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Kabana Label Reader's Column
Be a Kabana Label Reader!
 Skin
is your largest organ. It helps to protect you from all the nasty chemicals
to which we routinely expose ourselves. Our skin is the first line of
defense to chemicals such as household cleaning products like Lysol, in
addition to other chemicals like motor oil or sodium lauryl sulfate in
shampoo. Your skin is also alive, just like heart and brain cells, and
needs to be properly nourished and protected. You probably know junk food
isn’t too good for you, and most of us limit how much we eat. But
we’re not very good about feeding our skin equally well. Read
the ingredient labels on your favorite skin care products.
Can you understand what all those ingredients
actually are? Generally, we need an advanced degree in
chemistry to understand ingredient number 2, much less the other 35 (Number
1 is generally water – we all know what that is.) If
you don’t know what it is, why would you use it?
How does not knowing make you feel? It doesn’t make me feel very
secure, and I’m a chemist! The alternative is Kabana™, which
only contains ingredients derived directly from nature that you know and
understand, like cocoa butter and lanolin.
Keep reading labels, and you’ll see how becoming a Kabana Label
Reader can beautify and protect your skin!
The Nature of Precisely Natural™
 Skin
care products available today are confusing. It seems almost all companies
describe their products as “natural” yet few are actually
made from sustainable living things. I’ve chosen to call my products
Precisely NaturalTM because they are made exclusively from nature-sourced
ingredients; Precisely NaturalTM is an accurate product description. No
baloney. Just read the label and you understand: Kabana sells precisely
natural products. We don’t just market “natural” like
so many other companies do.
As chemical knowledge developed during the past century, chemists invented
compounds to make life easier, yet many of these common chemicals, previously
thought safe, have resulted in unforeseen consequences. For example, scientists
discovered that CFCs, used in everything from refrigerators to hair spray,
destroyed ozone, the atmosphere’s natural sunscreen. They’re
illegal now.
Mass production skin care companies put their customers at unnecessary
risk by choosing to use myriad synthetic chemicals. Like the initial use
of CFCs, no one has yet studied the effects of these chemical’s
long term use on your skin. These companies have lost sight of the primary
purpose of skin care formulas – which is to nourish and protect
your skin. Instead, they shifted objectives toward making life easier
and more profitable for themselves. Synthetic chemicals enable companies
to produce their products in huge volumes and at the cheapest cost. These
chemicals ensure the machines squeeze out product smoothly and fast, and
that the product remains stable and consistent sitting on the shelf for
months and years. Like Twinkies. The mass market skin care products are
largely synthetic, even the extremely expensive ones that are marketed
to be so “good” for skin. The only way you can navigate through
the flood of cheap, synthetic, long shelf life products is to read their
labels. Would you rather have cocoa butter or dimethicone? (Dimethicone
is silicone oil, similar to the old breast implant filler, which FDA pulled
from the market) Would you rather use what you understand or what you
don’t?
Read those labels, and always remember that the stuff you put on your
skin often gets absorbed into the rest of your body. Don’t take
unnecessary risks. By buying Kabana, you limit your exposure to the unforeseen
consequences associated with decades of synthetic skin care ingredient
use that scientists simply haven’t studied.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate – SLS – An
Industrial Detergent
 SLS
is an Engine Degreaser! And it’s in nearly every cleansing product
we use from toothpaste to beauty soap. SLS is generally made from petroleum
oil and sulfuric acid, and may still contain traces of both. It makes
personal products foamy, and is a strong detergent that strips away the
skin’s precious oils in addition to removing dirt. Ironically, the
FDA actually uses it as a skin irritant to test the anti-irritation properties
of various drugs.
Look for it, and you’ll find it everywhere. Even Tom’s of
Maine started using it in their toothpaste to make it more acceptable
in the mass market. But SLS is not in Kabana’s
Sunsei™ UV protective soap. Sunsei™ is the moisturizing soap
version of Kabana Crème™, with 5 times as much of the UV
protective mineral Zinc Oxide. Sunsei™ is designed to provide
daily, full-body UV protection while you bathe.
Propylene Glycol – It Dissolves Your Skin
Too.
 Propylene
glycol, or PG, is another enormously ubiquitous chemical used in mass
marketed consumer products. It is manufactured from the highly reactive
petrochemical gas, propylene, via a catalytic process. PG is a common
antifreeze and is used in applications where its highly toxic cousin ethylene
glycol (the green stuff in your car's radiator) cannot be used, including
foods.
Propylene glycol is a majority ingredient in many cosmetics (you'll find
it near the top of the ingredient list quite often!), as it dissolves
both fats and water-soluble compounds, making it very useful for maintaining
lotion or emulsion stability, shelf life and dissolving compounds that
don't like water. Despite being explicitly defined as a skin irritant,
it's on the Generally (?) Recognized As Safe (GRAS) list published by
FDA (SLS is also there) and is a primary solvent for artificial food coloring.
It is used so often in skin care products because it partially dissolves
the top layer of skin to enhance absorbance of everything in a formula,
and anything else our skin touches. For example, Coppertone uses it to
get more synthetic sunscreen into your skin and keep it there if you go
swimming. Use of PG is unnecessary; Kabana uses golden jojoba oil as a
natural alternative in Green Screen™ that also imparts wonderful
anti-oxidants to further protect your skin. You will never find PG in
any of Kabana's products.
Ingredient Deception: Case Study - Lubriderm and Triethanolamine
The only way you can understand the nature of personal care products is to read labels and evaluate the ingredients. The mass market manufacturers have discovered how to make your task even more difficult by using uncommon names for certain, ill - advised chemicals. While these obscure synonyms are technically accurate, utilizing them is a 'clever' marketing technique to confuse and deceive; it's a ruse used to distract your attention. Case in point: Trolamine. Upon evaluating some of Lubriderm's more recent products, I discovered this ingredient and had to ask, "What the heck is that?" I had never before seen it on a Lubriderm label, or anywhere else. So I did some research - a Google search yielded this.
