Baby Steps Day 9: The TOP 5 chemicals you should steer clear of in personal products

Well, we are halfway through the list of personal products...

This week we've talked about cosmetics, nail polish, and hair products. Today & tomorrow we have lots to cover!

Have you ever thought about what might be in your handsoap? What about your lotion? Toothpaste? No? How about deodorant?

It's okay! Most people haven't!

We are going to talk a little about what exactly ANTI-BACTERIAL means. This word is slapped on everything from hand soap and hand sanitizers to deodorant and body wash to laundry detergents and dish soaps!

It's important to remember that OUR BODIES NEED BACTERIA!

We don't need all bad bacteria, but some is beneficial to developing a healthy immune system! We also need good, healthy bacteria... we'll talk more about this next week when we dive into NATURAL WELLNESS, but for now you should know that ANTI-BAC is not Jesus! It will not save you from every sickness and disease... in fact, killing every single bacteria and sanitizing every surface 10 times a day could actually be doing more harm than good!

Check out these articles if you want to get a head start on that topic:

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/08/07/antibacterial-hand-sanitizer-may-actually-make-you-sicker/
Antibacterial soaps: Being too clean can make people sick, study suggests -- ScienceDaily
Scientists Discover That Antimicrobial Wipes and Soaps May Be Making You (and Society) Sick | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/03/20/immune-systems-increasingly-on-attack.aspx

So, what makes a product anti-bacterial? Oh... this is where it gets good...

We're going to talk about the top 5, but then I'll list a few more that you should look into on your own! It becomes so much more real when you start to do the research for yourself!

1. TRICLOSAN
Remember this one from last week's chat on household products? Let's dig a little deeper! Well, not only does it kill bacteria, but it has been found to actually KILL HUMAN CELLS!
Once it's on your skin, it stays there for many hours. It is actually similar to the chemical Agent Orange and can cause decresed frtility, birth defects & damage to major body organs. When combined with the chlorine in our water, it can create chloroform gas. It can bioaccumulate in fish and be detected in human breast milk!!!  THIS CHEMICAL is found in almost every standard "anti-bacterial" product on the market!

2. Sodium Laurel Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate
This chemical is in 90% of products that foam! That's shampoos, dish soaps, hand soaps. Interestingly, the very product used in SHAMPOOS that are for your hair's health also is linked to HAIR LOSS! It is also linked to skin and eye irritation, organ toxicity, developmental/reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, ecotoxicological, and biochemical or cellular changes, and possible mutations and cancer according to EWG.

3. PARABENS
This is an ingredient used to preserve shelf life. It also includes many in the paraben family: methylparaben, propylparaben, beutylparaben, etc. It is endocrine disrupting and linked CLOSELY with Breast Cancer. In fact, it has been detected in human breast tumors. This is concerning because parabens have been shown to mimic estrogen, which can encourage the growth of human breast tumors. 

4. SYNTHETIC COLORS
Made from coal tar, these contain heavy metal salts and leave deposits on the skin. We know that the skin absorbs what is put on it, then putting these toxic heavy metals into our bodies!!! This is especially concerning for anyone who has any sort of metal toxicity already, which we will also get into next week, but many of us do! Labeled as FD&C or D&C, followed by a number or color, studies have shown almost all of these to be carcinogenic, or cancer-causing!

5. Propylene Glycol, Propylene Oxide, Polyethylene Glycol

This is the main ingredient found in anti-freeze and is listed by the FDA as a human carcinogen. Makes sense, right? We shouldn'tdrink anti-freeze! However, this chemical is found in hand sanitizers, moisturizers, shaving creams, deodorants and baby products. It weakens skin cells, and is linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, allergies, immunotoxicity, and organ system toxicity!!! 

Here's a list of a few ingredients to research on your own:

Diethanolamine

1, 4-Dioxane

Ethyl Alcohol or Ethanol

Benzalkonium Chloride (BAC)


These chemicals are in so many of our products!

I went through my house this morning to search for products that could have these chemicals and I found lots! I have a pretty crunchy house & have already begun to toss the yucky stuff... even after all that I still found plenty of products I needed to toss! Old hand soaps under my sink, "natural" shampoo & conditioner, "natural" toothpaste... so like we mentioned last week, just because something says "GREEN" or "NATURAL" doesn't mean it's free of toxins!

I want you to feel empowered to start finding this info on your own, so I've given you a few links below to read through. Each of them will get you started to the road to research!

Check out these articles on DEODORANT:
http://organic4greenlivings.com/5-reasons-you-should-not-use-deodorant-or-antiperspirants/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/09/20/does-your-antiperspirant-cause-breast-cancer.aspx

Check out these articles on TOOTHPASTE:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/05/30/toothpaste-part-two.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/20/are-your-toothpaste-shampoo-and-body-wash-harming-your-health.aspx
http://www.livestrong.com/article/167101-what-are-the-harmful-ingredients-in-toothpaste/

So, what are we supposed to do? Be dirty and gross? OF COURSE NOT! There are natural options that we can use in place of the traditional, chemical-laden, cancer-causing stuff we would typically buy at the store. And places like Target are even starting to stock more natural products! Gotta love Target!

In our next post we will have a link party! I've been saving up product links, DIY links and much more. Get ready!! I'll see you all back here tomorrow!


http://www.beyondpesticides.org/antibacterial/triclosan-research-3-09.pdf
Immune Systems Increasingly On Attack