Did you know that the average American woman uses approximately 20 different personal care products on her body in a day? Most of these products then contain up to 50 different chemical ingredients… so if I have my math right, that’s about 1,000 different chemicals that get absorbed by your skin and into your bloodstream.
The super scary part is that there is absolutely NO regulation by the FDA or other oversight board on what is safe to be put on our bodies.
Many of the most common ingredients in beauty products are known carcinogens and have some serious consequences including hormone disruption, inflammation, and cell mutation. Oh yeah, and most of the manufacturers still do animal testing. NOT COOL.
The good news is you have alternatives.
I urge you all to take a close look at the products you put on your body (and your family’s bodies). A few REALLY great resources that have helped me figure out what is safe & what isn’t are:
1. No More Dirty Looks - The girls who run this site also have a GREAT book by the same name and I regularly refer to it when researching a new product. Their site & book are filled with eye opening research that will have you cleaning up your beauty regime in no time!
2. Skin Deep - This is an online database maintained by the environmental working group. You can search all your favorite products and get the low down on just how bad (or good) they are on a scale of 1 to 10. It’s even color coded! The only down side is that this site is a work in process and many products have “limited data” available.
My personal beauty regimen includes:
- Dr. Bronners bar soap in the shower
- John Masters Organics shampoo & conditioner
- Coconut oil for eye makeup remover ( Just water & a rag for all other makeup)
- Almond oil as body/face moisturizer
- Bare Minerals foundation, blush, & eyeshadow
- Tarte eyeliner & mascara
- Soapwalla all natural deodorant (note: natural deodorants are NOT anti-perspirants… anything that keeps your body from sweating is not healthy)
- Tom’s toothpaste w/o flouride
- Burt’s bees chapstick & hand salve
- Evanhealy face serum & mask when I want to pamper myself
- Essential oil blends as “perfume”… regular perfumes are some of the worst offenders when it comes to chemical additives. Bummer.
Thanks for reading! I hope that I got the wheels turning for a few of you! For more things related to healthy living, be sure and check out my blog Cook.Create.Inspire.
Until next time,
Michelle
Hey, Bev! I was not aware of this. Thanks for the info. I need to look into their website. I’m going to pass this along to my girls as well.
I am happy to see more people are becoming aware of harmful ingredients in our personal care products, keep up the good work. These ingredients also very harmful to the environment. Please be careful to read all ingredients on the label even if the product is marketed as all natural. Many companies consider petroleum chemicals like mineral oil and propylene glycol natural because they come from the earth. I started my business, Dolce Vita Bath Products, because I had a bad experience with an “all natural” product. My products (soaps, skin & bath products) can be found at http://www.dolcevitabathproducts.com. Remember to always be an educated consumer.