Not All Products Are Created Equal

The reason I am doing this blog is for educational purposes only. I will provide some opinions, some facts from viable sources, but first and foremost, it's a way for me to reach more people in a shorter amount of time about this serious issue. I am a Licensed Aesthetician with a passion to help people with their skin, but not at the expense of their health. I have learned so much in the last couple years, both in school and out, about personal care products and the ingredients in them. I'd like to thank Stacy Malkan for writing the book, 'Not Just a Pretty Face, The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry'. This is an absolute must read for everyone. I learned a lot about the dangers of phthalates and parabens in aesthetics school, and since then, have tried hard to keep those products containing them away from my kids. BUT, I didn't know the extent and the severity of the problem that links unregulated (only 11% of the 10,500 ingredients are tested for safety) cosmetic ingredients to different chronic diseases and illness. The FDA doesn't regulate the cosmetics industry's ingredients because they are understaffed and underfunded, so leave it to the Cosmetics Industry Review panel to do their job. It's self-policed, by the way. It is sad to think that potentially most of the health-related problems we have here in America can be controlled or prevented just by what we put on our bodies & faces. Are we dying to be beautiful in America? Seems so.

Thanks to the EWG, Environmental Working Group, they have created a database, www.cosmeticsdatabase.org and you can go on there and type in your personal care products, whether it's toothpaste, body lotion, makeup, shampoo, etc., and it will rate it on a scale of 0-10 for safety. For those with children, you definitely want to do this. The best thing I've found for babies and kids for body wash &/or shampoo that's safe is Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap. You have to watch out for their eyes, but their skin and hair will love it.

We have to take a more proactive and preventative approach to our own health and the health of our children. We are solely responsible for making the decision to use something or not. If it has an ingredient or ingredients that have been linked to cancer, would you knowingly continue to put it on your skin everyday? I think most people feel that it won't happen to them, and that if it's sold in Target or Walmart, or even health food stores, that it's "safe". As women, we use dozens of products everyday with about 168 chemical ingredients everyday. And men, about 85. Can you see how the day-after-day use of these 85-168 chemicals might take a toll on your body? Don't take the advertisers word for it, know the ingredients and read the labels. Another fyi, just because it says "all natural" or even "organic", doesn't mean there's no harmful chemicals in it. Again, you have to read the labels.

Some interesting facts to consider:

*33% of products contain ingredients linked to cancer.
*45% contain ingredients that may be harmful to the reproductive system or to a baby's development.
* 60% have ingredients that can act like estrogen or disrupt hormones (which is a reason women get breast cancer).

Another frightening finding:

"Scientific studies have increasingly demonstrated that toxic chemicals are contributing to childhood cancer, hormone-related cancers, asthma (fragrance, the biggest culprit), learning disabilities, birth defects, infertility and other health problems that have been increasing in recent decades." Excerpt from the book 'Not Just a Pretty Face', Stacy Malkan

When you learn this information, what do you do with it? Maybe tell family and friends? If you care about them, I would hope so. All I can ask, is provide people with the information. It's up to them whether they choose to do anything with it. If you found a cure to a disease, would you keep it secret?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...