Let's Talk About That One Thing Filled With Chemicals I Had Trouble Giving Up- But I Did!

I didn't want to say it in the title because I wanted people to read this!!  But, what I am talking about here is beauty products.  And, who wants to give up their favorite beauty products- I didn't!!!  I just never thought about what was in them because it's not like I ate them- I just put them on my body or in my hair.  Then, I discovered what most of you probably already know- what we put on our skin or scalp absorbs into our blood stream faster than if we swallow it!!!  Not only that, but because it absorbs directly into our blood stream, it also gets processed through our liver.  So, let's breakdown what is in these beauty products and why they are so bad for you.

Parabens-  Or I should say, anything ending in the word paraben, such as methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and ethylparaben- these are the most popular.  They are chemicals, synthetically produced in commercial products, that are preservatives.  You will find them in most beauty products such as makeup, shampoos, body washes, body lotions, deodorant, etc.  Here is the real problem with parabens:  they are xenoestrogens.  This means, that they mimic real estrogen in the human body.  Why is that a problem?  Because too much estrogen, whether real or xenoestrogen, according to many scientists and doctors, cause many kinds of female cancers.  Too much also causes conditions such as endometriosis and adenomyosis.  I have the latter of those two.  Endometriosis is basically when the uterus starts to grow outside of itself and adenomyosis is when the uterus starts to grow into itself, causing it to get very large.  Both of these conditions are very painful and usually, the final treatment when all else fails is to get a hysterectomy.  I should add that adenomyosis can't be officially 100% confirmed until the uterus is removed from the body, but using ultrasound and ruling out things such as uterine cancer (which also has symptoms of an enlarged uterus), doctors can give you a pretty good guess.  Just google "problems with too much estrogen" and you will find a whole list of problems that xenoestrogens can cause including:  weigh gain, irritability, mood swings, fatigue depression, heavy periods and the list goes on and on.  And, don't think the problems with too much estrogen are confined to women only.  Men can also have problems including hair loss, prostate issues, weight gain, etc.

SLS or SLES- or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate.  It's that chemical in beauty products that cause things to foam. It penetrates the skin very easily and then builds up in the heart, liver, brain and lungs.  If it is mixed with certain other chemicals it becomes a carcinogen (cancer causing agent).  One of those chemicals is dioxane, and research has found that SLS is commonly contaminated with dioxane.  SLS also makes it easier for carcinogens to enter your body- it sort of breaks down a protective barrier opening the pores up to carcinogens.  Now, read this carefully:  THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN UNION HAS BANNED SLS AND SLES AND ABOUT 1100 OTHER CHEMICALS THAT ARE USED IN BEAUTY PRODUCTS BECAUSE OF THE DANGERS THEY POSE!!!!

I am really only touching on a very small part of why the chemicals in our beauty products are so harmful.  Please do the research and listen to common sense and reason when you do so.  If something is a carcinogen and the FDA says that it's okay to use in small doses, do you really want to put any amount of a cancer causing agent into your body.  So, application time:  what do you do???  We are on a tight budget and these products can be more expensive.  Well, I found a great website called www.vitacost.com.  They have so many wonderful natural products here and they are so reasonably priced.  You still need to read the ingredients because I have found a few products that still have dangerous chemicals being sold on there.  The prices are great though. Take for instance the body lotion I use.  It's called Desert Essence Organics Coconut Hand and Body Lotion.  I found it at a local health food store and it was $8.99 for an 8 ounce bottle, which is actually quite comparable to say Bath and Body Works prices.  But, really more than I wanted to spend, so, I found it on www.vitacost.com for $4.28 an 8 ounce bottle.  And, if you spend $49 or more you get free shipping.  Over the next several weeks I will be highlighting some products that I use from this website.

I hope the tiny amount of information I have presented here on the dangers of the chemicals lurking in our health and beauty products have been helpful and not overwhelming.  We really need to be our own advocate when it comes to what is put on and in our bodies.  If you have any questions please let me know!