So what is 22 square feet and vital to our health – our skin of course! Our Skin is our largest organ and we, as the average adult, have about eight pounds or about 22 square feet of skin. Our skin is awesome: it keeps us together so we don’t fall apart, it protects our internal organs, it helps us retain water, prevent infections and produces essential proteins and vitamins. Our skin is a constantly evolving organ that changes throughout our lifetime and get this, humans shed about 40,000 skin cells per minute. Our skin renews itself about once every 35 days, which means that by the time we are 20, we’ve already cycled through our skin about 200 times. We may and should go to great lengths on a daily basis to cleanse, moisturize and protect our skin. While this daily routine may seem like a chore at times, protecting our skin actually protects the rest of our body, so it’s really important to make sure we treat it well. And you’ve heard me say it many times, about 60% of what we put on our skin goes directly into the bloodstream, regardless if it’s a good ingredient or an ingredient which shouldn’t be in our blood stream and children even absorb 40-50% more than adults. More on how skin works: HowStuffWorks.com. <https://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/anatomy/how-much-skin-do-we-have.htm> 14 January 2019
To help you read your labels and make sure you know the goodies from the baddies, here is a list of 12 ingredients to avoid as they are deemed to be toxic and carcinogenic compounds and which can be found in many skincare products and cosmetics, for more information on any of these or other ingredients you want to find out more about, go to https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/:
- Benzoyl Peroxide: used in acne products,
- FD&C color & pigments:synthetic colors from coal tar and may contain heavy metals,
- Propylene & Butylene Glycol: Petroleum Plastics. Avoid skin contact to prevent brain, liver and kidney abnormalities
- DEA, MEA & TEA skin and eye irritants can cause dermatitis
- Parabens used as preservatives, used in deodorants and other skin care products,
- SLS and SLES used in car washes, floor cleaners and engine degreasers and in 90% of skincare products that foam.
- Dioxin, often not listed as and ingredient, but is a part of other ingredients such as triclosan and Polyethylene Alcohol
- Polyethylene Alcohol found in everything from baby care to sunscreens
- Urea, is a preservative which releases formaldehyde, yikes
- Phthalates, endocrine disrupters
- Triclosan, antibacterial ingredient and pesticide
- Aluminum, used in eye shadows and anti-perspirants
Now don’t get me wrong, not everything that is all-natural is great and not everything that is synthetically produced is bad. You just have to make sure to choose the good stuff and not the baddies. Happy Reading for a Long and Healthy Life.
Julia & The Goats