Lume Deodorant

I switched away from antiperspirants years ago. In the time since, I’ve tried a few different things with most of my use being in Old Spice-land and more-recently a 0% Aluminum Dove option that I prefer the fragrance of (Pomegranate and Lemon Verbena).

I heard of Lume before and while I was curious, I had mixed feelings. I hate their marketing. Hate. It. Happily, my distaste is for reasons other than the usual.

At some point, I ended up on a mailing list of theirs (thanks for selling my info!) and was appalled that it was very heavily along the lines of (I’m paraphrasing), “Got intimate area stink?” This isn’t just an unfortunately-targeted e-mail campaign, this is de rigeur for the brand.

Why?!

The founder happens to be an OB-GYN. Her intent was to formulate a whole-body deodorant product that won’t cause mayhem near the area(s) she most commonly provides care for. Noble enough, but the marketing is appallingly tactless. (But, spoilers, I did try the product – more on that after the jump).

What’s this? A doctor fulfilling unpleasant stereotypes about abysmal bedside manner?! If someone really DOES have those concerns, I’m sure they’d appreciate a more delicate and tactful approach.

There’s also an insinuation that everyone suffers from all of these complaints. We don’t! Just because these things are normal to encounter does not mean everyone experiences all of them, so its uncomfortable at best and presumptuous at worst.

Anyway, Lume ads are cringe. Whyyy:

Lume Advertising is Atrocious

If you can get past that, it is inclusively marketed to be suitable for myriad purposes – for everyone’s anatomy if they have and/or wish to address unwanted odors.

After Abra’s endorsement and a timely sale, I decided to give Lume a try.

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Lab Finds Benzene in More Dry Shampoo

Early last week, I wrote an informative and scathing piece on carcinogens in dry shampoo. The news on the matter was focused on brands under Unilever’s umbrella, but unfortunately independent analytical lab Valisure found benzene in more dry shampoo.

How Many?

Not in a few. 70% of the latest round of tests, featuring 150 batches from 30+ brands across multiple parent companies, came back with high levels of exposure. Here are just some of the affected brands:

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Recall: Carcinogens in Dry Shampoo

We had a post go live today, but I sat down this afternoon and wrote a whole entire ‘nother because this is NONSENSE. First, sunscreen. Now, there’s a multi-brand recall due to carcinogens in dry shampoo. It’s the same we’ve been seeing in sunscreen: benzene.

The amount of things being recalled for benzene in the last few years is too damn high. Carcinogens weren’t even really top-of-mind for me when I stopped buying dry shampoo a while back (which I JUST shared before this news hit), but there’s a hell of a good reason!

The Affected Brands

Per the release, which you can read on FDA.gov, this recall applies to products under Unilever’s sprawling umbrella. If you use any of these,

  • Dove
  • TRESemme
  • Nexxus
  • Suave
  • Tigi

You need to check the UPC and lot codes, which you can do here, to see if you need to take further action. Please note that just because you bought it recently doesn’t necessarily mean it was manufactured super recently! CHECK.

If it isn’t one of these, you may be in the clear – but I’ll come back to this.

Reimbursement

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Ways to Lower Your Beauty Waste

ways to lower your beauty waste

Ever wonder about how to lower your beauty waste or lower your beauty consumption? Over the years, I’ve challenged myself over the years to make small, practical changes in my habits and consumption. Beauty and personal care aren’t exempted from this endeavor.

Here to Inspire, NOT Preach

I am not and do not aim to be zero waste. I’m also not here to preach at you from astride a white horse. My time is valuable to me, and I am willing to make certain concessions in the name of convenience to preserve some of it. I think there’s a balance to strike – plastic isn’t evil, just like chemicals aren’t evil, but we should produce and consume (let alone recycle or dispose of) far more thoughtfully (read: less) than the average person is today.

If you’re able or willing to go harder than me? That’s great! If you haven’t made changes along these lines but want to, that’s great too – and maybe I can give you some ideas to lower your beauty waste that don’t feel like such a sacrifice that you can’t achieve them. After all, goals that aren’t achievable aren’t smart.

Just because you aren’t going full-tilt doesn’t mean what you CAN do doesn’t make a difference.

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Major Hair Loss with TRESemme

Hair loss with TRESemme

Corporate stupidity, often, is why we can’t have nice things. A lot of people, including me, have experienced hair loss with TRESemme and other shampoos and conditioners in the Unilever family of brands.

Retracing My Steps

Last year, faced with (at last) the end of my Tigi Moisture Maniac stockpile (that I had gleefully found at Costco), I faced the music that the discontinuation was finally final. and decided to return to drugstore options. I’d had decent results with Tresemme in the past, so while the variety I had previously tried wasn’t available, I went for their Moisture Rich shampoo and conditioner.

Hair Loss with TRESemme

We all shed hair, it’s part of the process. But I was shedding a lot. Granted, 2020 was a hell of a year, and we know stress is a contributor to hair loss.

But I’m no stranger to stress, and I was losing hair in fistfuls. I’m not a particularly emotional person, but it brought me to tears. I’d wash and condition my hair in the shower, capturing and coiling the fallen strands on the wall to see the casualties of the day and cry. I’m not even thirty yet. Was I sick? What the hell.

So, given that, it isn’t surprising it took me months to connect the dots that the acceleration of my shedding coincided uncomfortably with the product change.

Unforutnately, I’m Not Alone

When the suspicion occurred to me, I put on my investigative hat and found, to my horror, that Unilever is currently facing a class action suit over hair loss with TRESemme. The litigation is over another product line for containing an ingredient that is known to accelerate hair loss.

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Worth It? Lumify

Bausch and Lomb Lumify

Seasonal allergies? Staring at screens too much? Sociopolitical rage/burnout? Depleted surge capacity? Existential crisis? Ennui? Regardless of why, are you finding that your eyes are a bit more red than you’d like, lately? Got to (appear to) get your shit together before the day’s nth Zoom meeting?

I got you.

Who says cosmetics are only for your skin, hair, and nails? I’ve been using Lumify eye drops for about two years now–yeah, since the before times–and nothing obliterates redness the same way. NOTHING. Not Visene, not Ben Stein Clear Eyes, not Rohto, not any damn thing.

Putting Lumify Simply

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