# 1 Recommended Resource To Check Your Products: EWG’S Skin Deep Database
Our skin is our largest organ and it’s highly permeable. It absorbs about 60 percent (or more) of what we put on it. With many ditching the toxic ingredients and hazardous chemicals in processed foods, due to the harmful effect on the body, it leaves us to wonder…
What if some beauty products are wreaking havoc on our body just the same?
Not that we haven’t seen the fine print, but new eye-opening studies are showing that an extremely large number of these products are causing major health problems including infertility, birth defects, learning disabilities, eye damage, depression, joint pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, and cancer.
Placing these toxic ingredients on our body may be even more detrimental than eating them.
When you eat something, it’s broken down and flushed out by the natural enzymes in our saliva and in the digestive tract. When you put something on your skin, there is no filter, leading it to travel straight into the bloodstream where it can affect our organs, brain function, immune system and so on. The truth is, just because a product is on the shelf of your grocery store or beauty supply shop does not mean that it’s safe.
Preservatives to Avoid
Some of the most common preservatives are those that cause the most damage. They are usually the cheapest to purchase and are used the most often. On the label, avoid names of ingredients that start with buty, methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, and isobutylpropyl. These are easily absorbed and have been found in the human breast tissue. They are false estrogens – or xenoestrogens – they trick the body into responding to them as if they were natural estrogens. These mimicking estrogens can cause hormone imbalances and have been linked to reproductive cancers. They can very easily trigger allergies and can affect the nervous system.
The Toxic 12 +
12+ “red flag” ingredients to avoid when buying safe beauty & body products
Twelve Commonly Seen Toxic Contaminants To Avoid and Why:
1. Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) – foaming agent – almost all shampoos have it. Combined with dea, tea, and mea it creates nitrosamines which are potent carcinogens. Strips moisture away, causes hair loss, penetrates into tissues. Frequently disguised with term “derived from coconut.”
2. Propylene glycol (PEG) – same chemical used to create anti-freeze, hydraulic fluids, placticizers and solvents. Facilitates penetration of lotion into skin. Makes lotions feel fluid on skin, but is toxic.
3. Parabens – butyl, ethyl, methyl, and propyl parabens. Effects hormones. Highly toxic and xenoestrogens.
4. Petrolatum – made from mineral oil jelly – causes photosensitivity and interferes with body’s own natural moisturizing mechanism. Skin will eventually be aged and dehydrated. May contain impurities linked to breast cancer.
5. PVP/VA copolymer – toxic additive most often used in hairsprays and cosmetics.
6. Diazolidinyl Urea (germall 115) – releases formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen.
7. Synthetic fragrances – can remain in the body fat and have been found in mother’s milk. Many are phthalates, which are xenoestrogenic and toxic.
8. FD&C or D&C with a number – many synthetic colors are believed to be linked to the development of cancer.
9. Imidazolidinyl urea (germall II)
10. DMDM hydantoin
11. Stearalkonium chloride – used in hair conditioners and creams – used as a fabric softener. Toxic and used often in hair products.
12. Triethanolamine (TEA) – often used to adjust the ph – used with many fatty acids to convert acid to a stearate, which then becomes a base for a cleanser. TEA causes allergic reactions, including eye problems, dryness of hair and skin, and can be toxic if absorbed into the body for a long period of time. Can cause allergies. Toxic contaminants.
13. TALC
- Get in the habit of reading labels. With no required safety testing, cosmetics companies can use almost any chemical they want, regardless of the risks. With an abundance of natural options, we don’t need chemicals. No pesticides, synthetic chemicals, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or growth agents. No acids, extracts, or alcohol. No parabens, phthalates, sulfates, PEGs, or fossil fuel derivatives. No artificial fragrances, EDTAs, gluten, or contaminant residues. No fillers, slipping agents, glycols, silicones, dyes, ureas, or extenders.
- There are common chemicals known to age skin and cause allergic reactions. Avoid the prefixes brom, iod, fluor, or chlor = these accumulate in fat tissue and cannot be metabolized. Avoid fragrances, dyes, artificial colors – these synthetics can cause allergies, cancer, and can affect the nervous system. Avoid the prefix dea, tea or mea – these can lead to a process called nitrosation, which can lead to cancer.