4 Good Reasons to Consider What is in Your Beauty & Skincare Products
WHY SHOULD WE CARE… ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS IN OUR BEAUTY AND SKINCARE PRODUCTS?
1. The average woman uses 12 personal care products daily(The average man uses 6 personal care products daily)
2. EACH PRODUCT CONTAINS A DOZEN OR MORE CHEMICALS many of which are toxic!
3. The Average woman exposes herself to over 167 chemicals on her body and face during her daily beauty regimine!
4. Over 80,000 chemicals used in personal care products in the US ONLY 200 OF THEM ARE TESTED FOR SAFETY!
Ok, if these aren't enough for you, there are a lot more where these came from! I've become a big fan of Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep, which offers a well-organized cosmetic database to help understand what we should be looking for or avoiding. It also offers an extensive product rating system that helps us clearly understand just how pure and natural or toxic any given product is.
As it turns out, because there is virtually no regulation on the cosmetic industry in this country, anyone can use the words like organic or natural without much basis for the product having those relative virtues.
The chemicals used in these products aren't only bad for those who use them, but they are bad for the people who work every day to manufacture them and they end up in the environment also.
And if that's not enough for you, here's a few more details about those 80,000 chemicals . . .
A few common toxic chemicals found in every day personal care products
Phthalates
Parabens
BHA
MORE . . . cosmeticdatabase.com
These chemicals are known to cause things like:
Neuro-developmental Disorders
Lung Tumors
Liver & Kidney Tumors
Genital Abnormalities
Lowered Sperm Count
So, you might ask . . . WHAT CAN WE DO?
Make Your Own - (HOLIDAY GIFT SPOILER ALERT: awesome holiday gift idea!) there are so many awesome SIMPLE recipes for DIY skincare and cosmetic products!
Here are some of the Green Divas favs that we've made and given as gifts over the holidays to friends and family:
Easy, but awesome Hand Lotion Recipe (I use some organic lavender essential oil to make it mildly scented)
Luscious Homemade Cranberry Lip Balm Recipe (this one is particularly festive for the holidays because it uses real cranberries!)
GD Meg's Fav Lavender Facial Cleanser Recipe (can you tell I like lavender!?)
If I don't have it in my kitchen or garden, I go to Mountain Rose Herbs, an awesome herbalist resource for organic herbs, oils, containers and everything you need to make it happen - NO CHEMICALS NECESSARY!
Also, please educate yourself about all the products you put on your body - our skin IS our largest organ! Why put an unnecessary added toxic burden on your body if you have choices?
Excellent short videos:
The Story of Stuff's - The Story of Cosmetics
Listen to the Green Divas, 5-min. Sleeping Naked is Green segment on this topic!
The Green Divas Radio Show, podcasts, audio vignettes and blog posts feature fun and low-stress ways to live a deeper shade of green, while maintaining some comfort and style. Green Diva Meg, co-host Green Diva Lisa and sidekick, Green Dude Scott offer tons of easily accessible information and resources to help make the journey to a more sustainable world easier and a little more fun and entertaining. The radio show broadcasts live every Saturday morning from WMTR 1250 AM in Northern, NJ/NY Metro area, streaming live on WMTRam.com, or catch up on the podcast.
