Women, on average, apply 15 personal products daily. This can mean exposure to hundreds of chemicals each day.
Research indicates that many personal care products contain chemicals linked to many serious diseases including cancer, birth defects, and skin problems. Many ask the question “ aren’t chemicals and ingredients in beauty products regulated? “ Unfortunately they are not. The government does not currently require health studies or pre-market testing for these products before they are sold, according to FDA regulations. On average people apply 126 unique ingredients on their skin daily, these chemicals are raising concerns for their potential impacts to human health and to the environment.
Of course, it’s not practical to go into the bathroom and clear out every personal product we own. We suggest trying to purchase natural/organic formulations of the following products which often contain the “most toxic” chemicals:
Based on studies from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, many top brands of lipstick have been shown to contain lead. Two-thirds of the 33 brands studied contained detectable levels of lead. Half of the samples tested contained levels of lead above the recommended limit for lead in candy. Lead is a potent neurotoxin and has been linked to many health problems. Even Chapstick Brands put ingredients in their product that make you keeping buy it. When looking for lip balm make sure there is no camphor in the ingredients, or that will cause your lips to become more dry from the product itself.
Filled with synthetic fragrance and preservatives, body lotion is highly toxic. Used as preservatives in body lotion, parabens have been implicated in increasing breast cancer risk, disrupting normal endocrine (hormone) function, impairing fertility and fetal development. According to a study published in 2004 by the Journal of Toxicology, “….18 out of 20 breast tumors contained significant concentrations of parabens“. It has also been found that some fast creams have tested for high doses of mercury.
Speaking of synthetic fragrance, many perfumes should also be avoided. Most fragrances are made of synthetic chemicals. The fragrance industry uses more than 3,000 chemical ingredients to create perfumes and fragrances. Phthalates are found in almost all fragrant products. They are used to disperse the fragrance’s scent. Phthalates are hormone-disrupting chemicals which are theorized to cause damage to the kidneys, liver, lungs, and reproductive organs.
Detoxifying your beauty routine can help to reduce your overall toxic burden. When shopping for products look at the ingredients on the label, make sure the label is in English, and most importantly if there are no ingredients on the label, you should probably not use that product.
To understand more about why a specific chemical is considered harmful, visit the Skin Deep Beauty Database and type in the name of the chemical.
For any more questions regarding detoxing your body through products visit us at Denville Medical.
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