I knew on some level that the products most people use have some chemicals in them, and that they may or may not be harmful to us, but in small doses what's the harm right? Wrong! Our skin is our largest organ! What we rub, smear, dab and spray onto our skin is absorbed into our bodies. This raises the question "If I wouldn't eat or drink this product, why would I put it on my skin?" Did you know that the average North American woman uses between 15-25 personal care products per day? Just think about your make-up bag and shower caddy and it's not hard to see that most of us use quite a few products as part of our self-care routine. Now if every one of those products had just one chemical in it, that's between 15-25 potentially harmful chemicals being absorbed by our bodies daily. And trust me, there is more than one chemical per product. Yikes.
With so many different cancers out there (HELLO- skin cancer!) why take the risk? Why wait to be one of the unlucky people who don't change the way they groom themselves until they get the "You have cancer." wake-up call?! Is it really worth it? There are products out there that are all-natural, that won't harm you and that will work just as well as the stuff that hurts us, it just takes a little extra effort to get it.
Anyhow, when I visited the website, I couldn't help but find out what was in the stuff I use. I thought it would be especially important to find out what I am smearing, dabbing and rubbing on my body because I currently share this body with a little developing person! So, I went into our bedroom and bathroom and grabbed every tube and bottle I could find (some of which I rarely use, but that's neither here nor there) and looked them up. I even looked up my significant other's cologne and daily moisturizer, and what I found was shocking. I'm only going to include the toxicity ratings of the products because listing all of the information would bore you, but I highly recommend that after reading this, you visit the link and type your own products in!
Even though I use natural deoderant and body lotion now, and have stopped using nailpolish and nailpolish remover, I still had a couple of bottles of those things kicking around so I looked them up just for the heck of it! I've also switched to natural toothpaste, shampoo and soap and have stopped using hair products so I had nothing to look up in that area, but I know they are worth looking into as well!
Anyways, here are the results!
Covergirl Trublend Whipped Foundation: 4/10 toxicity rating
Jamieson Provitamina Moisture Rich Nourishing Cream: 6/10 toxicity rating
Secret Original Anti-perspirant, Invisible Solid, Unscented: 4/10 toxicity rating
Covergirl Clean Fragrance-free Pressed Powder: 6/10 toxicity rating
OPI Nail Lacquer: 6/10 toxicity rating
Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Facial Moisturizer: 6/10 toxicity rating
Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion, Normal to Dry Skin, Fragrance-Free: 6/10 toxicity rating
Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio for Men, eau de toilette: 8/10 toxicity rating
They didn't have my Avon mascara on the site, so I looked up the one I used to use, Covergirl Lashblast, and it had a 9/10 toxicity rating! You can't tell me that's not scary! We all need to realize and remember that just because something is widely sold all over the country doesn't mean it's safe to use. If you take your health and safety seriously, you need to find out what is in the products you use, and adjust your grooming routine accordingly. As far as I'm concerned, it's careless not to. This may sound harsh, but no-one is going to care that you smelled like a peach when you're six feet underground.
Also, the only company listed above that didn't test on animals was OPI.
Now I am not enough of a crunchy type to stop wearing make-up, using lotion or washing my hair, so here are a couple of sites I recommend for finding healthy, natural alternatives to the products we use daily.
http://www.lush.ca/shop/english - Incredible lotions, soaps, shampoos, fragrance and whatnot.
http://65.108.6.137/company.html - Nail care
http://www.earthsbeauty.com/ - Make-up
And just a tip for deoderant - there is a type you can pick up easily at the drug store and it's a rock mineral solid. You just wet the tip and apply it, and it works wonderfully! Seriously, they even have it at Shoppers Drug Mart!
So anyways, what I'm saying here is that loving ourselves and loving our bodies means paying attention not only to whatwe eat and drink, how we exercise and manage time and stress, but also paying attention to the products we use. You only get one shot with the body you have, so do it right and treat it well!
P.S. This post is dedicated to Katrina, a wicked awesome bodacious babe!
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