Trolamine is another name for Triethanolamine, a basic compound used in cosmetics to neutralize acids and balance pH. Lubriderm previously used the name Triethanolamine in their ingredient list, but evidently changed this practice because, although Triethanolamine (TEA) is on the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) list, it has received recent bad press because it can oxidize to create nitrosamines, which cause cancer. Recall that your body is a big bioreactor that operates through oxidation, and while skin is not as acidic as the stomach, it is acidic with a pH of about 5 in the top layer. TEA is absorbed through your skin and is classified as a skin permeator and irritant. It hasn't been associated directly as causing cancer but it can damage cellular DNA. When it is absorbed through your skin it adversely affects your brain, liver and urinary system. Skin care companies try to justify use of TEA by saying it's use reflects "slim" or "insignificant" risk. But, dilution is still pollution, particularly when its in your body.
Why risk it when alternatives are available and your long term health is at stake?
On the Nature of Chemicals
Erik attended the 2005 Naturally Boulder event in October, which attracted natural products gurus such as Barney Feinblum (Celestial Seasonings), Mark Retzloff and Paul Repetto (Horizon Organic Dairy), Hass Hassan (Alfalfa’s and Wild Oats), and Todd Woloson (Izze Beverages). He also took a tour at Rudi’s Organic Bakery. During the tour and subsequent symposium, he was rather stunned to hear “no chemicals” about this and that, quite frequently. Indeed, “No Chemicals” is a marketing slogan in the natural products industry. This struck Erik as ignorantly funny, particularly given the fact that everything we eat is composed of chemicals. Chemicals are everywhere. Chemicals make possible life itself. Your brain cells would not survive if the chemical glucose were not regularly supplied to it by your blood, having previously been organic bread (polysaccharide chemicals) in your gut. The purpose of Kabana Label Reader’s Column is not to encourage fear or disdain for chemicals in general – they are an integral part of life and our standard of living - and chemistry is a fascinating subject. In fact, it is biochemistry that has enabled Erik’s creation of Kabana, and natural Shea Butter is a fabulous skin treatment due to its complex mixture of chemicals.
The purpose of Kabana Label Reader’s Column is to identify and describe synthetic chemicals that have no similarity to the biochemicals that make up your skin, yet are so often unnecessarily present in mass marketed skin care products. The Column will describe to you the purpose of these synthetic chemicals and where they’re used in commerce, (one of propylene glycol's utilities is RV antifreeze), and why you, the educated consumer who’s interested in maintaining youthful, healthy skin, shouldn’t purchase formulas that contain such ingredients. Kabana solves this market problem. Be smart, ask questions, and remember that just because Hemlock is 100% natural doesn’t mean it’s a nice beverage complement to your breakfast kashi. Ask Socrates.
99.9% Antibacterial Products Actually Increase Health Risk!
If you're going to get infected by bacteria, it's not the 99.9% that's going to make a home out of you - it's the rare 0.1% that's dangerous. Consumers who purchase and use products that contain antibacterial chemicals, such as triclosan, kill off the weak, harmless bacteria (99.9%) and ensure the really bad 0.1% survive to multiply in your bathroom and elsewhere - sometimes millions per day!
The practice of overusing antibacterial chemicals enriches numbers of dangerous bacteria in normal populations - effectively "selecting" them - which increases our chances of getting sick or infected by strains that antibiotic drugs are increasingly ineffective against. This is not something that the mass marketeers tell you about because sensationalizing that all bacteria are bad sells their product.
Bacteria are everywhere and most are harmless. All of them compete for the same resources to survive, but killing the harmless ones allows the harmful strains to fluorish like fast-growing weeds in a freshly tilled field. A reasonable daily personal care routine using natural soaps is adequate to protect you from these dangerous bacteria. These strains are rare, and we need to keep them that way. Using consumer products labeled as "Antibacterial" is unnecessary and actualy increases our infection risks, yet the solution is easy: Don't purchase consumer products labeled "Antibacterial."
Beauty Addiction: How Skin Care Products Can Make You Feel Addicted
Kabana has received correspondence from several customers asking about “addiction to skin care products.” We’ve been unable to find research proving or disproving this urban myth, but based on ingredients and use patterns, the following two hypotheses suggest it’s a reasonable possibility.
First, many ingredients used in mass marketed consumer products aren’t good for your skin. Some are actually irritants which can damage your skin over long term use. If a product contains both moisturizers and drying agents or irritants (like alcohol or propylene glycol), depending upon the duration of an ingredient’s activity, the bad effects may outlast the good ones. For example, alcohol may continue drying your skin long after the products’ moisturizing ingredients stop working—so as you use the product more, the product temporarily but fleetingly moisturizes your skin, but the longer term effect is that is dries your skin, so you must use additional product. For the company, this means you’ll continue to use the product because your skin is dry, and you’re therefore a repeat customer and the company makes money. As long as the product is continually used, the drying effect might be limited, effectively resulting in an apparent “addiction” if you stop using it.
The second element of continual skin care product use is that you get accustomed to the way your skin feels with certain treatments, and notice the difference when you forget your normal routine. Erik knows Kabana users in particular notice this effect because Kabana is an extremely rich and effective moisturizer that makes your skin feel really good, while the predominant condition of skin without proper nourishment is elevated dryness and relative discomfort. However, “feeling the difference” and true biochemical “addiction,” are two very different events, yet which may seem quite similar to the user and are in fact difficult to conclusively distinguish in terms of skin care. Kabana only uses ingredients that are superb for your skin, so the potential problem of getting hooked due to deleterious ingredients as described in the previous paragraph is eliminated.
The bottom line: Use of skin care products is indeed habit forming. As with life in general, it’s a matter of choosing the right habits. Cheetos or Carrots, watching TV or working out, Lubriderm or Kabana, it’s quite obvious which is better for us.
Prevent Sun Damage: The Best Way to Stay Young is to Never Get Old
Do you know what the American Academy of Dermatologists (AAD) estimates causes 90% of our wrinkles? The Sun!
Two kinds of skin care products exist – those that prevent aging and those that attempt to correct aging processes. Human nature causes us to gravitate toward products that attempt to correct maladies because we’re fundamentally lazy and think bad things can’t happen to us. As a result, most products available on today’s consumer markets correct problems. Expensive pharmaceuticals, like Botox; or services, such as chemical peels, are classic examples.
