Essential U Blog

David Steinberg Opinion of New California Cosmetic Regulations

I love David Steinberg because he says exactly what is on his mind with no regard for "politics".  He recently wrote an article for Cosmetics and Toiletries Magazine regarding the Cosmetics Registration in California and the FDA's Electronic-only Drug Registration.  You can read the entire article here. 

        

My favorite part of David Steinberg's articles fall under his "comments" section where he translates all the data into what he thinks about it.  I've included some of my favorite quotes from his article below.

"Instead of carefully reviewing existing lists of chemicals published by various organizations, California included all of them without considering the fact that the vast majority of these chemicals have never been used in cosmetics and may or may not cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.  Those directed to come up with the list of ingredients simply aggregated a large list, which is likely to scare consumers.  In fact, California has relied on a study by the Environmental Working Group stating that 54 cosmetic products contain ingredient that the CIR has deemed as unsafe."

Canada & the Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist

Health Canada updated their Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist in September.  Companies that sell cosmetic products into Canada need to be aware of the changes.  You can see the items added, deleted and amended here.  The change that stands out the most is the addition of Glycerin to the Hotlist.  But there is no need to panic.  Health Canada is simply wanting a copy of a DEG Free certificate to insure that they glycerin used in cosmetics is not contaminated with diethylene glycol (DEG).  At Essential Wholesale we only use and sell DEG Free Glycerin. 

        

The FDA and the U.S. Pharmacopia have already adopted a new standards for glycerin.  All the stink about glycerin is due to a real concern caused when glycerin from China that was adulterated with ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol and used in oral medications. Switching ethylene glycol as a cheap substitute for glycerin goes back as far as 1937 when more than 107 people were killed in the United States by ethylene glycol used as a liquid base for an antibiotics.  Recently, there have been cases of ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol contamination in toothpaste from China found in the United States and Panama. The latest case of DEG tainted glycerin occurred in November when 84 Nigerian children died after being given a tainted teething drug.

Patience to Come to Your Own Conclusion

Recently I was visiting family.  My cousins brought up that fact that our Uncle Tom was hands down everyone’s favorite Uncle.  As a child growing up a visit from Uncle Tom signified fun, games, pranks, laughter and his amazing stories.  One of my cousins mentioned that if you were the kid then Uncle Tom was great, but if you were the mother of the kid you had to tame the prankster spirit that Uncle Tom inspired in us all.  The room erupted in laughter and nodding heads, but my mother and I looked at each other blankly.  We thought whether you were the adult or the kid the prankster spirit was part of the charm, after all my mother inherited the very same spirit. 

       

I grew up witnessing my mother’s mischievous humor and creative pranks.  I loved to hear stories of the things my mother got into as a child and young adult.  When she would tell the stories I could see the sparkle in her eye that was inspired by the memory.  The cost of being a creative prankster, of course, is that you become the subject of pranks as well.  One of my favorite stories was of a prank that was pulled on my mother while she was in college.

Meet Gary Our Corporate Chaplain

This year Essential Wholesale added a new face.  Meet Gary who is providing a new service to our employees.  Gary Ives is our Chaplain from Corporate Chaplains of America.  Gary comes to Essential Wholesale every Tuesday to make his rounds and visit with everyone.  He is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week to our employees to offer them confidential support.   

      

Corporate Chaplains of America was founded in 1996 to provide "Caring in the workplace."  Gary has been a welcomed addition to Essential Wholesale.

      

NEW Simple Papaya & Pineapple Masque

We are very excited to release our new Simple Papaya & Pineapple Masque.  It is carbomer, TEA and paraben free.  Most jelly products are thickened with carbomer and TEA.  There are a handful on the market that are thickened with other gums but tend to not be clear or they have gummy consistancy.  We have always wanted to release a carbomer and TEA free Simple Papaya & Pineapple Masque but did not want to put out a gummy product.  Our in-line mixer has finally made it possible to put out this new jelly masque that leaves no sticky feeling. 

      

The Simple Papaya & Pineapple Masque joins the Simple Aloe Jelly in the family of Carbomer and TEA free Jelly products.  There will be Simple Jelly products to come. 

