Skin Toxins – How To Stay Safe

The Skin Toxins We Use – Daily

 

skin toxins in skin productsYour skin is your largest organ. You might protect your skin with moisturiser, but are you protecting your body from skin toxins?

It’s not just about what you put on your skin directly.

Your environment can also add skin toxins.

If you use commercial products inside your home (e.g. cleaners, detergents, sprays, hair care), they can also affect your skin, because those pollutants remain in your home.

And if your home or office is well insulated to save energy, and if you don’t open the windows often and instead rely on air conditioning, then those pollutants remain even longer.

So, let’s look at what we put on our skin.

What do we put on our skin?

skin toxins in makeup lipstickEvery day, there are the obvious products:- deodorant / anti-perspirant, soap, moisturiser, make up, after-shave, perfume, etc.

But there are also scrubs, shampoo and hair care, sunscreen, anti-insect protection, and even certain clothes too.

First, let’s look at some useful tips in your search for safe and eco-friendly products.

Useful Tips

  1. Natural” is not regulated.   It does NOT necessarily mean good.  (Arsenic is natural).   “Natural” can be anything.  Adding aloe vera to a product which also contains chemicals does not make it natural.
  2. Eco” and “Eco Friendly” are not regulated.  Adding a plant ingredient or two does not make a product eco friendly.
  3. Paraben Free”, “SLS Free” and “Grey Water Safe” are good labels to look for.  “Certified Organic” can also be useful – with the emphasis on the Certified.
  4. Even if those labels are present, you still need to check the Ingredients because there could still be other nasties.
  5. Or you can rely on a trusted web site to recommend products they’ve researched for you (make sure they tell you WHY a product is good – I’ve seen some supposedly green product recommendations and wondered what planet the reviewers live on).
  6. If you have sensitive skin, avoid products with fragrance (easier said than done!).
  7. Key things to remember about ingredients lists (assuming they’re large enough to be read by anything other than an ant with a magnifying glass)
    • The items listed first are the largest ingredients; those listed last have the smallest amounts.  So if the “baddies” are at the beginning of the list, beware!
    • The term “fragrance” or “parfum” is not regulated, and so all sorts of nasties can be hidden in there.  If this item is high / early in the list of ingredients, I avoid the product.
    • If I can’t pronounce the majority of the ingredients, or if I think a 12-year-old would find them difficult to read, I don’t buy the product.

It’s a sad fact that we need to be careful with the products we use.  We shouldn’t have to be!

But don’t put all the blame on the manufacturers and marketers.  After all, we the consumers tell manufacturers regularly (via our purchases) that we won’t pay more for consumer goods.  It’s often cheaper and easier to use a chemical or artificial ingredient rather than a plant-based one, for example.  Plus, it’s often cheaper to extend the shelf-life of a product with an artificial ingredient – and long dates are something else we’ve told manufacturers we want.

So, whether we like it or not, we do need to be careful with our personal care products in order to be safe and eco friendly.

Me?  I think it’s worth the effort.

And now…

How to avoid the skin toxins on specific products

Here’s

What other things do you avoid in skin products?  Let me know in the Comments below.

Here’s to fewer skin toxins and healthier living – for us, our families and the planet!

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Tags

air pollution and your skin, damaged skin, pollutants, skin care, skin toxins


  • I avoid triclosan in body care products … and any product which says it’s antibacterial. I think we’ve gotten so afraid of germs that we kill everything … but that means we’re also killing our natural resistance to germs and bacteria. In effect, I believe we’ve made ourselves weaker and more susceptible to illness. And then, of course, there’s the whole link to some pretty nasty diseases. So triclosan is top on my list of no-nos. Over the past few years, I’ve transitioned to safer products. I’m sure that I’m still using some things that aren’t perfect but as I learn more and more, I make changes. I have very sensitive skin and have always suffered from skin allergies. So here’s the amazing thing … as I’ve moved away from the products with toxic ingredients, my skin has become more healthy. I also breathe better and the headaches which I used to get, I no longer suffer from. I can’t but think that it’s all related. Thank you for another wonderful post!

    • Thank you! I agree absolutely – all this anti-bacterial stuff is nonsense. If we’re healthy. We become weaker and more susceptible to illness by killing off what protects us – definitely. In my opinion, it’s like children eating mud pies – of course it’s revolting, but it does build up their immune systems. I think we’re too careful with our kids today.

      Triclosan – good, thank you, I’ll look out for that, I had thought it was banned in Europe but perhaps not. Certainly it doesn’t seem to be a worthwhile ingredient, so I will now also look out for products without triclosan.

      And I couldn’t agree more – since moving away from chemical-based products I’ve also had far fewer skin hassles. I suppose this is bad news from a manufacturing perspective – less hassles, less product, and supporting products, sold.

      (More ‘green’ product sales – yay!)

  • I believe it also matters how often we actually use the various chemicals we put on our bodies. Washing your hair too often for instance will actually eventually damage the scalp by removing the essential oils produced by the body. Good tips about how to find and judge which “stuff” is in a particular product. Thanks Clare.

    • Absolutely, washing hair too often is a really bad plan, you’re right! Glad the post was helpful and useful, thank you for the comment!

  • I am very careful, now, about the products I use. It’s interesting that no one paid attention to this stuff when I was a kid. Back then, I used Jergens lotion all the time. I shudder to think what’s in that.

    Thanks for the article!

    • Agreed. However, I suspect we also had fewer toxins surrounding us everywhere say 40 years ago compared with today – it’s quite astonishing how much has changed in our daily lives. And I think they all have a small impact, but when taken all together……
      Yes, it’s good to be careful!

  • I make an effort to buy fair-trade, organic (75% or more) and local. I realized the connection we have not only to the earth via organic products but also to the farmers and those that make our lotions, oils, etc. I want to support someone who has made wages they can live off of.

    • I couldn’t agree more! We are often so far removed from our food, it’s great to get involved and make it “personal” again. Thanks for stopping by!

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