There has been some discussion by the media lately about beauty-product safety. Do you really know what’s in your lipstick or eyeshadow? How about your massage lotion? Some ingredients in popular products have been linked to allergies, toxicity, even cancer.

So I was happy when MASSAGE Magazine reader Jon Borges recently told me about a Web site that takes a lot of the guesswork out of purchasing products for our faces and bodies.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetic’s (http://safecosmetics.org) database allows you to search by company name, product name or ingredient and obtain reviews and ratings on product safety.

I have to admit it: Until I visited this site I had no idea that personal-care products like lotions, shampoos and cosmetics are not regulated by the FDA. “It is perfectly legal and very common for companies to use ingredients that are known or suspected to be carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins in the their products,” the Web site notes.

The campaign itself entails a “Compact for Safe Cosmetics,” which is “a pledge to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives in every market they serve. So far, 600 companies have joined the pledge.

I urge you to visit the campaign’s site to find out what you’re really putting on your—and your clients’—body, and I also urge any company that formulates products for the massage field to enter information about their products and sign the Compact for Safe Cosmetics.

Until next time,
Karen

Karen Menehan
MASSAGE Magazine Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to my blog! I’m looking forward to telling you about some of the behind-scenes action here at MASSAGE Magazine, and sharing ideas and information about the massage profession.

MASSAGE has some exciting changes planned for 2008. Among them: a new business column that will give you more of the financial nuts and bolts of running a practice. Author Eva Rosenberg (http://taxmama.com) runs a full-time tax practice; teaches nationwide; and is the author of “Small Business Taxes Made Easy: How to Increase Your Deductions, Reduce What You Owe, and Boost Your Profits.” She’ll be writing about a lot more than just taxes, though. I can’t give too much away here; let’s just say these will be the most in-depth business articles offered by any massage publication!

This new column—and some other new material that I’ll tell you about soon—will begin in MASSAGE’s February issue. Our January issue is our annual Buyers Guide, which you’ll want to save and refer to all year.

Until next time,

Karen

Karen Menehan
MASSAGE Magazine Editor-in-Chief