In skin care, the major problem is sun exposure, and the simple preventative solution is sunscreen. If you don't want to look your age, or older, you need to use sunscreen with discipline. For those of us who haven’t been careful enough to limit aging processes – we must start being careful, use sunscreens and also try to correct the damage we’ve done to our skin already. But for our children, we can prevent them from experiencing our misfortune and bad habits by establishing good habits very early, and encouraging them to use Green Screen(tm) before going outside. How many of us wish our parents had known to teach us the importance of using sunscreen at an early age? Just look at the wrinkles.
Green Screen(tm) is the safest, most broad-spectrum and best wrinkle-preventative sunscreen available on the market today because it both protects your skin from UV damage and nourishes it for optimal health.
Proper UV Protection and Children
Ultra-high SPF is not only unnecessary for protection from harmful UV rays, but it also exposes your kids to high levels of benzene derivatives, which are toxic chemicals associated with free-radical formation, endocrine disruption and cancers. This link takes you to a list of the FDA approved benzene-based sunscreens. Compare your sunscreen's ingredients to this list and see whether it contains any of the undesirable benzene-based active ingredients. We bet it does.
Kids are especially vulnerable to chemical exposure because their young skin is thinner than adult skin, and therefore more permeable to the absorption of chemicals such as the benzenes and parabens that are frequently found in sunscreens. You might have heard how various sunscreens act as estrogen analogues (if not, read more here). Do we really want to expose our children, who are more sensitive to chemical absorption through their skin, to these estrogen analogues? Several studies have observed that children enter puberty prematurely because they’re being externally stimulated by hormones in milk and various other chemicals in the water supply; estrogen analogues in sunscreen can enhance this effect. Do you want to elevate your kids' risks?
Zinc oxide-based sunscreens that afford SPF 15 and do not contain any of the aforementioned benzenes are the best because they provide superior UVB and UVA protection (even better than the over-hyped mexoryl-which is another paraben!) without estrogenic and other toxic side effects. Green Screen is a superior choice for children.
Did you know that The American Academy of Dermatology estimates 80% of our lifetime skin damage occurs before the age of 18? They also recommend reapplication every 2 hours at minimum (for everyone), and immediately after being in the water or after your kids have been toweling dry or changing (which rubs sunscreen off). To achieve superb protection in excess of SPF 15, apply Green Screen until you can see a thin coat on your child’s skin: you can easily monitor when it’s time to reapply when you can no longer see the product. Your kids won't mind being a little white and will thank you later.
Green Screen SPF 15 Unscented is a superior choice for protecting your children because:
1. Green Screen SPF 15 Unscented contains nine recognizable, all natural, edible grade ingredients – it exclusively contains ingredients proven to be highly nourishing for skin, and no petrochemicals.
2. Zinc Oxide as active sunscreen provides the broadest UVA & UVB spectrum and safest UV protection on Earth
3. Rich moisturizers maintain skin suppleness, health and ability to defend itself against harmful UV radiation.
4. Vitamin E actively reduces free radical formation (which occurs whenever you’re in the sun!) Cancers can be caused by excessive and long-term damage to your DNA by free radicals.
Read our labels and you understand!(tm)
More sunscreen facts from the AAD
A New Sunscreen's FDA Approval: Fact and Fiction
Quite recently an "amazing new sunscreen" formula was approved for sale in the United States - it contains mexoryl, otherwise known as ecamsule. It was touted as the miracle sunscreen with "incredible" UVA absorption, and people decried its prior absence from US markets as governmental conspiracy.
This KLRC article debunks the exaggerated hype about this compound based on data published by L'Oreal - the very company that owns exclusive rights to mexoryl's use in sunscreens.
Mexoryl has been touted by the popular media and various high profile dermatologists as "the" new sunscreen - some interviewed have called it "almost perfect." Incidentally, the person most quoted is Dr. Darrell Rigel, NYU Dermatology (and advisor to L'Oreal; judge for yourself if a conflict of interest exists.).
In light of Anthelios SX 's acquisition of FDA approval, KLRC did its own evaluation based not on an agency conflicted 'authority' opinion, but the science at hand. Amazingly, it found a paper published in Photochemistry and Photobiology in 2000 by scientists at L'Oreal comparing mexoryl's UVA absorption to that of ethylhexylmethoxycinnamate, another popular petrochemical sunscreen active ingredient, and long known as mostly a UVB absorber. You can read this paper here, but the results are summarized by the graphic above with the zinc oxide absorption curve superimposed for comparison.
Mexoryl may be the perfect sunscreen in a dermatologist's dreamworld where L'Oreal's financial compensation enables him to retire and live on a yacht, but the facts suggest otherwise. First, even the now-ancient avobenzone (trade-named Parsol 1789)'s UVA absorption spectrum is actually broader than mexoryl's - it absorbs more like zinc oxide above 380nm. Second, while mexoryl is supposed to be more UV-stable than other sunscreens, sunscreens must be reapplied because they disappear from the skin (due to sweat, water, towels, other contact, etc.) at least every two hours to be effective. Period. The level of stability isn't publicized for comparison, either, so what exactly does 'more stable' mean, five seconds more stable? It's certainly not earth- shattering stability data or it'd be explicitly available. Third, mexoryl is a di-sulphonic acid compound with a native pH of 1 (more acidic than your stomach) and needs to be neutralized with a base (triethanolamine is generally used - it's the subject of another KLRC article). Fourth, formulas that use mexoryl must also have additional UVB absorbers to provide protection in that part of the UV spectrum, which result in additional petrochemical exposure. Finally, compared to zinc oxide, mexoryl is simply an inferior sunscreen active ingredient, from all perspectives - health, stability and spectral absorbance. That is scientific fact - you can check the data for youself.
KLRC finds it disappointing, but not surprising given the money at stake, that even the 'experts' refuse to recognize that the optimal sunscreen already exists. It is zinc oxide, the sole UV absorber Green Screen SPF 15 uses due to its health, stability and spectral absorbance profile.
Did we mention that Anthelios SX is about $40 for a 3.4 ounce tube?
Pregnancy and Skin Care: What Mothers-to-Be Need to Know, Part 1 of 2
As parents, we all want to provide our children the best possible start in life. Mothers, you are quite aware of the necessity to eat well and avoid alcohol, smoking and many prescription drugs so that your child will develop to be healthy and intelligent. You are less aware of the importance of nourishing your largest organ - your skin - during pregnancy because much of what you put on your skin can be absorbed through it, resulting in chemical exposure to your unborn child. While carrying your baby, it is therefore of paramount concern that you understand what chemicals you are putting on your body, and the potential adverse effects you may cause your child at this most sensitive developmental time.
