalogica uses pine oil (among other fragrant oils) in their Close Shave Oil (I feel sorry for any man who uses this oil).

As for your instructor’s comment about who has sensitive vs. sensitized skin, I would’ve told her this (and keep in mind I’m not known for my subtlety and tend to be blunt): “Your explanation is just silly and doesn’t make any sense. Sensitive skin doesn’t have an ancestral profile, not to mention that, by definition, someone with sensitized skin is someone who has sensitive skin; they aren’t two different skin conditions. If skin wasn’t sensitive, then it wouldn’t become sensitized by things you put on it.”

In reality, though there are degrees of how sensitive someone may be in terms of a visual reaction to things we put on our skin, the prevailing thought is that everyone has sensitive skin to one degree or another. Much of what causes irritation and then a sensitizing reaction, even when it doesn’t show up on the surface as red, irritated, or itchy skin, is still causing damage underneath the skin. Think about sun damage: everyone is sensitive to that because it causes damage under the skin within the first minute of unprotected exposure, even if you can’t immediately see the damage on the surface.

So regardless of what skin type you have, we all have sensitive skin. That’s why it is best to avoid cosmetic products that contain needless irritants including fragrance, fragrant oils, menthol, peppermint, alcohol, and camphor, to name a few. After extensive research, dermatologist Leslie Baumann stated that “Sensitive skin is a very common complaint globally,” and research confirms this worldwide fact!

Meet Paula in Toronto, ON where she will be exposing the truth behind common beauty myths and signing copies of her latest editions of, The Original Beauty Bible and Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me (Brand New 8th Edition).

Thursday, May 6, 2010
6:30pm

Indigo Books Music & Café (Yorkdale Shopping Centre)
3401 Dufferin St.
Toronto, Ontario

Join us for your chance to:

• Find out how to look younger without spending a fortune.
• Learn why typical acne products can make breakouts worse.
• Discover the reality vs. the hype behind organic and natural products.
• Ask The Cosmetics Cop your skin-care questions.
• Get FREE samples of Paula’s Choice products.
• Win a $100 Paula’s Choice gift certificate!

RSVP Here or on Facebook