Dying to Look Good:
The Disturbing Truth About What's Really in Your Cosmetics, Toiletries, and Personal Care Products. . . and What You Can Do About It.

Christine Hoza Farlow, DC
Kiss for Health Publishing

Review by Sally Fallon

Occasionally the Weston A. Price Foundation is asked to add personal care products to our Shopping Guide, a request we have resisted because of the vastness of the task. Fortunately, Christine Farlow has done this for us in this comprehensive compendium of ingredients found in the products we put on our skin, our hair and our toothbrushes.

The skin absorbs many of the chemicals we put on it, even from products that are rinsed off, so it behooves us to show as much care in choosing our shampoo, lotions and makeup as we do in choosing our food. In fact, 55 percent of all personal care products contain "penetration enhancers," ingredients that can increase a product's penetration through the skin and into the bloodstream.

These products end up not only in our bodies, but also in the water we bathe and wash up in. Recent studies show that riclosan (tricolasan), one of the most common antibacterial agents used in soaps, acts like an antibiotic in the way it kills bacteria and may contribute to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in our drinking water.

Many shampoos, lotions, makeup foundations and lip balms contain ingredients that are known carcinogens; MSG is also a common ingredient.

Most of the book is devoted to a comprehensive list of ingredients and their effects but Farlow ends on a positive note with a list of recommended products and where to buy them. Dying to Look Good is a valuable resource--thank you Dr. Farlow!
The self-published book is available from Kiss for Health Publishing, (760) 735-8101, kiss4health@lycos.com .

About the Author

Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, and Eat Fat, Lose Fat (both with Mary G. Enig, PhD), as well as of numerous articles on the subject of diet and health. She is President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk. She is the mother of four healthy children raised on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.

Source: http://www.westonaprice.org/bookreviews/dying-look-good-review.html