Many chemicals present in mass- marketed skin care products can be absorbed through your skin, into your blood, and passed on to your unborn child. Such common chemicals of concern include triethanolamine, propylene glycol, and parabens.
However, you should be particularly concerned about petrochemical-based sunscreen active ingredients because these compounds are present in sunscreens at very high concentrations – up to 40%. They have been shown to act as estrogen analogues and are absorbed through your skin. This means that by using these petrochemical sunscreens, you are taking the risk of exposing your child to feminizing hormones out of the natural developmental context at your child's most sensitive developmental stage. Although KLRC has found no well-controlled scientific studies that have demonstrated a connection between xenoestrogenic hormones and serious prenatal side effects in humans, (largely because such studies are impossible to conduct—ask any developmental biologist) exposure to sunscreen chemicals such as oxybenzone in studies done with fish (a common organism studied to model development in humans) have resulted in male-feminization and disruption of normal reproductive capacities. Other studies have concisely demonstrated petrochemical sunscreen's capacity to bind estrogen receptors and result in unnatural feminizing effects in mammals.
What does this mean for our children? Scientifically proven effects remain unknown but one could reasonably speculate that events ranging from homosexuality to early puberty could be associated with xenoestrogen exposure during development. It’s simply not worth taking a chance when your excellent option of zinc oxide-based sunscreen exists. It is absolutely necessary that you wear sunscreen but avoid those with petrochemical active ingredients, particularly when you are expecting your baby.
Given the demonstrated estrogenic activity of oxybenzone and other petroleum-based sunscreens, common sense would have pregnant mothers avoid these chemicals and use zinc oxide-based sunscreen, such as Kabana's All Natural Green Screen SPF 15, which is also made from edible- grade ingredients. Zinc oxide, in addition to being the most effective UVA and UVB absorber, is the sole sunscreen active that is approved for use on babies - it is also the active ingredient in baby powder and diaper rash cream! Why would you choose to expose your child to anything else?
Maternity and Skin Care: Kabana's Simple Solutions for Maternal Skincare Issues Part 2 of 2 
Motherhood is very stressful. Skin is an organ that's particularly affected due to abdominal stretching during pregnancy and nursing afterward.
Stretchmarks result when growth outpaces our skin's capacity to reproduce itself; this leads to an emergency fast-growth response similar to what happens during healing of wounds and results in skin that looks rough. After your child is born and your body begins to return to its normal shape, your skin recovers from the stress of pregnancy more slowly than the rest of your body. Stretchmarks become more pronounced because the stretchy skin contracts, forming ridges. Since the formation of stretchmarks is related to your skin's inability to keep up with the growth of your baby, it's necessary to keep it robustly healthy. Diet is an important part of maintaining our bodies, but the ingredients a skin care product contains are another critical way to nourish, protect and rejuvenate our skin. Unlike most skin care lotions that are full of petroleum-based ingredients that aren't nutritional, Kabana Crème is exclusively made from rich moisturizers, vitamins and essential fatty acids that are critical for skin health. You can maintain your skin by using Kabana Crème daily to provide your skin the best nourishment possible during this stressful period. Using Kabana Crème every day helps you recover quickly afterward and limits longer-term pregnancy related skin issues.
Nursing results in other forms of stress-induced skin problems - chapping and soreness. Your baby's nursing not only extracts milk, but also the critical moisturizers your skin produces to maintain its barrier properties. When this happens, the skin becomes inflamed, rough and sore, making recurrent feeding cycles particularly unpleasant. Kabana Crème is the solution here too, as it reproduces the moisturizing components lost during nursing, soothes soreness and promotes healing. Kabana Crème contains no alcohols, and won't burn when you apply it to these tender spots. It's particularly important for you to pay attention to ingredients in the nursing-care products you use because your child will certainly ingest them too. Kabana uses all food grade ingredients, so you needn't be concerned about your child consuming petroleum products that are present in other formulas.
Diaper Rash is yet another cause of stress for both new mothers and babies. Diaper rash is caused by a fungal infection that results in the consistently moist environment created by diaper-use. Zinc oxide is the number one pediatrician-recommended active ingredient to combat and prevent diaper rash. Green Screen, Kabana's Sunscreen with 20% zinc oxide, is a perfect treatment for diaper rash. Green Screen provides both the active ingredient that kills the fungus and rich moisturizers that help irritated skin heal. The formula also boosts baby-bottom skin's barrier characteristics to prevent recurrent infection. Kabana will also be releasing a specially formulated vitamin E-rich diaper rash cream in the coming months; keep an eye on this newsletter for its release information.
High Profile Parabens - Science vs. Sensationalism
During the past two years, parabens have received vast attention. This is principally due to a paper published by Darbre et. al. describing measurement of parabens in breast cancer tissue. Of course this set off sirens and lights in the popular media, which immediately jumped to the conclusion that parabens cause breast cancer. Based on many other studies we know parabens are compounds to avoid, but this study's design and the data it generated did not support such a conclusion. Since causal relationships are generally impossible to prove in science since all results have some uncertainty, KLRC will present the data so you can understand the reasons parabens shouldn't be a daily part of your personal care routine.
Estrogens have been demonstrated to drive breast cancer tumor growth. Literally hundreds of toxicology papers have demonstrated this effect, and the scienfic and medical community accepts this as fact.
Parabens mimic estrogen. More than a dozen papers have described this effect in cells or animals. These compounds bind to estrogen receptors and elicit cellular signalling as does estrogen, except parabens are metabolized differently and can reside in tissue for extended periods. The longer the ester hydrocarbon chain, the more estrogenic it is: isobutyl > isopropyl; butyl > propyl > ethyl > methyl. Read the ingredients - parabens are generally the last on the ingredient list, the side chain is described first such as "butyl"paraben.
Parabens are approved for use in skin and cosmetic formulas up to 0.8%. This means that in your typical mass produced 16 ounce bottle of lotion, there may be 3.8 grams of this compound. Obviously you aren't exposed to all of it at once, so in order to compare apples to apples, we have to look at relative concentrations. Depending upon the concentration, exposure to parabens in a lotion may range from 500x (0.02%) to 20,000x (0.8%) the concentration that this study determined to produce tumor growth in cell-based experiments .
