Target Addict: Should you say Yes to Carrots??

I overheard a women telling her friend that she loves the new 'YES TO CARROTS' line recently added to the shelves at Target. Having never heard of the line, I spent some time dissecting the packaging and ingredients.

I can almost guarantee that at some point growing up your mother yelled at you to "eat your carrots" because they were supposedly good for you. Guess what? She was right. Go figure. It's no secret that orange fruits and vegetables contains beta-carotene that serves as a good agent for anti-oxidants and anti-aging. It helps to reduce damage caused by sun and air pollutants. Yes to Carrots also has Dead Sea Mud which contains 26 different minerals. With the combination of these minerals and beta-carotene, the product line is extremely beneficial to allow the body soak up nutrients, hence, revitalizing and rejuvenating it.

Where I have some beef with this line is that their website claims their products "combine fresh, unadulterated goodness of organic fruits and vegetables." Come on, does everything have to include the buzz word of the century - aka "organic" - to get bought these days?? While it’s true that their formulas contain lots of natural goodies, they don’t bother to mention that the functional ingredients in their products are the same tried and true chemicals used in other mass market beauty products. For example, their shower gel is based on sodium coceth sulfate (a cleanser) and cocamide DEA (a foam booster/thickener). While I have no problem with brands that like to convey a certain look, feel, and scent by using natural ingredients, I don’t like being mislead to by companies that claim to use the “unadulterated goodness of organic fruits and vegetables” but don’t tell you they include chemicals like propanediol and benzyl alcohol in their formulations.

Would I buy? Probably not. Its prices are somewhat expensive and in my opinion, just another brand trying to capitalize on the naturals/organics trend by hiding standard cosmetics ingredients behind an over-hyped soup of fruit and vegetable extracts.

If you feel so inclined to try, I do appreciate that they smell great, are not tested on animals, and it has an extensive line of face, body and hair products. The products are good for both men and women which is a positive for a minimalist like myself that hates excess products lying around. They also include a baby line to keep it all in the family.