World Wisdom: The Green Beauty Rules

Paige Padgett, makeup artist to the stars, including Jillian Michaels, is revolutionary in the beauty industry and is finally revealing her brand of beauty magic in her first book The Green Beauty Rules: The Essential Guide to Toxic-Free Beauty, Green Glamour and Glowing Skin. Filled with tips and tricks to get glamorous, toxic-free make-up looks, this green beauty expert has the 411 on killer toxins and chemicals found in most beauty products. The Green Beauty Rules is a simple, step-by-step beauty detox plan which guides readers on what to try, buy and toss for a healthier and gorgeous lifestyle.



I had a chance to read the book, and I really liked it. Someone who is really skeptical of the idea of going green may not buy into everything, but it's really eye-opening the way she started on the green beauty journey. For example, there are chemicals found in our bodies that were banned 30 years ago, passed down through our environment and even from our parents. The book simplifies the transition, stresses a baby-steps approach to make one change at a time, and encourages the use of products that can serve multiple uses. She also emphasizes that you can use these green products even if you have a tight budget.

Learn more from the author herself:
What are some of the health reasons to consider a green beauty routine?
Cosmetics are filled with toxic chemicals that are linked to birth defects, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity and cancer. That's enough reason for me.

What are the different eco-certifications out there and which ones should I pay the most attention to?
ECOCERT, a French certification, and USDA Organic are the most common in the US for cosmetics. There are others such as NSF International (NSF), Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards (OASIS) and Organic ConsumersAssociation (OCA) which are US organizations as well as BHID, a German certification, The Soil Association in the UK; Certech, a Canadian organization and Australian Organic are all respectable seals and should be sought out.

When looking for a green beauty product, what ingredients should I see at the top of the label?
Natural ingredients you can pronounce. For example, castor seed, apricot seed or sunflower seed oil are first in a lip gloss. The closer they are to the top the higher concentration of the ingredient.

What are your favorite green beauty resources? Are there resources people can use to help them become more educated and chemically safe with their cosmetics?
My go-to resource is http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/. You can also check out the companies who signed the compact for safe cosmetics (the EU directive) at safecosmetics.org and, of course, http://www.paigepadgett.com. These are the resources I use myself and recommend to others.

If people choose not to 100% go green, what are some harmful ingredients you recommend that they avoid?
Omit fragrance. By eliminatingfragrance you can cut out 30-300 potentially toxic chemicals. More than 90% of chemicals in fragrance are petrochemicals. Phthalates are especially of concern since they are fragrance and are linked to a birth defect in boys. If you see the word fragrance, perfume or parfum, don't buy it.

What are the top major toxic chemicals to watch out for? Why?
Look out for parabens, fragrance and petrochemicals. Parabens are in nearly everything so you are getting much higher accumulations of them than other chemicals and fragrance has potentially hundreds of toxic chemicals. Petrochemicals are linked to so many diseases such as birth defects and cancer.

Paige Padgett, a leading authority on green beauty, has never been afraid to go against the grain. An irreverent free spirit, she follows her instincts and her heart. At the mere age of 12 she announced to her family that she was no longer eating red meat. Ironically, her half-Native American grandfather was a cattle rancher. It was no surprise then, that when beauty experts said she couldn't provide safe and eco-friendly makeup artistry and still create beautiful faces, she set out to prove them wrong — and did.

Now considered a leading authority on green beauty, Paige is the Green Beauty Expert for Dasani ECOmmunity Facebook Page, DailyGlow.com, Jillian Michaels Wellness Team, and founded Paigepadgett.com, a green beauty website. In addition, she is often sought out by the press and has been featured in Shape, Elle, GenLux, Tresdope.com, Beautyblitz.com, The Los Angeles Times, Vegetarian Times, Natural Health and Whole Life Times Magazine. Her television, radio, podcasts and live appearances include "Martha Stewart Radio," "San Diego Live," 
"The Jillian Michaels Radio Show," "Green Is Good," "The Healthy Voyager" and "The Jillian Michaels Wellness Cruise."