90% of breast cancers are environmental in origin. Although our genetics can make us more susceptible, choices we make do influence the chances of getting the disease. It is therefore crucial to minimize risk which demands understanding suspicious factors and limiting our exposure to them. Choosing to avoid breathing smoke reduces cancer risk. Using sunscreen regularly reduces cancer risk. Limiting xenoestrogen exposure through skin formulas is yet another easy way to reduce your cancer risk.
The key to being a well-informed consumer is to understand what ingredients are in products you use every day, and what effects they can have in your body.
You must ask yourself, "it is worth the added risk?", particularly when quality alternatives, such as Kabana, are available?
Green Screen vs. Alba Botanica's 'organic' Lavender Sunscreen 
Green Screen SPF 15
Active Ingredient:
20% Zinc Oxide
Other Ingredients:
Eldorado Springs Artesian Spring Water
Lanolin
Shea Butter
Cocoa Butter
Jojoba Oil
Mango Butter
Soy Lecithin
Optional Petroleum-free Lavender and Peppermint Essential Oils
Alba Botanica 'organic' Lavender Sunscreen SPF 30
Active Ingredients:
Octocrylene 10.0%
Octinoxate 7.5%
Oxybenzone 6.0%
Octisalate 5.0%
Well over a quarter (28.5%) of Alba's 'organic' formula is composed of benzene-based petrochemicals. This product blatantly violates USDA's organic labeling laws that were established to protect consumers like you.There's no way for the formula to be 70% organic with 28.5% petroleum and water listed as the first ingredient.
Other Ingredients:
Purified water
Isopropyl palmitate
Glyceryl stearate SE
Steareth-2
Dimethicone
Trimethylsiloxysilicate
Glyceryl stearate
Certified organic lavandula officinalis (lavender) flower extract
Certified organic alow barbadensis leaf juice
Tocopherol (vitamin E)
Stearic acid
Methyl glyceth-20
Certified organic chamomilla recultita (chamomile) flower and ginkgo bilboa leaf extracts
Vegetable glycerin
Carbomer
Certified organic echinacea purporea leaf and achillea millefolium (yarrow) extracts
Cetyl phosphate
Allantoin
Phenoxyethanol
Benzyl alcohol
Potassium sorbate
Botanical fragrance (parfum)
Alba uses trace certified organic ingredients, but their formula is neither natural nor organic in composition. Their marketing is designed to mislead you.
Which product do you really want to put on your skin? Or on your children's?
Misleading Marketing in 'Natural' and 'Organic' Skin Care
Organic and Natural have no legal status in skin care and cosmetics. This is because the FDA, which regulates these products, has not followed the USDA's lead (USDA regulates food) in establishing ingredient content limits to qualify for 'organic' labeling.
Unfortunately for you as a consumer, this means that any manufacturer can put any ingredients from any sources in their products and still legally call that product 'natural' or 'organic.' Kabana's founder has too often argued with 'natural'-marketed competitors about their belief that petroleum is a 100% natural ingredient because it comes out of the ground!
In order to be qualified as natural by Kabana, either of the following must be true and easily understood:
The ingredient comes directly from a living organism via a sustainable process
The ingredient is a mineral that is well-known to have beneficial properties for skin, like water and zinc oxide.
Some of the more scrupulous manufacturers have begun applying the USDA guidelines to their products. This is nice if it is possible, but since 'organic' can appear in the label only if 70% of the ingredients are organically grown, most skin care products and cosmetics will never comply.
This is true because most skin care products contain large amounts of ingredients that cannot be grown - such as water or active sunscreen ingredients like zinc oxide.
For example, Green Screen SPF 15 All Natural Sunscreen can never be labeled as organic under the USDA laws because it contains at most 55% ingredients that can be cultivated organically - the rest is water and zinc oxide. Soaps, shampoos, skin creams and lotions that use water as their first ingredient will all have this problem.
The only way for you as a consumer to determine how natural a product actually is (and potentially good for you) is to read the ingredient labels. If it says 'natural' or 'organic' on the front label, BEWARE, this is likely to be meaningless marketing!
Zinc Oxide is the Best and Safest Sunscreen on Earth
Why is Zinc Oxide the BEST and SAFEST sunscreen on Earth?
Zinc Oxide has the broadest spectral absorbance throughout UVA and UVB regions of any FDA approved sunscreen
It's broader spectrum and produces fewer free radicals after absorbing UV radiation than Titanium Dioxide, and has no spectral absorbance holes unlike petrochemical sunscreens. It simply offers better UVA & UVB absorbance than both Mexoryl (which is strictly a UVA absorber) and Neutrogena's Helioplex Avobenzone/Oxybenzone cocktail.
Zinc Oxide is a mineral.
Since it is literally a rock, it never decomposes chemically, unlike all the other time and heat-sensitive carbon-based petrochemical sunscreens. You can leave a tube in your hot car and not worry later about its effectiveness. Zinc Oxide is also completely photostable, so it remains effective as long as it stays on your skin. No other petrochemical sunscreen can claim this, not even the much over- hyped Mexoryl.
Zinc Oxide cannot be absorbed through your skin.
It is not soluble or compatible with bodily fluids or tissue, so it stays on the surface of your skin where it remains maximally effective at protecting you from harmful UV radiation.
Zinc Oxide is made from Zinc, which is a critical mineral nutrient in our bodies.
Comparably, Titanium in Titanium Dioxide is just another toxic heavy metal that has no biological purpose. You won't find Titanium in your vitamin supplement, but you will surely find Zinc.
Zinc Oxide's safety is unsurpassed - it is the sole sunscreen active ingredient that's approved for use on children under 6 months of age.
Children have the most sensitive skin and FDA has determined that the petrochemical sunscreens aren't safe for use on babies. Zinc Oxide is the sole safe choice. It's also the #1 pediatrician-recommended diaper rash treatment because it has such an excellent safety record, even on the most tender and sensitive skin on the planet - inflamed baby bottoms! Imagine what it can do for you as a sunscreen. Please remember to keep your young ones in the shade as much as possible!
