Look Great, Live Green (Deborah Burnes)--book review

I'm a little leery of the term "all-natural." What does it really mean? I mean, Botox is made from nature's own botulinum poison; chocolate chip cookies are man-made. I wouldn't take a bath in either of those, but I know which one I'd take to a potluck.

But I checked out Look Great, Live Green from the library because I figured if I'm going to be selling skin-care products, I should be prepared to answer questions from the die-hard natural skin care contingent (which includes quite a few of my friends). No single product is right for everyone, and if people have specific concerns about ingredients, I want to be able to address them, accurately and honestly.

There's a lot of useful information in here. Did you know many natural care companies have been bought out in the past decade? Burt's Bees (Clorox), Tom's of Maine (Colgate-Palmolive), Aveda (Estee Lauder), and The Body Shop (L'Oreal) are all now lines of larger companies. Also, Burnes gives clear information about the benefits of different types of products--the different types of masks, for example, or why toner is important--and how those benefits can be achieved most naturally. The "skin care makeover" section in the back of the book was also interesting, even though the author mostly replaced a variety of brands with one brand: hers.

That's right, Look Great, Live Green was written by a woman with her own line of all-natural skin care products. Hardly the objective source I was looking for. (This is not to say that it's three hundred pages of advertising--in fact quite a few other companies are included in her lists of recommended products.)

The author's bias is clear, though. She advises steering clear of certain ingredients even though the research is inconclusive or not specifically relevant to skin care; in fact, some of them are specifically recommended by dermatologists. For every type of cosmetic, she lists the ingredients of a particular product that illustrates things to avoid--but doesn't indicate the reasons. As you might expect, many ingredients appear in both the Ingredients to Avoid and Ingredients to Look For products. In fact, a person skimming the lists could come to the conclusion that water is to be avoided at all costs--after all, it's listed in nearly every product Burnes avoids!

In short, I finished the book feeling somewhat more conflicted, but no less confused than I'd started out.

On Aging Gracefully (plus a giveaway!)

I've never been one to spend a lot of time on my looks. When I first tried make-up as a teenager I felt like I was pretending to be someone I wasn't. (This was in the days of blue eyeshadow...) And I didn't want to waste time trying to make it look right. I just wanted to get up and do the basic shower and deodorant, run a brush through my hair and be on my way. A good haircut, to my mind, is one that looks halfway decent without requiring styling. When my big sister put highlights in her hair I scoffed, "I'll never dye my hair."

Lesson learned: never say never. Also, never scoff at your big sister. She doesn't forget a thing.

Undeniably in my forties now, I've truly never felt better, but my perspective on certain things has changed. I still don't style my hair, but could I maybe stop it from thinning so much? Still don't want to wear make-up, but I now accept the need to moisturize. And if I'm going to moisturize every morning, might it be a good idea to find a product that also evens my skin tone? And, what the heck is my skin tone, anyway? I stopped reading those articles in Teen magazine when I was 15.

And also, fashion. Help! When I was younger I knew what was in, and I either wore it or didn't. Now I know what's in, but if I wear that I'll look ridiculous. How are forty year old women supposed to dress these days? Not like my mom did at forty, that's for sure. (Now a lovely seventy-something, Mom wouldn't be caught dead in those clothes either.) When I shop, I see skinny teen clothes and old-lady-on-a-cruise-ship clothes. I don't see a clothing section that reflects who I am.

Here are two books that offer different perspectives on aging beautifully without resorting to drastic measures like plastic surgery.

Bobbi Brown's Living Beauty adds quotes from and lots of pictures of real-looking women in their forties and up. There's also a chapter on dealing with menopause, and another on late-life pregnancy (not to be an issue chez Worducopia, I trust). The sections on eating right and clothing choices are brief, while more of the 204 pages are allotted to those fun "before and after" makeover pictures and problem-solving tips for things like darkness under the eyes, uneven skin tone, and droopy eyelids.

Charla Krupp's How Not to Look Old deals with similar issues but with a no-nonsense "You don't want to wear that, darling," tone that readers will either find refreshingly honest or mildly judgmental, depending on their own perspective. Krupp has been Beauty Editor for Glamour magazine, and offers specific advice: lists of clothes that look dated and "forbidden fashion items for every woman past the age of thirty;" products for everything from skin care to tooth whiteners; and three levels of interventions for various beauty issues. Both of these books prominently feature women of different shades and ethnic backgrounds but How Not to Look Old gives more specific advice for women of color.

So, what kind of time do you spend on your beauty routine, and has that changed as you've gotten older? Do you care about looking chic or hip? Does your mom/aunt/grandma/daughter?

All comments about this topic (hint: Do you want a free book isn't the topic) will be entered to win one of these books! (if you're interested in one and not the other, let me know). Hachette Book Group is offering three copies of each, to readers --or their moms, wives or grandmas!--with U.S. or Canadian mailing addresses (sorry, no P.O. boxes, please). Winners will be chosen by random drawing on May 4th.