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As Breast Cancer Awareness Month winds down, it’s time to turn to the world of beauty — one of the industries that’s bes -known for raising funds for breast cancer research and educating the public about the cause.
That really got its start in the early 1990s when a partnership between Self magazine and Evelyn Lauder emerged, and the very first pink ribbon popped up on the cover of the magazine, coinciding with over a million pink ribbons handed out at Estée Lauder makeup counters.
But since then, not all products and brands that have followed such success over the years have been true bearers of the torch. While many have and deserve our admiration and support, others have been criticized for hyping breast cancer awareness and donating to the cause, while simultaneously filling their products with chemicals that may be potentially harmful for the women who use them.
It’s something the community calls “pinkwashing,” and as Breast Cancer action.org describes it, it’s when “a company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products containing chemicals that are linked to the disease.”
For that reason, I’m shining a light on a few of this year’s brands and products that not only have great style cred in their own right, unequivocally support breast cancer awareness, and also prize clean and healthy products for women and are mindful of using safe ingredients.
Let’s start with Primally Pure — a deodorant that’s 100% natural. I get it. Body odor isn’t something you’re willing to risk walking around with, no matter how safe you want to be. But this non-toxic deodorant is concentrated and made with only a few pure ingredients. Instead of blocking sweat glands with lab-made chemicals, it revitalizes your skin. Throughout October, $1 per order (on all Breast Care Collection products) will be donated to Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (bcpp.org), up to $15,000. Look for it at primallypure.com/collections/breast-care-collection.
One of my favorite clean nail companies is PLA Nails, which just this month launched a new PLA Lacquer Polish Line. Founder Michelle Nguyen designed it with our health in mind. The collection includes 290 colors to match the current Gel Polish Collections. PLA Nail Products don’t contain formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, or toluene. They’re also free of formaldehyde resin, camphor, parabens, xylene, phthalates, fragrances, and animal ingredients. And they’re all still utterly gorgeous. No wonder they’re loved by everyone from Selena Gomez to Blake Lively. Look for the new line at plapro.com.
Locally, I’m giving big snaps to Elena Frankel and Carolyn Barber—the duo have just opened Flyte 70, a niche beauty boutique in Wellesley. Frankel and Barber are makeup gurus with a passion for beauty lines —including their own age-positive line, also called Flyte 70 — that are independently owned, vegan, cruelty-free, making sustainable strides, and using mindful formulas. Through the end of October they’re donating 20% of all sales of any pink lipsticks to the Ellie Fund. Find out more at flyte70.com.
With a name like ‘100% Pure,’ you know from the get-go exactly what you’re putting on your body. The brand’s makeup line is pigmented by fruit, and skincare is vegan and cruelty-free — both have built a sizable following. And this month its spotlight is on the Breast Cancer Awareness Set ($57 on 100percentpure.com), which includes a hydrating Rose Water Milk, refreshing Rose Mist, and a gentle cleanse of Micellar Water. A portion of proceeds are donated to The Keep A Breast Foundation (keep-a-breast.org).
Have you heard of Beautycounter yet? It’s a leader in clean skincare and cosmetics. With a mission to get safer products into the hands of, well, everyone, it’s banned more than 2,800 ingredients from the products it sells, and has influenced the passage of 14 pieces of health-protective legislation to advance product safety. And they sell everything from hydra-gel toners and brow gels to exfoliators to lip jellies. It’s as fun and fantastic as any online beauty shop you can imagine, but it feels more like a movement than anything. Check it out at the beautycounter.com.
And then there’s Lemongrass Spa, which started — and continues — on a mission to reduce people’s exposure to chemicals by formulating safe, natural skincare. All four of the brand’s products are included in the limited edition Pink Box of Hope ($39 on ourlemongrassspa.com). That means a nail treatment stick, a lip butter, a hydrating body treatment, and a healing balm. And through October, $1 from the purchase of every Pink Box of Hope purchase goes to Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (bcpp.org) to support science and advocacy to improve the safety of cosmetics.
I’m so thrilled to see so many individuals and groups getting behind a cause this important to women’s health. Let’s keep the awareness going all year long!
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