Everyday, most people use beauty and cleaning products which contain hazardous ingredients. We live in a chemical world and many of them are found in the products we use every day to clean and beautify our bodies and our homes.
Since 2001 I've been conscious about reading labels. I used to love all the scented candles, body lotions, room sprays, carpet deodorizes, cleaners and furniture polishes. I was a scent junky. It wasn't until massage school that I learned about toxic chemicals found in everyday products. I learned that most products consist of synthetic fragrances instead of fragrances made from the natural substance. The thought of rubbing a synthetic chemical onto my skin, face or my children sickens me. Yet, the majority of the products found on the grocery shelf or the pharmacy shelf are loaded with synthetic chemicals and carcinogens.
Our skin plays a vital role in protecting us from our environment. There are three routes of passage into the body for toxic chemicals: through the skin (absorption), through the lungs (inhalation), and through the mouth to the digestive tract (ingestion).
What we put on our skin all too often passes through the skin and into the blood stream. The skin is one of the most common routes of exposure.
Some ingredients in personal care products, and many ingredients in household cleaning products become airborne and become part of the air we breathe at home, at work and in schools. Studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor air levels may be 2-5 times, and occasion more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels. That's frightening.
I've decided to put a list together of some of my favorite products:
Dr. Bronner's Castile Liquid Soap in Peppermint (or Almond, Baby Mild or Lavender). The peppermint is refreshing and leaves my body feeling tingly. It's my favorite of the Bronner Castile Soaps. I use this all over my house (kitchen, bath and shower). I clean with it and I bathe with it. This stuff lasts forever! I dilute it with water and a little goes a really long way. I put this in all my soap dispensers.
California Baby Shampoo and Bodywash. Also, a small amount goes a long way. How dirty does a baby get? I use a quarter size for my daughter and her long hair. I also love using the diaper area wash spray bottle. After every diaper change I give my son a little spritz of this stuff. It's wonderful. No parabens, sodium benzoate, benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol or phenoxyethanol.
I love Earth Mama Angel Baby products (lotion, bottom balm). No Phthalates and No 1,4-Dioxane.
One of my favorite beauty products is by Kiss My Face. It's the olive oil bar soap. Love it! This should be in every girls/boys bathroom. I also use regular kitchen olive oil as a facial scrub (with baking soda) and as a moisturizer. After a shower or washing my face in the evening I dab small amounts of olive oil on my face. I also dab it on my cuticles.
Other favorite products are Alba lip balms and products by Aubrey Organics.
I clean my house with good old vinegar and baking soda. I use it everywhere. I also use sparingly Mrs. Meyers cleaner. I dilute the cleaner and place it in spray bottles. A little goes a long way.
The database at Skin Deep is my number one resource into checking and reviewing existing products and ones that I want to buy. I recommend you check it out too. Type in a few of your favorite beauty products and see what the database pulls up. They rate products with hazard scores: 0-2 Low Hazard; 3-6 Moderate; 7-10 High.
All of this has been a work in progress for me. I read and try to educate myself. I don't buy into the latest beauty trends and I keep my beauty regimen pretty simple. I believe that less is more. The less you put on your face or body the better. The less ingredients on a label the better. If you can pronounce the ingredients and you know what they are - then great! And, don't be fooled by packaging or fancy wording.
It's important to me that I do everything possible to protect my children and my family. And, it's important to me that I educate them as well. Since being diagnosed with cancer I'm more aware of what I put on my body and what I use in the home.
HAPPY, SAFE SHOPPING!
Interesting websites worth reading:
Not Just A Pretty Face - The Ugly Side of The Beauty Industry
Report on Cosmetics and Skin Care
Toxic Chemicals In Teens Cosmetics
Safer Shopping Tips
What Not To Buy
Childrens Personal Care Products
Smart Shoppers Card
Household Cleaning Supplies
2 comments:
Hi Melissa. Miss hanging out with you. You children are beautiful. I have to get down and see you sometime. You are welcome to visit us anytime. However, we are running out of room.
I love many of these same products and wish I was a label reader so much earlier in my life. Rugs are also a very bad source of chemicals gassing off. Wool rugs are great. I truly believe some of these cancers plaguing so many of us in this world are due to our toxic surroundings. It's too bad these things were all created without any thought as to the next 7 generations and beyond.
xo-gretch
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