Zinc Oxide has no hormonal side-effects
Unlike the petrochemical sunscreens that act as xenoestrogens and can cause undesirable hormonal effects (xenoestrogens have been linked to early puberty in girls, breast cancer in women, and can impair physical performance for athletes), Zinc Oxide does not disrupt our normal hormonal balance. It's a naturally occuring environmental mineral to which plants and animals have adapted. It won't feminize fish or damage ecosystem reproductive cycles. Since it is not an endocrine disruptor, it is the safest sunscreen for pregnant women and children - two groups who are the most sensitive to hormonal disregulation.
Kabana's Green Screen SPF 15 All Natural Sunscreen Contains 20% Zinc Oxide - It's the Best and Safest Sunscreen on Earth.
Non-essential Metals In Sunscreen: An Unnecessary Risk
Non-essential metals are defined as metals that have no biological activity - an easy way to determine if a metal is non-essential is compare it to the metals present in a quality daily vitamin. If the name doesn't appear on the ingredient list in a vitamin, it likely has no biological activity and instead will have toxic effects. Most non-essential metals are present in skin care products as various salts, such as aluminum silicate, oxide, hydroxide or stearate.
Non-essential metal exposure has long been associated with development of various diseases. How these metals may cause disease is related to pro-oxidative behavior, which results in many forms of cellular damage, and each metal's capacity to replace essential metals in enzymes and other cellular structures, resulting in abnormal functionality.
Here are a few non-essentail metals often present in sunscreens:
Aluminum - oxidative stress, also associated with Alzhemiers and other cognitive disabilities, often present as the silicate, hydroxide, oxide or stearate, among others.
Titanium - oxidative stress, free radical damage, present as titanium dioxide
Other heavy metals as contaminants - zinc and titanium are both derived from ores that commonly have additional non-essential metals such as lead, antimony, silver and gold. Unless a very high purity mineral sunscreen is used, these contaminants will also end up in the product and on your skin.
Conversely, Green Screen exclusively uses ultra high purity zinc oxide as its sunscreen active ingredient. Zinc is an essential metal and necessary for health.
FDA Proposes Amendments To OTC Monograph on Sunscreens
FDA has published new proposed amendments to the 1999 OTC monograph on sunscreen labeling. In a nutshell, the new marketing information will indicate the level of UVA protection, from "no UVA protection" to a level of four stars, indicating the highest level of UVA protection.
FDA has also proposed a new warning message in the Drug Facts table: "UV exposure from the sun increases the risk of skin cancer, premature skin aging, and other skin damage. It is important to decrease UV exposure by limiting time in the sun, wearing protective clothing, and using a sunscreen."
KLRC views these amendments as a step in the right direction, but believes that unless FDA chooses to regulate and penalize companies that currently use marketing language in violation of the 1999 monograph, adding these additional regulations will do little to enhance consumer protection and limit skin cancer incidence.
New laws that are not enforced change nothing.
Please take a look at FDA's proposed Amendments to OTC Monograph
If you'd like to comment on their efforts, FDA has opened a public comment window through November 27. If you have something you'd like to tell the administration about sunscreen use, labeling practices, or how they can do a better job protecting the public from skin cancer, click Comment on FDA's proposed ammendments, and choose 'Individual consumer' as your category.
Vegetable-derived Ingredients: What It Actually Means To You
Many 'natural' personal care product manufacturers go to great lengths trying to indicate to you the goodness of the ingredients they use. A common practice is to use the terms 'vegetable,' 'vegetable-derived' or 'vegetable-based' to describe the ingredient. But what does this really mean to you?
At best, 'vegetable' means that the ingredient they are using comes from a renewable resource instead of petroleum. This is good for the planet, but in terms of healthiness, it's likely to be quite meaningless. For example, Tom's of Maine, now a Colgate subsidiary, was originally founded to produce wholesome toothpaste, free of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Today, they justify the use of SLS because it comes from a 'coconut oil' source. The problem is, SLS is SLS. No matter where it comes from it's still a harsh industrial detergent, irrespective of concentration. The same is true for any 'vegetable' sourced ingredient that is identical in composition to its petrochemical counterpart.
'Vegetable' actually means very little in regard to health when present in ingredient lists and you, as a consumer, should not interpret it as good for you simply because the original carbon atoms were organized by a plant. It can easily be argued that petroleum oil (and ostensibly all derivatives thereof) is 'vegetable derived,' since it was once indeed an ancient forest that was buried in the earth's crust many million years ago. The fact is, humanity's ingenious chemical processes can make just about any petrochemical from peanut oil - (bio)diesel is an example. An ingredient may have been a plant once, but what is it now?
So, what should you do as a label reader when you see 'vegetable' in the ingredient list? Don't be fooled. Such an ingredient is greener for the environment in terms of sustainabilty, but its not likely to be any better for your health than its petroleum-derived analog.
CDC Study: 97% of Us Have Oxybenzone In Our Blood
We found this research to be shocking, very well written and properly statistically controlled. The study, conducted by a group at the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that Oxybenzone, also called Benzophenone-3 in ingredient labels, is measurable at biologically significant quantities in 97% of the 2,517 urine samples randomly selected from the US population for testing during 2003-2004.
Not surprisingly, test samples with the highest levels of oxybenzone belonged to females of non-hispanic white descent, (women with fair skin who use lots of sunscreen) and non-hispanic white children between the ages of 6 to 11 (whose parents put ultra high SPF sunscreens on them frequently). Children under the age of 6 were unfortunately not included in the test pool, but are likely at even higher risk since their skin is thinner, their bodies are more developmentally sensitive, and many of the ultra high SPF products are marketed towards babies, despite the fact that no petrochemical sunscreens are approved by FDA for use on children under the age of 6 months.
Only Zinc Oxide is!
The study cited numerous research papers detailing the estrogenic activity of oxybenzone and contamination of our drinking water and waterways. It also called for further toxicological and epidemiological studies to be done since none have been pursued thus far, despite the common use of this petrochemical in personal care products.
As a label reader, you should avoid petrochemical sunscreens and products that contain them. The benefits that they deliver are not worth the risk to your health and the environment.
Green Screen is good for you, and Kabana is now the sole natural sunscreen manufacturer that does not use nanoparticle zinc oxide in our products!