W :: Who's Who in Aromatherapy

W is for these pioneers in aromatherapy, researchers, herbal medicine, physicians, or other fields that have impacted aromatherapy over time.  I have been posting an A-Z list for several months.  Since I found no one with the last name starting with X, Y or Z the list ends here.  If you feel that I have missed anyone who belongs on the list please add them to the comment section of that letter and any information you have regarding them.

                

Professor Dr. Dietrich Wabner (1935 -) is an environmental scientist and aromatherapist.  He is professor of electrochemistry at Technical University Munich.  He special interest has been the study of essential oil and specially rose oils.  He founded WADI GmbH in 1989.

Warning Scam Alert :: Warning

Every business owner would love to be recognized for achievements and to have something to show for all their blood, sweat and tears.  Be careful because there are new spammers out there taking advantage of business owners.  If you get the following email sent to you do not respond.  It looks real because they even go to the trouble of emailing you a picture of "your award".    

           

Subject line: (Your Company Name) Recieves 2009 Best of (Your City Name) Award

Here is an example of the one they sent us:

In recognition of your achievement, a 2009 Best of Clackamas Award has been designed for display at your place of business. You may arrange to have your award sent directly to Essential Wholesale by following the simple steps on the 2009 Best of Clackamas Award order form. Simply copy and paste this link into your browser to receive your award: (link to them was here)

Monday Motivational Moment 17 :: Heroes

Steven recently discovered the website Know Better Heroes and was so impressed that he wanted me to blog about it.  I read through their website and was equally impressed.  Since it was Steven' heart strings that were first tugged on by this concept of becoming heroes ourselves I asked him to write a paragraph to introduce Know Greater Heroes.   

Steven wrote, "Growing up,  I found most my heroes in comic books, movies and on MTV.  The lessons I learned from these sources weren’t particularly enlightening, let alone applicable to real life. But unfortunately, in such a busy world these “quick fix-instant-oatmeal” heroes may seem like a necessary substitute for the genuine article. Hopefully every child can find guidance and education other than that offered in Mad Magazine, but even those children lucky enough to go to the best schools find that academics alone aren’t enough to teach us how to relate to one another and become creative cooperative members of our communities. Finding mentors who can guide us down the path to becoming heroes ourselves is a rare gift. It’s good to know there are people out there making this blessing a reality."

“EVERYONE IS A ROLE-MODEL - whether for good or bad. There is always someone watching, looking for an excuse to be just like you.” Chris Brown.  
 

Aromatherapy Education Opportunities Coming Up

September 24 through November 12, 2009
Event Title: Clinical Aromatherapy Level 1
Educator: Shanti Dechen
Facility: Address 8100 Ganttcrest Drive, Austin, TX
Contact Name: Aroma Apothecary
Phone: 1-888-276-6278
Email: info@learnaroma.com  | www.learnaroma.com

      

September 27 through October 11, 2009
Event Title: Five Element Reflexes
Educator: Shanti Dechen
Facility: Clear Springs Studio 605 Copeland Street Austin, TX
Contact Name: Aroma Apothecary
Phone: 1-888-276-6278
Email: info@learnaroma.com  | www.learnaroma.com 

V :: Who's Who in Aromatherapy

V is for these pioneers in aromatherapy, researchers, herbal medicine, physicians, or other fields that have impacted aromatherapy over time.  I have been posting an A-Z list and am almost complete.  If you feel that I have missed anyone who belongs on the list please add them to the comment section and any information you have regarding them.

                

Dr. Jean Valnet (1920-) published the book Aromatherapie in 1964.  In it he documented his findings as an army surgeon who used essential oils to treat the war wounds he stitched up in World War II while in Tonkin, China.  Valnet was heavily influence by his grandmother who had a vast knowledge of using plants for healing as a midwife.  When he became a doctor he said, “I gobbled up whole libraries in my research, especially in the field of aromatherapy, which I had to practically reinvent and rediscover.”  He was an excellent medical physician with a passion for natural medicine.  In 1972 Valnet published Phytotherapie: Traitement des Maladis par les Plantes.