The invitation to the campaign came to me as an "Early Invite" offer from BzzAgent. I accepted since I've generally had good experience with Burt's Bees. The first thing I do, is tell my brother about the new campaign. He said, "That's nice, two bees." It took me awhile to understand what he was referring to, then I realized that BzzAgent has bee mascot, while Burt's Bees are obviously, bees of Burt. Anyway, the purpose of this article is not to show off my campaign joining experience. I actually wanted to share a bit of research I did about this product. *All resources I used have a valid HON code or they are resourses that are proven to be trustworthy.
I currently use Retin-A 0.025% (tretinoin) and BenzaClin. Simply put, tretinoin makes your skin follicles less sticky, enhancing your skin's ability to shed and increase turnover rate [1], while BenzaClin: a combination of clindamycin phosphate and benzoyl peroxide, utilizes the fat-loving nature of benzoyl peroxide to help the clindamycin (an antibiotic) dissolve into the fatty cells of your skin. [2]
In this new Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions, the active ingredient comes from the "Willow Bark Extract," Salix, spp. Another name for such product, is called, "aspirin." [3]. The line advertises that this acne solution "penetrate pores to reduce acne and prevent future breakouts." According to my quick research on the subject, salicylic acid works as an "exfoliant, promoting the sloughing away of dead skin cells, and it has the "ability to penetrate the follicle... [reducing] the number of pore blockages and breakouts on the skin. " [4] To me, it sees like salicylic acid can only be used to substitute tretinoin, sloughing off the cells physically, but not dissolving into the fatty cells with antibiotic chemically. The root of the problem are these overly populated bacteria called "Propionibacterium acnes" [5], so simply sloughing off dead cells doesn't seem like, theoretically, an effective way of treating acne.
I started wondering about the rest of the ingredients, since many organic products I use has a mixture of ingredients that are good for the purpose in different ways, which leads me to this list of inactive ingredients [6]:
Sunflower oil: Topically, [people use it] for poorly healing wounds, skin lesions, psoriasis, arthritis, and as a massage oil. However, there are not enough data to rate the effectiveness. [7]
Lemongrass: Topically, lemongrass and its essential oil are used for headache, stomachache, abdominal pain, and musculoskeletal pain. However, there are not enough data to rate the effectiveness. [9]
Witch Hazel: Topically, witch hazel is used for itching, skin inflammation,skin injury, mucous membrane inflammation, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, bruises, insect bites, minor burns, and other skin irritations. Witch hazel is proven to relieve mild skin irritation, but less than hydrocortisone. [10]
Hops: Topically, hops are used for leg ulcers and as an antibacterial. However, there are not enough data to rate the effectiveness. [11]
Horsetail: Topically, horsetail is used for treatment of wounds and burns, it also has some analgesic and antiviral activities. However, there are not enough data to rate the effectiveness. [12]
Golden Seal: Topically, goldenseal is used topically for skin rashes, skin ulcers, wound infections, itching, eczema, acne. However, there are not enough data to rate the effectiveness. [13]
The term "Gravel Willow" and "Epilobium Fleischeri" didn't give me practical search results. I believe another term is "Alpine Willowherb" which I also can't find its application on the skin.
Lecithin: Topically, lecithin is used as a moisturizing agent for dermatitis and dry skin. [14]
Carrageenan: Topically, carrageenan is used for anal and rectal symptoms. However, I think it is used as a binder, emulsifier, thickening agent, and as a stabilizer in the Burt's Bees product. [15]
That's all for now. Of course I have my doubts, but I'm still excited to get my BzzKit. Hopefully the product will prove itself worthy to us!
I recently posted this article at MTV.CommuniSpace.com, and it was pretty popular, I actually won $20 amazon credit for posting this topic of discussion. (I took a screen shot! )
Here's my response and some other people's responses to the article:
Ignorance
This is really sad and frustrating.
These are some of the benefits of breastfeeding:
For the mom - decreased weight (takes 1000 calories to create breast milk), increase bondage with child, contracts uterus (which prevents hemorrhage) with the oxytocin released, increased bone density, decreased chances of getting breast cancer, etc.
For the infant - increased immunity, increased IQ, decreased chance of getting several diseases: breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc.
How ignorant can the law, or the society be? The picture could be showing the bondage between the mom and the child, the love that goes in the act of breast feeding. Many moms might have experienced the soreness of the nipple from breast feeding, give up some of their work/social life so they can stay at home to feed the baby more. There's a lot a mother has to go through to make sure the baby is well fed (it should be noted that formula does not substitute the benefits of breast milk, in fact, it is frequently found that formulas contain ingredients that are harmful to the baby, or sometimes, it's not a pure ingredient.)
There is no way breastfeeding could be considered child abuse, the amount of love and care that goes into breastfeeding should be looked up upon... as advance as our technology and medicine is in the United States, we are certainly lacking awareness and knowledge culturally and, I suppose, medically.
La Leche League should come and beat those idiots ass !
