Which cosmetics are safe?

Whether you're looking for lipstick, sunscreen or contact lens solution search the following two websites for the exact product, or the company, and see how the products are rated according to health hazards. Even if the exact product isn't listed, if everything of the same type, e.g. lipsticks, by the same company has medium or bad ratings, then chances are, your lipstick of choice also has a similar rating.

1. EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database
They have a huge database, and not only do they break down the hazards by categories such as cancer or developmental & reproductive toxicity, they also list every single ingredient and their ratings, as well!

2. GoodGuide
I love how they also rate the product's impact on health but also on the environment and society. Furthermore, they also list alternatives with better ratings. This is a great way to easily find products to switch to! And they also rate other products, not just cosmetics, such as household cleaning products and apparel.

And now back to clearing out my bathroom cabinets....

Are there similar websites you know of, that rate various cosmetics and cleaning products? Share in the comments!

Disinfecting a camping water filter without bleach: NOT recommended

I've been trying to avoid bleach, but the Katadyn water filter I use to filter water while camping requires the disinfecting of the filter with bleach before drying it out for storage. I've been using grapefruit seed extract (GSE) instead, so I thought I'd share my recipe and how I came up with it. Disclaimer: My filter eventually got mouldy, so I don't think this works too well, but feel free to try it yourself.

Recipe

Add 100 drops of GSE into 1 gallon of water. Stir well, and pump all of the liquid through the filter. Disassemble and dry. When using again, pump 1 liter of water through it to clear out the GSE.

Why 100 drops? 

Normally, you would use 2 teaspoons of bleach in 1 gallon of water to clean the water filter for storage. So how much if GSE is that equivalent to? For emergency disinfecting of water, you use 1/8 teaspoon of bleach, or 6-30 drops of GSE. Counting with the lower value, we get 1/8 teaspoon bleach = 6 drops of GSE. In other words, 2 teaspoons bleach = 96 drops of GSE. At maximum (counting with the 30), we would get 2 teaspoons bleach = 480 drops GSE... but I don't have the patience to count that many drops!

EDIT: This method DOES NOT seem to work nearly as well as disinfecting with bleach. When I used the water filter later, the water had a funny taste, and upon disassembling, I saw mold growing on the entire filter, and it smelled like a towel that has been standing wet for too long. I don't know whether this was related to the fact that I had disinfected with GSE, but I DO know that in previous years, while cleaning with bleach, my filters always remained perfectly clean and mold-free after camping trips.

Black mold growing in spots. It's too small to see on this photo, but there also are tiny black specks of mold covering the entire filter. The filter should have remained snow-white near the outflow end.

Non-stick skillets that won't leach chemicals

It's hard to find a skillet that's non-stick and doesn't have a Teflon coating. I'd like to avoid Teflon because it's a known carcinogen. And the fumes are so unhealthy, that using non-stick pans in your home is fatal to pet birds! (Although, the burning food itself can also be the culprit.)

Materials to avoid

• Teflon (a brand name for polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE) and other non-stick coatings. This includes Cuisinart QuanTanium, DuPont Autograph 2, Swiss Diamond, T-Fal, Eterna, Excalibur, Xylan.
• Stainless steel with a high nickel content
• There is a simple test to determine if your stainless – or the stainless you wish to purchase – is okay or not. If a magnet sticks to your pot/pan – you are safe. If it does not, there is too much nickel.
• Aluminum (pots and pans, foil, cans, etc.)
• Hard-anodized aluminum(?)
• Conflicting evidence on whether it leaches aluminum into the food or not
• The Brandy Wine Science Center Inc. performed tests for leaching on various types of cookware including hard-anodized aluminum. The study tested for metals like iron, nickel, copper and aluminum. The final results showed that hard-anodized aluminum does leach 7.10 milligrams per liter of liquid used in the test.
• "PFOA-free" doesn't mean much
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) can be used in the manufacturing process. PFOA is a pollutant and toxin, but does not remain in the final product
• When they say PFOA free, it means that particular chemical wasn’t used in the manufacture of PTFE. But the coating still contains PTFE.

Things to look for

• Stainless steel
• Check that a magnet sticks
• Ceramic-based coating
• E.g. Greblon, Thermolon and EcoLon coatings
• Used by brands Ozeri pans, Cook Kitchen, Joseph Strauss, Zwilling J.A. Henckells Thermolon coating cookware, NeoFlam
• Cast iron
• Enamel
• Glass, e.g. Pyrex
• Hard-anodized aluminum with no additional non-stick coating
• If we're looking for non-stick, this is the best of the lot
• Cook at the lowest heat possible to reduce leaching into food.

Cast iron pans are definitely safe and after they have been properly seasoned, they won't stick, either.

How to make food not stick to a stainless steel pan

Pre-heat the pan, and then add the oil/fat. Wait for a tell-tale wisp of smoke from the pan before adding your ingredients for cooking.

I can't actually find any hard-anodized aluminum pans with no additional non-stick coating on them. Are there any brands you know of? Share in the comments!