Sunscreen Use Does Not Reduce Melanoma Risk 
Surprised? We were too, so we examined the medical research in greater detail. The majority of publications suggest that sunscreen use is linked to increased melanoma risk. This paper in particular presents compelling data.
it is important that you as a label reader undertand that this is not the same as saying "Sunscreens cause melanoma." Medical research largely finds a positive correlation with sunscreen use and melanoma, with certain types of people at higher risk. The well-controlled research paper linked above determined that people with the highest increased risk (up to 8x) are people with light complexions, blonde or red hair, who do not tan well and use higher SPF (high petrochemical content) sunscreens frequently.
Why might this be?
The paper proposes the following:
1. People who use sunscreen most frequently are often the most UV sensitive,
2. High sunscreen users also spend significantly more time outside and accumulate more UV damage.
3. Increased risk may be related to particular wavelength damage that results from UVB-only sunscreens.
Kabana adds two more possibilities:
4. Mass-market sunscreen manufacturers use misleading marketing terms on their labels, such as 'waterproof,' 'sweatproof,' 'sunblock,' and 'all-day protection.' None of these claims accurately represent a sunscreen's capacities, and all of them were effectively made illegal through exclusion in the 1999 Final Sunscreen Monograph, published by FDA in the Federal Register, precisely because they inaccurately describe the UV protection afforded by sunscreen products. This false sense of security effectively elevates skin cancer risk because consumers don't reapply sunscreen properly.
5. The studies do not control for the TYPE of sunscreen used - mineral or petrochemical. Petrochemical sunscreens are inherently toxic and also damage DNA, particularly when UV light breaks their chemical bonds and creates free radicals. The highest risk group uses sunscreens with the highest levels of petrochemical active ingredients. It is reasonable to think that they trade UV-caused DNA damage for chemical-caused DNA damage of the type that causes melanoma preferentially over other skin cancers. We'd like to see a study that controls for this possible effect.
Regardless, both UV and chemical exposures will damage your DNA and elevate skin cancer risk. You need to minimize both. Kabana has always advocated shade as the best possible UV protection, but where that's impossible, Green Screen® Organic and Natural Sunscreens are the healthiest broad spectrum UV protection products available to you and your family.
A great deal of additional information about sunscreens useful for the label reader can be found on Wikipedia.
Skin Deep, EWG & cosmeticsdatabase.com Fail Consumers in Sunscreen Evaluation 
As if you need any more misinformation from the sunscreen industry, the most popular sunscreen safety database is failing to evaluate sunscreens using ingredient common sense and the last set of regulations for sunscreen manunfacturers published to protect you by FDA in the 1999 federal register.
Although Skin Deep's Cosmetics Database reports that 4 out of 5 sunscreens fail to provide adequate protection from the sun, they reward companies for inflating their SPF claims by not requiring submission of any SPF testing data, much less unbiased third-party SPF testing data. This practice puts companies like Kabana that do third-party SPF testing at a disadvantage, since Skin Deep's evaluation is heavily weighted on the manufacturer's reported SPF value, which, using Skin Deep's present system, can easily be manipulated.
For example, Green Screen Organic SPF 20 Sunscreen provides 95% UV protection (1.7% less UV protection than the top rated SPF "30" sunscreen at 96.7%), uses 8 edible-grade, vegan ingredients with certified organic base oils and leads the industry with 25% non-nanoparticle, baby-safe, zinc oxide, yet is penalized with a UVB score of 5, effectively eliminating the product from the top 10 listings.
Kabana has suggested Skin Deep require companies to submit SPF testing data, and has offered its own on several occasions. We've also suggested Skin Deep actively educate consumers about how SPF works and proper sunscreen reapplication practices. Although Skin Deep is perfectly positioned to act in your interest, it is neither interested in assuring you receive adequate protection, nor that manufacturers follow the 1999 OTC final monograph for sunscreen labels that FDA created to protect YOU from 'misleading' labeling claims.
Indeed Skin Deep's top rated sunscreens use terms that were explicitly excluded from the 1999 regulations because they provide consumers a "false sense of security," such as 'sunblock.'
More alarmingly, several of the top-10 rated sunscreens contain photosensitizing citrus oils, which cause increased UV damage to your skin cells and DNA. Somehow Skin Deep has entirely overlooked this crucial fact about citrus oils, yet they still report a 100% data gap (which means they have absolutely NO safety information) on such ingredients. It is outrageous to call citrus oils safe in sunscreen products!
The fact is that based on evaluation of the information contained on their website, all of Skin Deep's top-10 rated products contain one or more of the following problematic ingredients or violate FDA's regulations:
1. Nanoparticle sunscreens
2. Petrochemicals (such as ozokerite)
3. Citrus oils with photosensitizing properties
4. Labeling that fails to follow FDA's 1999 OTC Final Monograph on Sunscreens
Green Screen Organic SPF 20 Sunscreen has none of these issues!
Why is Skin Deep failing consumers? Perhaps they should disclose what companies are financially supporting their 'efforts' as well. Kabana doesn't donate money to Skin Deep.
Kabana will admit we certainly have a vested interest in selling our products, Green Screen Organic Sunscreens in particular. We challenge anyone to compare our ingredients to the competition's and are confident you'll find ours to be the best.
Our ingredients, ethical labeling, and transparent business practices speak for themselves.
Love your skin. Kabana does.
Would you like to send Skin Deep your own message? E-mail them!.
Mineral Sunscreen Properties Explained
There exists a great amount of confusion about how mineral sunscreens work, what ideal particle sizes are, and which ones perform more efficiently for broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection. This issue of KLRC seeks to explain mineral sunscreen properties in simple terms, and debunk the myths being perpetuated by both the sunscreen industry and popular media.
Two mineral sunscreens exist: Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide. Both of these chemicals are solids that cannot dissolve in bodily fluids, and as such each stays on the surface of your skin where it needs to be for ideal sunscreen protection. They are not created equal however. The sunscreen industry and media often refer to these minerals as 'sunblocks,' or 'physical' sunscreens, but these terms are misleading.
Myth
Mineral sunscreens block UV by scattering and reflecting UV radiation.