I agree with you Amy this whole story is like spitting on the fight to get women to breastfeed their babies . So frustratingly dumb that i cant even type .I mean that could have been my mom or someone i know . Who doesnt have naked baby pics ? My brothers are especially hilarious ! I understand that nowadays you must take pro caution with creepy dudes all over the news each week but after they saw the woman intent was harmless ,,, FEEDING HER CHILD they should have let her go . Those police officers should be ashamed of themselves . I think it had to do with her being an immigrant more then anything ,,,uhggh ,,,, :(
Amanda E:
No way!
This is definitely wrong. These pictures were not taken in a pornographic way; they weren't meant to stimulate anyone's libido. They were just pictures of a natural process. What, are we going to start charging National Geographic for what they print now? This is crazy. The law is definitely in the wrong in this situation.
Diana B:
I think that's ridiculous
How absurd that a woman should be punished and alienated for nourishing her own baby! It's ridiculous how much breastfeeding is ostracized when it's really the best option for the baby. People should take a good, hard look at themselves before they say something this stupid and disgusting.
Stephen B:
yes wow, but...
First of all I would like to say that I don't think this woman has done anything wrong; however, the woman wasn't charged for breastfeeding her child, she is charged for taking photos of it (along with photos of her children naked in the bath tub).
The argument in this discussion should be whether or not taking pictures of your own infants nude should be considered child pornography, not whether breastfeeding should take place.
Again, I am NOT saying that this woman was wrong in what she did...my parents have pictures of me in the bath tub when I was a little kid too.
I was wondering what you all thought of the article? What are your experiences with breastfeeding (in public)? How long did you breastfeed? (And fathers should play a huge supporting role as well, so this question is not just for the moms out there.)
Normally, I don't watch a movie before I read the book if I intend on reading the book... or it just so happens that I usually read the book before I watch the movie. However, yesterday, one of my pharmacy friends invited me to come watch Angels and Demons with her.
I was skeptical about how well I would follow the movie, because I'm usually the person that asks their friends millions of questions and still not knowing what is going on. This time however, I was able to understand what is happening in the movie, that's why I'm trying to write a review.
Since I have not read the book, I don't have a good comparison of how accurate of a movie it is, according to the book. The movie, on itself, did make logical sense to me overall... I still don't know how the main scientist was connected with the illuminati's though.
If I were to choose a few words that describes the movies, I would pick the following: Gruesome and convoluted. It's not a light movie to watch, and this should be expected considering the topic of discussion. There involves a few cardinal murders and a twist in the plot. I like the way that was arranged, me and my friends definitely got a kick out of the twist. I'm trying to not spoil much of the movie, but basically, it reminds me of National Treasures plus the TV series, 24. I think those of you who enjoyed National Treasurers would enjoy this movie, even if you have not read the book.
Right after the movie, I called a friend and ask if I could borrow his copies of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons... he then told me that there are two more books. In addition, guess what I got in my e-mail?
I'm considering ordering it, since 40% off is considerably a high percentage off and this series seems promising.
p.s. Yes, I'm watching movies now! My classes and final exams are finally over. I should get more active again on Gather and Xanga, playing the F horn, crafting, creating art, Bikram yoga, and life!
p.p.s. I'm still in NJ, waiting until Jens' graduation, plus a road trip, then I'll be back in MD!!! It sounds pretty exciting to me!
Contrary to popular belief, I send out gifts early sometimes too! Take this mother's day for example, I actually got the gifts ready 1 month ago, then sent it 2 weeks prior to mother's day.
I didn't expect the little box to get to Taiwan fast. But after about 1 week (today), I got an email from my mom. It was titled: The Greatest Gift on Earth.
At first, I thought it was one of those e-mails that all moms like to forward and share (which are really nice most of the time). But I clicked on the e-mail, and this is what it reads:
Dear Amy, I recieved the best gift from you. It's very creative, I'm very happy. I will not put it in the recycling bin, I will keep it happily* (When you were young, you loved to collect things**, I threw them away when you didn't notice.) The mother's day gift this time is so good! Thank you
I was so happy to hear that from her. I was actually a little worried that it wasn't good enough, because I didn't have much time to prepare a more lavish gift, or a more expensive, valuable gift for her.
*She means she will preserve it, and happily do so. **She means the springs of the pens that ran out of ink, the tape dispenser that no longer has tape on it, plastic parts of things, metal parts of things, old CDs, etc. Basically, really useless things. I always thought I was going to do something cool with them, but I guess, after more than 10 years, they were still sitting in my drawer, in another country.
True
The invitation to the campaign came to me as an "Early Invite" offer from BzzAgent. I accepted since I've generally had good experience with Burt's Bees. The first thing I do, is tell my brother about the new campaign. He said, "That's nice, two bees." It took me awhile to understand what he was referring to, then I realized that BzzAgent has bee mascot, while Burt's Bees are obviously, bees of Burt. Anyway, the purpose of this article is not to show off my campaign joining experience. I actually wanted to share a bit of research I did about this product. *All resources I used have a valid HON code or they are resourses that are proven to be trustworthy. 
I recently posted 
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