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Photo courtesy of Deborah Burnes.
Deborah Burnes’s book Look Great, Live Green came out this year, and her luxurious and pure product line, Sumbody, is now available at Tony Walker Body + Beauty in Williamsville. Burnes is a former model, mother of two girls, and a life-long, self-admitted beauty-product obsessive. I got a chance to talk to her when she stopped by there this spring for a day of demonstrations and workshops.
At the facial demonstration, around ten women and a few guys watched raptly as Burnes custom-mixed a concoction to give yourself a facial at home. The potion was made of edible, pure ingredients, including honey and yogurt with lactic acid. Burnes describes this as having the ability to actually digest the waste and bacteria that are on your skin. Pineapple also has this property, and strawberries are an antioxidant.
Dr. Emilia Rutigliano, a physician, psychiatrist, and surgeon, was one of the women there. I asked her what she found appealing about Burnes’s theories, and also how she felt the science held up.
“I am aware of how pharmaceuticals work,” says Rutigliano. “When someone claims that a beauty product is going to work a certain way, I like to see if they have supporting evidence and data. In hearing her talk and reading part of her book, it seems like Deborah knows what she’s talking about.
“I’ve tried a lot of different products; I like shops and products that look and smell good. I’m into girly stuff,” she adds. “Deborah is focusing on natural products, and using simple techniques [to get] them to the skin and the system without using chemicals.” After the demo, Rutigliano was so impressed that she booked a private consultation with Burnes for later that afternoon.
I decided to get the story from Burnes face to face.
You talk about a lot of this in your book, and I find it really daunting—every day we hear about more harmful, potentially poisonous or carcinogenic things in our food, our cleaning products, our personal products, our air, our water. How can we possibly address all this, and still have time to live?
During research for my book, I met so many people who really care; and there is so much to care about—the environment, personal health, plastic vs. paper, can you drink bottled water, power strips, and on and on. Instead of doing anything, some people find that they just freeze and do nothing.
You don’t have to do everything at once—you can’t. I’m a big believer in “choosing your poisons, not letting them choose you.” So, do a little bit, educate yourself, don’t throw it all away. One tactic is to aim for an eighty-five percent/fifteen percent split in your life. Allow yourself fifteen percent of whatever your “Vitamin J” is. It could be highlighting your hair, eating chocolate, using a favorite product that might not be “perfect” for you or the environment. It’s not about perfection.
What are small steps that people can take?
Educate yourself about what is going on. My awareness started around what I ate. I made the logical leap and extended that to my skin—it is the body’s largest organ. I was an avid food-label-reader, so I started reading product labels. I thought that products that were supposed to be healthier would be. But I was alarmed to see that although their packaging and brand images looked different, they had the same chemicals!
So, even if you think you are aware, and making smart choices, it’s a good idea to really learn.
What needs to change, and what is changing in the corporate world?
Well, it took many years from initiation of other concepts—i.e., “we should eat better”—to actually starting to do it. It is a long process.
We are at an exciting time in the beauty industry. When it comes to personal health, we’re starting to take notice. We are realizing that chemicals are everywhere, that babies are getting them through umbilical cords, that parabens, which are in so many things, may not be harmless.
“Greenwashing”—companies pretending what they do is good for the environment or people’s health—is one of the worst practices in the industry. For example, a brand called “Simply Organics” is neither simple nor organic.
How can companies knowingly make and sell things that are harmful to people?
I do think that people should be able to see the “data safety sheets” that industry insiders can get. They tell all the known toxic issues with each product. I mean, Johnson’s Baby Oil—that’s made from mineral oil, which is made from petroleum—is the same stuff that your car runs on. Is that what you want to put on your body or on your baby?
My book is kind of like The Omnivore’s Dilemma for the beauty industry. We peek into so-called truths, and people can make choices according to their own values. There’s no right or wrong. We give you information and then you can make choices that work for you.
Do you think the government should do more?
We do need regulation, as is now done with food. You shouldn’t be able to use the word “organic” unless it is an accurate claim. The only thing that is government regulated in beauty products is that you can’t make medical claims, like “cures acne,” or “cures wrinkles”—you can say “age-defying,” though.
What is the good news?
We can make choices. We can vote with our pocketbooks, put pressure on companies to clean up their factories. The beauty industry is one of the biggest contributors to toxins with their manufacturing and packaging, and all the chemicals that get into our water supply when these products are used.
Where is the fun?
The fun is in simplifying your life, not needing to worry. It is not complicated to pare down to maybe five basics: cleansers for skin and hair, toner, moisturizer, and serum. Find things with multiple uses, and feel good about yourself!
Jana Eisenberg is always on the lookout for greenwashing.