Reality
This is perhaps the most popular sunscreen myth and is simply wrong. Mineral sunscreens perform similarly to their carbon based petrochemical cousins in that they absorb UV radiation, but with a much much broader effective range. They look white because indeed these minerals do reflect and scatter light in the visible spectrum, which we can see. Unfortunately, manufacturers, dermatologists, and the media, regularly perpetuate this myth because they don't understand the physical chemistry associated with these minerals and make the easy yet incorrect assumption that they perform the same in the UV as in the visible spectrum. An easy to understand educational discussion on this can be found here. If you want to learn more in depth about these compounds, search "wide-band-gap semiconductors" on google.
Myth
Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide are equally good UV absorbers.
Reality
Zinc Oxide is a better sunscreen active ingredient, for the following reasons:
1. Zinc Oxide has a broader UVA spectral absorbance than Titanium Dioxide
2. Zinc Oxide is safer from oxidative free radical production and chemical damage
3. Zinc Oxide is not made from a toxic heavy metal
4. Zinc Oxide is the ONLY sunscreen that is FDA-approved for use on babies younger than 6 months of age. (This is despite the fact that many mass market manufacturers market 'baby' formulas full of petrochemicals that are NOT approved for use on babies!)
The last fact illustrates that Zinc Oxide is the also the safest sunscreen on the market and the only one you should be using on your children.
Myth
Both micronized and nanoparticle mineral sunscreens are unsafe.
Reality
Every mineral sunscreen product on the market uses either micronized or nanoparticles in their formulas. The size larger than micronized is milli-sized, which borders on the size of fine grains of sand and would be useless as a sunscreen because it would be gritty and completely white if applied evenly. Micronized mineral sunscreens have been on the market for decades and micronized Zinc Oxide is the safest sunscreen on the planet, excepting shade. Recently, the media and environmentalists have raised safety questions about nanoparticles used in sunscreens. These questions are largely unanswered at present, so Kabana has decided not to use nanoparticle Zinc Oxide in any of our products because its simply not worth the added risk if any exists.
Myth
The Higher the SPF, the Better.
Reality
Actually, anything above SPF 15 is largely a marketing gimmick that chemical manufacturers use to sell more of their products, charge you more money, and get you to put ever higher concentrations of their toxic petrochemicals on and in your body. The facts are, SPF 15 provides 93.3% UV absorption; SPF 20 provides 95%, SPF 30 only provides 96.7%. You can see on this graph that each additional unit of SPF protection above SPF 15 provides very little additional protection. It's also important to remember that SPF only indicates UVB protection. An SPF 70 product may have virtually no UVA protection! The only reason Kabana can understand why FDA invented the SPF metric instead of simply providing the percentage of protection, as in 95% (SPF 20 equivalent), is because the chemical lobby wanted a metric that was more marketable (and unclear and misleading). They've succeeded, because very few consumers actually understand what SPF means.
The bottom line: use mineral sunscreen. Green Screen has the most effective, safest, fully disclosed and understandable ingredients on the market. Read our labels and you will understand why our sunscreen is the best for you and your family's health and well-being.
All Mineral Sunscreens Are NOT The Same
In the last KLRC we attempted to clear up the vast consumer confusion that is routinely perpetuated by the 'experts' about mineral sunscreen performance and particle size issues. In this article we concisely describe why Green Screen is a better product than other mineral-based sunscreens competing in our marketplace.
Base Oils - Capric/Caprylic Triglycerides
The base oil used in natural sunscreen formulas is an issue you should examine and understand. Green Screen uses Certified Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil as the primary vegetable oil in our formula. This is the same ingredient you're hopefully putting on your salad and that yummy fresh pasta. Our sunscreen is the only mineral sunscreen on the market that uses certified organic ingredients as its primary base oils.
Our competitors use instead Capric/Caprylic Triglycerides. These completely saturated fats are derived from coconut oil via the process of fractionation, which isolates and homogenizes these chemicals out of their naturally occuring mixture. In these formulas this ingredient is strictly a cheap vehicle to deliver the sunscreen active ingredient; it has zero antioxidant potential, and as such, is almost as unnaturally stable as the petrochemical vaseline.
In comparison, Green Screen's Organic Olive Oil is high in antioxidants and has a nutrient rich mixture of unsaturated fats, including essential fatty acids. Use of this ingredient in our Green Screen formulas creates a beneficial and healthy product.
Particle Size - Zinc Oxide
The sunscreen industry has chosen to integrate nanoparticle (defined as <100nm diameter) zinc oxide into nearly all mineral sunscreen products, despite a lack of research in regard to particle size safety. We think the adoption of nano by sunscreen manufacturers has largely been driven by chemical manufacturer's recognition that the 'new' technologies can be sold at higher profits compared to older micronized manufacturing processes. On the surface, it seems intuitive that nano would provide better performance. But, based on Kabana's tests and organic formulas, we have not determined that nanoparticles provide enhanced UV protection in any significant way.
They do have the potential to elevate your risk of side effects and toxicity. One of the better studies recently published determined that some nanoparticles (-20nm) can penetrate the UV irradiated skin of mice, which is used as a model for human skin exposed to the sun. Dr. DeLouise and colleagues found that model skin was more sensitive to nanoparticle penetration after UV exposure, which is particulary important since sunscreens are applied during outdoor activities. The toxicity issues of this observation are unknown. Why take on extra risk?
Green Screen is the only non-nano mineral sunscreen available to you that's also made with certified organic ingredients.
AAD Issues Position on Vitamin D
The American Academy of Dermatology's official position on Vitamin D is the same that we've championed from the beginning:
UV exposure to generate more Vitamin D is simply not a tradeoff you should be making because the skin cancer health risk far outweighs the benefit.
Read the AAD's press release here.
Disease is based on your own genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to anything that adversely affects your normal personal biology. Poor diets, inadequate exercise, foreign chemicals and UV radiation are just a few examples of disease-causing agents. You can't do anything about your genetic predisposition, but you certainly can make good choices to reduce these environmental and behavioral risks.
When you purchase our products, we help you reduce these health risks and stack the deck in your favor for better health.
Green Screen has the most effective, safest, fully disclosed and understandable ingredients on the market. Read our labels and you will understand why Green Screen is the best for you and your family's health and well-being.
The Zinc Oxide used in our products is exclusively non-nano(tm).
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