Is Your Lotion Toxic? How To Identify And Avoid Toxic Skin Care Products
Is your moisturizer slowly killing you? Does your mascara cause cancer? I know these questions may sound a little far fetched, but in fact, many mainstream commercial beauty products available on store shelves today are toxic skin care products which contain chemicals which maybe harmful to your health.
Most people aren't even aware of this, but these chemicals can cause all sorts of harmful side effects, from hair loss, to rashes and other allergic reactions, to mouth or skin sores or other conditions, and in the long term some may even be linked to cancer! For example, Pthalates (often listed in skin care products as dibutylphthalate, DEP, DBP, or butyl esters) are used in cosmetic and skin care products from mascara to nail polish, to face cream, and they help these product spread thinly, and absorb into the skin.
You know what else phthalates do? They cause birth defects! That's right - studies have shown that these toxic skin care ingredients cause birth defects in rats, and also in humans.
Several cosmetics companies have recently discontinued the use of phthalates, but many others have not.
Another scary ingredient to avoid is: Sodium Lauryl or Laureth Sulfate (SLS).
This one is basically a detergent, which causes things like shampoo, soap, and yes, toothpaste to foam up and get sudsy.
SLS is one of the leading causes of cosmetic, skin, and hair care product complaints such as dandruff and hair loss, dry skin, mouth sores, and it can even cause long-term damage to your eyes! And this one is especially frightening: Remember formaldehyde - that really smelly stuff that was used to preserve the frogs for dissection in your biology class? Formaldehyde has now been identified by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen (you probably could have guessed by how bad it smelled, right?) Well, how would you like that stuff on your face?Guess what: while you may not actually see the word "formaldehyde" on your skin care product label, you may see one of these ingredients instead:
And the list goes on..
..
But what can we do? That stuff is everywhere, right? So how do we avoid these toxic skin care ingredients, and find more natural products that are less harmful to our health? While you might not be able to memorize every single toxic skin care ingredient out there, you can certainly make a list of the most dangerous culprits (maybe write out the list and keep it in your purse or wallet), and then you can check the ingredients of your skin or hair care products against the list, and if they don't measure up, just don't buy them.
Here is a short list of toxic skin care ingredients you should never use:
alcohol, fragrance, mineral oil and other petroleum products, dioxane, toulene and triclosan.
There are plenty of others out there as well, but if you are unable to find truly 100% natural skin care products in your area, avoiding the ingredients above will at least get you on the right track to a healthier future.
Most people aren't even aware of this, but these chemicals can cause all sorts of harmful side effects, from hair loss, to rashes and other allergic reactions, to mouth or skin sores or other conditions, and in the long term some may even be linked to cancer! For example, Pthalates (often listed in skin care products as dibutylphthalate, DEP, DBP, or butyl esters) are used in cosmetic and skin care products from mascara to nail polish, to face cream, and they help these product spread thinly, and absorb into the skin.
You know what else phthalates do? They cause birth defects! That's right - studies have shown that these toxic skin care ingredients cause birth defects in rats, and also in humans.
Several cosmetics companies have recently discontinued the use of phthalates, but many others have not.
Another scary ingredient to avoid is: Sodium Lauryl or Laureth Sulfate (SLS).
This one is basically a detergent, which causes things like shampoo, soap, and yes, toothpaste to foam up and get sudsy.
SLS is one of the leading causes of cosmetic, skin, and hair care product complaints such as dandruff and hair loss, dry skin, mouth sores, and it can even cause long-term damage to your eyes! And this one is especially frightening: Remember formaldehyde - that really smelly stuff that was used to preserve the frogs for dissection in your biology class? Formaldehyde has now been identified by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen (you probably could have guessed by how bad it smelled, right?) Well, how would you like that stuff on your face?Guess what: while you may not actually see the word "formaldehyde" on your skin care product label, you may see one of these ingredients instead:
- quaternium-15
- imidazolidinyl urea
- 3-diol diazolidinyl urea (also known as 3-dioldiazolidinyl urea)
- bronopol (sometimes listed as 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1)
- DMDM hydantoin
And the list goes on..
..
But what can we do? That stuff is everywhere, right? So how do we avoid these toxic skin care ingredients, and find more natural products that are less harmful to our health? While you might not be able to memorize every single toxic skin care ingredient out there, you can certainly make a list of the most dangerous culprits (maybe write out the list and keep it in your purse or wallet), and then you can check the ingredients of your skin or hair care products against the list, and if they don't measure up, just don't buy them.
Here is a short list of toxic skin care ingredients you should never use:
- Phthalates
- Mineral Oil and other petroleum products
- Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate<
- Selenium Sulfide
- Parabens (keep in mind these may be listed with a longer name such as methylparaben)
- Formaldehyde (and the contributing ingredients listed above)
alcohol, fragrance, mineral oil and other petroleum products, dioxane, toulene and triclosan.
There are plenty of others out there as well, but if you are unable to find truly 100% natural skin care products in your area, avoiding the ingredients above will at least get you on the right track to a healthier future.
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