I'm Angry

For those who don't know what the above is, it's an EpiPen, which is an auto-injector of epinephrine which treats anaphylactic shock (a severe allergic reaction which is life threatening). I must carry an Epipen because if I injest any tree nut in any minute amount, I will undergo a severe reaction. So what does that have to do with hair, you ask?

Also for those who don't know, there has been quite the controversy on the curltalk boards of late regarding what I see as extremely irresponsible and quite frankly stupid business practices that the Deva company is currently engaging in. Deva is the product line of the founder of the Curly Girl method to which I adhere, so it upsets me that Lorraine Massey would allow her company and her line of products to become so tainted by irresponsibility and lack of customer awareness and responsiveness.

The controversy: We have wondered for a long time now why the Deva products contain silicones when Massey recommends using cleansing agents which wouldn't remove them. That is why there is a Low Poo in the Deva line: to remove the a-cone in the conditioner. We thought this hypocrisy was strange and figured that it was due to formulation issues combining with the all important need for a positive bottom line. The Low Poo is $17.95 a bottle at CurlMart. Why not make it so that if they buy the $17.95 a bottle conditioner, the $17.95 dollar a bottle No Poo, and then discover the build up, they then have to buy the $17.95 Low Poo? It's shady business practice in a way when you look at what Massey claims to represent, but it makes perfect financial sense.

That's not the controversy though. The problem now is that Deva says that it is now making their products silicone (and paraben) free. That's fine. In fact, for people who stayed away from Deva because of the silicone present in the products, it's downright good news.

So why aren't we dancing for joy?

On March 24th, 2009, a CurlTalk administrator posted this info from a "Deva representative":

Because of the cone confusion, we went to the source to get the story. This is what Deva says:

"Any trace amount of a cone that was previously in Deva, has been removed. The reason it was there in the first place, was becuase we were unable to find a botanical replacement. However, I am happy to report that as of January 1st, 2009, DevaCurl is silicone free, paraben free, plastic free, resin free, sulfate free, botanically drenched and considered vegan.We have never tested on animals and we will never test on animals.

**Please note that by law, we have permission to finish any unused labels from 2008, but rest assured, any product that was filled in 2009, even with 2008 labels stands by our promise."

This sounds like a load of bulls**t to me. I would like to have Deva site the specific article of the specific law in the FDA which states that they are allowed to mislabel products. As far as I know, there is no magic loophole which says that a company may misrepresent what is actually in the bottle of their product so that the company can "save paper." If such a loophole does exist (and I want Deva or a qualified lawyer to actually point out the letter of the law to me), I think this is a serious error and legislative action ought to be taken up to close the loophole.

However, from the FDA's website, I see no such indicators of the existence of such a loophole.
From the website:

It is illegal to introduce a misbranded cosmetic into interstate commerce, and such products are subject to regulatory action. Some of the ways a cosmetic can become misbranded are:

• its labeling is false or misleading,
• its label fails to provide required information,
• its required label information is not properly displayed, and
• its labeling violates requirements of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 [FD&C Act, sec. 602; 21 U.S.C. 362]

The reason I'm so angry about this whole issue is because of my allergies. I know that I don't have it the worst out there. There are people who have allergies that are much worse. When Deva refuses to update their labels to "save paper" (which is a stupid excuse for wanting to save money/just plain lying about what's actually in the bottle because if saving paper was really the goal, they could simply recylcle the already printed and now allegedly incorrect labels), they are allowing incorrect ingredient info to be placed on the bottle. How are we supposed to know whether we have an old bottle or a new bottle? Especially when you're dealing with "botanical ingredients," which people are much more likely to have allergies to than an artificial ingredient, it seems incredibly stupid and practically begging for a lawsuit to not explicitly identify what is in the product.

Say someone buys a bottle of Deva One-C from Ulta today. They have no way of knowing what is in that bottle because the ingredient label might be correct (it might be an old bottle) or it might be incorrect because it's the new formulation. It may have the mystery botanical ingredient, which the consumer may then react to. Then they can sue Deva for misbranding of products and for phsyical harm caused by use of the product. And I hope I get to shake that person's hand.

On April 2nd, another CurlTalk administator posted the supposedly "reformulated" ingredients of One-C as being:

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Glycol Distearate, Cetyl Esters, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Oleo Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Melissa Officinalis (Balm Mint) Extract, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus (Lemongrass) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricia) Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Extract, Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow) Extract, Propylene Glycol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Citric Acid, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Fragrance (Parfum).

Jillipoo also did a blog post about this debacle a week ago. It can be found here

I have to say as a side note that the email from Lorraine was by far the most unprofessional thing I have ever seen pass between the head of a major company and a customer. Full of typos and chatspeak and no real answers. It was thoroughly disgusting.

Basically what is at stake here is a company that has been completely unresponsive to it's customers. It has refused to blantantly and honestly address these issues of consumer advocacy and consumer rights. It's head has tried to diffuse the issue by sending cute, curl-pun and typo filled messages to a representative of the nc.com community. It has chosen to enter into what is at least legal grey area if not simply illegal area for the sake of saving money on printing new labels. Sloppy labeling could cause someone like me, with severe allergies, to get into serious health trouble.

The reason that I decided to blog about this is because of a new post that came today from an nc.com admin:

Hi everyone!

We chatted again with a very knowledgeable source at Deva and she helped us craft this note, so we know it's got accurate information.

The formulation in DevaCurl One Condition has changed, and is available for sale at CurlMart and at other retailers. The packaging, however, is not yet accurate, though it will be soon. The correct ingredients can be found listed in CurlMart. Deva will begin shipping DevaCurl One Condition with the updated packaging in May.

The formulations of other Deva products are being changed, but these new silicone- and paraben-free formulas formulations have not yet reached consumers. This process will take several months. NaturallyCurly will continue to keep you posted as Deva moves forward in the process of removing silicones and parabens from all its products. Additionally, going forward, Deva will ensure that accurate labels are on all of its products. So when the formula in the bottle changes, the label will also change, at the same time.

We also asked Deva why they kept the old labels on DevaCurl One Condition, despite the formula change. They said:

“Deva decided to use existing packaging (labels, bottles & components) to avoid delaying the introduction and availability of the newly formulated silicone- and paraben-free Deva Curl One Condition as well as to avoid packaging waste. Moving forward, Deva has implemented transition procedures to make sure the new packaging coincides with any new silicone and paraben-free formulations.

We apologize for the confusion and are committed to doing a better job in the future. We appreciate your faith in Deva and your patience while we work on bringing exciting new silicone- and paraben-free products to you."

This new information is equally disturbing as the last. It honestly seems to me like Deva just simply lied at several points in the public relations nightmare. It's all quite shady, irresponsible, and angering. Quite frankly, I've seen enough of the irresponsible practices of Deva and have personally pledged not to buy their products. There are many more reputable companies out there that actually care whether they kill one of their customers due to a mislabeled product.