If you read the first and second articles in this series, you know the drill by now: I present an article by Vani Hari (the “Food Babe”) in which she slanders a product; she then pushes an alternative for which she receives affiliate commissions.
In turn, I use her very same “safety” rules to show her own substitute products are dangerous. The alternatives usually contain the same ingredients.
With introductions out of the way, let’s get started on article #3, in which we’ll “prove” she’s pushing another “cancer causing” product on her Food Babe Army. (Please note the quotation marks!) Today’s target is Kiss My Face Moisture Shave, conveniently available via a shill link from the Food Babe shopping page:1

“Kiss My Face Moisture Shave” (aka “kiss your money goodbye”)
Let’s look at the ingredients in Kiss My Face Moisture Shave:2 Click the image to enlarge if necessary…
Now I’d like to go back to May 2013, where Food Babe tried to scare the [expletive deleted] out of us with this gem in an article about sunscreens:3
Skin cancer from vitamin A?!? Hey, wait a minute… what was the first ingredient in the Kiss My Face Moisture Shave again? Here, let me zoom in on it…
Why yes, it’s vitamin A (retinyl palmitate)!
But… but… Vani Hari told us that putting vitamin A on your skin and going out in the sun could speed the development of skin tumors and lesions! Wouldn’t you at least expect a warning from her to not go out in the sun after using Kiss My Face Moisture Shave?
So something is clearly going wrong here. Either:
- Hari doesn’t investigate the products she’s selling as closely as those she slanders, or
- She does investigate those she sells–but hides the facts to earn money, or
- She just doesn’t understand what the [expletive deleted] she’s talking about
I’m voting on (3), but you draw your own conclusions. Speaking of conclusions:
Conclusion
Food Babe doesn’t link to any scholarly resource when making her cancer claim. Her source is “The Environmental Working Group” (EWG) who, not surprisingly, has a “Sun Safety Store” on Amazon.com. Look, folks, if you’re going to fall for this type of shill activity, please contact me for instructions on sending me your life savings. Seriously.
The cold hard facts: a 2010 study published by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology concluded that there was no evidence whatsoever that retinyl palmitate was implicated in cancer.4
The point remains: Food Babe claims vitamin A causes cancer if you rub it on your skin and expose your skin to sunlight.
And she’s trying to sell you a product loaded with vitamin A.
“Kiss My Face” is as safe as any other product on the market. Buy it with wild abandon. But please don’t buy it via a link on Food Babe’s web site.
Image Credits
Amazon.com product and Food Babe screen snapshots are used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.
References
Please note: To prevent increasing search engine exposure for objectionable web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate their URLs. I promise you are not being redirected to porn.
(1) Food Babe “Kiss My Face” Shopping Page
http://www.donotlink.com/d1vg
(2) Kiss My Face product page on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E0SP20
(3) Food Babe: Sunscreens
http://www.donotlink.com/p-x
(4) Safety of retinyl palmitate in sunscreens: A critical analysis
http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2810%2900850-9/abstract
You May Also Be Interested In
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Shampoo
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/29/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-honeysuckle-shampoo/
Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Naturally Fresh Deodorant
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/food-babe-pushing-dangerous-items-naturally-fresh-deodorant
The Food Babe Ban List
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/the-food-babe-ban-list/
Pingback: Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Physician’s Formula Organic Wear | Bad Science Debunked
Pingback: Food Babe Selling “Dangerous” Items: Tarte Blush | Bad Science Debunked
Pingback: Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Ava Anderson Mascara | Bad Science Debunked
Pingback: Food Babe Pushing “Dangerous” Items: Borage Therapy Dry Skin Lotion | Bad Science Debunked