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Our skin is an open gateway to our blood, tissues and organs as well as our nervous and reproductive system. It is because our skin is porous that what we put on it gets absorbed and circulates in our body. When you cover your skin with what you think feels and smells good, but do not know what's in it, you might be not only aging your skin more, as toxins are one of the primary causes of skin aging, and many of the skincare ingredients are pure toxins, but you might be even adding toxins to your body that can be long term more dangerous to your it than unhealthy food you eat. Fact is that we eat gets filtered by liver, and gets eliminated through our intestines and our back door, but what we put on our body often goes straight to our blood and then circulates throughout our body for much longer causing bioaccumulation of toxins and harmful chemicals in our bodies that long term disrupt our hormones and harm other biological processes that keep our bodies young and healthy. More disturbingly, this chemical exposure begins even before we are born. An astounding 287 chemical toxins have been found in ambilocal cords of newborns, and many of those chemicals entered the blood of the newborns from personal care products (1).How do those chemicals enter their blood before they are even born? The answer s through the mother, and from the products her skin absorbed while she was pregnant, and if you still do not believe that what we put on our skin gets absorbed into our body, think of a birth control or nicotine patch. Why are there medications delivered through skin? It is because it is one of the best ways for our bodies to absorb the ingredients.
Now, let us tell you that skin absorbs chemicals through 3 different pathways. The fancy names for those are: intracellular, which means directly through a cell, intercellular, which means between cells and transappenageal, which means through in between openings such as hair follicles or sweat glands. If successful, these chemicals, go directly into our bloodstream and lymphatic system. Even if not all of the chemicals will be successful at passing the barrier, wouldn't you rather choose healthy ingredients, so you do not need to worry about them passing through, but rather be happy if they do? Toxins are all around us. They are in the air we breathe, in the food we eat. They are most likely in your lipstick. An average woman will consume about 5 pounds of it in her lifestyle. It is not common knowledge that the colors in the lipstick come usually from heavy metals, including lead. Being mindful of that can truly limit your exposure to the toxins and choosing healthy alternatives will result in nourishing, repairing and preventing the degradation of your skin and your body instead of adding to it. Let's have a look at the commonly used in skincare products toxins. The list has been comprised from the data collected from the Environmental Working Group non profit organization dedicated to protecting human and environment health with a breakthrough research. Some of the information has also been gathered from Toxipidia.com, which is a great source for those who want to learn about toxins in general as well as from SafeCosmetics.org. The above organizations, just like we do, drive consumer choice. The campaign for Safe Cosmetics Coalition works together with a Project of Breast Cancer Prevention to protect the health of consumers through education. Their campaigns aim at eliminating certain dangerous chemicals linked to adverse health reactions from personal care products that contain cancer causing chemicals, and reproductive toxicants. We stand by them and join in the efforts to raise awareness about the toxins and encourage mindful shopping for personal care products, just like more and more women now shop for food. The below offenders are most commonly found and easy to spot on the labels. FRAGRANCE FDA does not require from companies to list ingredients used in a fragrance aka scent. It is because fragrance is considered a company trademark. There are over 3000 ingredients that can be used in fragrance, many of which are considered toxic. If you do not want your body to absorb unhealthy chemicals, stay away from any product that has on its label: "fragrance" or "perfume" unless it accompanied by "natural" on the label. You might be otherwise soaking up toxins. COLOR Dyes are easy to spot on labels. If you see a color with a number, such as Red-5, on a product, it means it has a synthetic toxic dye in it. Any skincare product that has color to it, unless it is retinol, which is yellowish or an oxidized vitamin C product due to its exposure to the sun, will have dyes in it. Dyes are most likely derived from petroleum byproducts such as coal tar. Is this something you want to put on your face or in your car? PARABENS 75% of skincare products still have parabens in them even though studies have shown that they are carcinogens and hormone disruptors. Parabens are also found in 99% of breast cancer tissue. If you want to avoid them, watch out for anything with "paraben" on the label, such as "Methyl", "Ethyl", "Butyl", "Propyl" -Paraben PEGs PEGs are very commonly used in skincare products ingredients, even though they may carry carcinogens linked to birth defects or infertility. They are very commonly used in skincare as humectants to moisturize the skin, but also shampoos, body lotions, soap and make-up. Swap those very easy to spot on the