TOXINS IN COSMETICS
Marketing sometimes makes it hard to know what products are good for you and what's not. Many brands are shouting from the mountain tops that they are VEGAN but what does that mean? Vegan doesn't mean healthy or good for you. It simply means that there are no animal based ingredients in the product. That same product can still contain 10 of the most harmful ingredients known in cosmetics.
How is it that toxins make it into our cosmetics? Doesn't the FDA regulate harmful items?
The US Food & Drug Administration does not regulate cosmetics before they end up on the market. They regulate Food & Drugs and only look into a cosmetic product after there is a health or medical problem that has already been identified in a product.
This means you have to be an informed consumer and regulate your own products by being educated on ingredients. All chemicals are not bad and all natural products are not good. Snake blood is natural but that doesn't mean you want to put it on your face. Much like many synthetic ingredients are safe at the recommended dosage but that's where things start to go wrong.
Many cosmetics products are redundant in the chemicals that they use and this often results in consumers being exposed to larger than recommended doses. Not once but daily. This is why you have to limit the amount of chemicals you put on and in your body because many of they same ingredients are also in your food as preservatives and the non-consumable items we use everyday.
Below is a list of some of the overly used ingredients.
Fragrance
This can be a combination of any chemical. The biggest problem is when products are listed as having "fragrance", you never know what you are putting on your skin. It's in food, cosmetics, laundry detergent, candles, etc. One of the main ingredients is many forms of phthalates.
Artificial Colors
You will often see something like Red #40 or Yellow #5. Many artificial colors have been banned and many continue to be under review over concerns of toxicity. The biggest issue is the food coloring consumption has increased 5 fold over the past 50 years. They are in food, cosmetics, clothes, shoes, furniture, cars. Your skin is constantly in contact with artificial dyes.
Parabens
A common preservative used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food. It is in over 22,000 cosmetics alone in concentrations of up to .08 for multiple parabens in a product or .04% for a single paraben. This is fine until you realize that parabens are in your natural and commercial products (soap, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, gel, perfumes, lip balm, etc). If you use 8 different cosmetic products you can potentially be exposed to large doses of parabens on a daily bases.
Sulfates
Used as cleansing agents in household cleaners, detergents, shampoo, soap. They remove dirt and oils, many with large amounts of lather or suds. They are certainly known to cause skin, scalp and eye irritation due in large part to their being too effective at stripping away everything.
Triclosan
A widely used antimicrobial that can be found in an hand sanitizer, shampoo, conditioner, hand cream, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, nail polish, etc. It is know to disrupt the endocrine system and weaken the immune system. Early exposure during childhood can increase eczema, asthma and allergies.
Phthalates
Mainly used to increase the flexibility and softness of plastics but is also found in thousands of cosmetics. They are know to be endocrine disruptors and linked to the early development of breast cancer in young girls. They can be found in hair spray, nail polish, perfumes, lotion and deodorants. It is one of the main ingredients in "fragrance."
It is almost impossible to eliminate chemicals from our lives but we can certainly make better decisions about how much we allow. Read labels, research ingredients as well new products and many healthier alternatives are be created everyday from brands much like Freedom Naturally Beautiful.
For more ingredients that are toxic and more in depth information on them, refer to our KNOWLEDGE CENTER.
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