labels ingredients that stand out as PEG and a number, such as PEG-40, for natural and organic ingredients that will not only moisturize your skin, but also nourish it with no toxic effect. PHTALATES Another group of commonly used in skincare toxicants known to disrupt hormones and cause respiratory issues as well as birth defects, infertility in men and pregnancy losses in women. Phthalates have been also linked to brain issues in children. Brain tumors and cancers have been in fact on the rise indeed. Do not use phthalates if you want to limit your risk for those life threatening conditions. Phthalates are commonly used in the above mentioned fragrance, but you can also spot them on the label if you look for anything with the name phthalate, DBG, DEHP or DMP in it SILICONES Skincare industry loves silicones or any ingredient that ends with a -cone, -conol, -col, or -xane. Silicones is what makes a product feel good and well, silky. Dimethicone is one of the most popular silicones in the industry, and if your product is not natural, and feels good on your skin, it most likely has it. Women love buying products loaded with this hybrid between synthetic rubbers and plastic polymers. Silicones are not necessarily dangerous to humans, but thet are forbidden under the EcoCert certification due to their non-biogradibility. In other words, they are known to contaiminate the environment. In fact, it takes 400 years for silicone to degrade. Aside, from this, dimethicone has nothing else to offer other than the so called synthetic smoothing that can cause breakouts and blackheads. It also hinders your skin's activities of temperature regulation, sweating, removing dead skin cells. It can also cause allergic reactions. Finally, even though it temporarily fills in those lines and wrinkles that gets you hooked on the product that contains silicones, long term, it dries out your skin making it look worse and causing your fine lines and wrinkles to be more noticeable. If you decide to stop using dimethicone on your skin, you might need a detox. Your skin might look worse for a while before it starts breathing again. We believe it is worth it, and if you do, watch out for "dimethicone", "dimethicol", "capolyl". "methicone", "phenyl", "trimethicone", "cyclomethcone", "cyclopentasiloxane" or "cyclohexasiloxane" on the labels. MINERAL OIL Often used in skincare mineral oil is a petroleum based byproduct. This cheap and not only toxic to the body ingredient is often used in baby care products. It is not only toxic, but will also clog your pores and prevent your skin from breathing and eliminating toxins. Stir clear from it especially if you have acne. DEA, MEA, TEA DEA (Diethanolamine), MEA (Monoethanolamine), TEA (Triethanolamine) - Often used as foaming agents as well as to emulsify ingredients or in other words preventing them from separation. They are known for possible carcinogenic effects. They have been linked to especially liver tumors. Watch out for them in soaps, shampoos, hair conditioners and dyes, lotions, shaving creams, paraffin and waxes, household cleaning products, pharmaceutical ointments, eyeliners, mascara, eye shadows, blush, make-up bases, foundations, fragrances, sunscreens. BHA and BHT BHA and BHT are used as preservatives, not only in personal care products, but also in food. Exposure to these chemicals for an extended period of time has been linked to tumors in kidneys, liver as well as certain thyroid conditions. The European Commission of Endoctrine Disruption has identified BHT as a Category 1 ingredient in regards to hormone disruption. They are found in lip products, hair products, makeup, sunscreen, antiperspirant/deodorant, fragrance, creams. FORMALDEHYDE Used to embalm dead bodies, but commonly used in many skincare products, but also liquid soaps and baby products. Most often found in nail polish, nail glue, eyelash glue, hair gel, hair-smoothing products, baby shampoo, body soap, body wash, color cosmetics. It is also a known carcinogen, as well as toxic to our lungs ingredient when inhaled. CAUTION! SUNSCREEN Last, but not least is sunscreen and especially OXYBENZONE. Widely used to prevent skin caner, has been ironically known for very high toxicity. There are many different types of sunscreen, and we could write a seperate article on sunscree toxicity, but https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/report/the-trouble-with-sunscreen-chemicals/ is where you will find best information about it. Zinc Oxide is the ingredient that we recommend to use as sunscreen. We currently do not carry it, but will and in a tinted form as this natural UVA and UVB protection leaves a white film on the skin otherwise. Now that you might know more about toxicity in skincare products, the choice is yours. Whether you use Dermattude or not, we hope you are mindful of the fact that even when we are born our bodies are not as pure and pristone as we thought they were and exposed to chemicals. If we are not careful with our body, we will it into a polluted ecosystem or a body of water after an oil well blowout. This pollution is not going to happen overnight as it takes many years to accumulate. It will buld up over time untl we one day wake up sick and not know where from. Everyone's body reacts to the exposure of toxins differently, and what might not harm one perosn, might harm another. Why taking that chance? Why not eliminating the exposure to those chemicals especially if there are safer alternatives? Go Dermattude. |