How many products do you use on your body every day?
Here are some scary numbers…
It’s a well known fact that on average, women use between 9-15 personal care products every single day. Each of these products can contain up to 126 unique ingredients.
Our average daily personal care and grooming regime includes a cocktail of products ranging from basics like toothpaste and deodorant through to skincare, haircare and cosmetics.
According to EWG (Environmental Working Group), Personal care products are manufactured with 10,500 unique chemical ingredients, some of which are known or suspected carcinogens or are known to be toxic or disruptive to the reproductive and endocrine system or cause allergies and skin irritations. Even though the concentrations may be minute in each product, the cumulative effect takes its toll on our health and our beauty.
Our skin is our largest organ and it absorbs everything we slather on it. Cosmetic ingredients are designed to penetrate, and they do, into the blood stream and around the body and eventually depositing into our cells and tissues.
Most people choose and use their skincare, cosmetics and other personal care items without knowing much about most of their ingredients. That said, we are becoming more and more informed about what to avoid in our beauty products and with so much more choice now, we can make better choices about what goes on our bodies.
Spring clean time!
If you’re looking to boost your health and your family’s health, spring cleaning your personal care products is crucial place to start. Now is a great time to remove the products that aren’t serving you and to reset your regime using products with cleaner ingredients.
Here are our top tips for cleaning up your act:
*First, pull out ALL your products – by category ie. oral care, hair care, skin care, body care etc.
*Check the labels for the following ingredients and set aside those that contain these nasties:
- Triclosan (TSC)
- Parabans family : propylparaben, methylparaben, butylparaben, benzylparaben
- ethy ie PEG, polyethylene, polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylene, ethyl alcohol, ethylene oxide, ethylene dichloride, ethylene-diamine-tetracetatic acid (EDTA), ethylene glycol
- Phthalates
- Phenoxyethanol
- Sodium Lauryth Sulfate (SLS)
- Talc
- Petroleum products ie. Petrolatum/Paraffin Wax or Oil/Mineral Oil
- Coal Tar Dye
- DEA, TEA, MEA
- Formaldehyde
- Fragrance & Parfum
Ditch them.
*Check the labels for expiry dates. Anything that has expired. Ditch them.
*Set aside any products that you haven’t used in 3 months. Ditch them.
*Give your drawers and cupboards a good clean.
Now you’re ready to re-stock with some clean beauty products that will serve your health and enhance your beauty and wellbeing.
Good places to start your clean beauty journey are your local organic/natural supplier, natural health pharmacy, clean beauty stores and online retailers as well as referrals and recommendations from informed friends and family and clean beauty influencers you trust.
Try to choose products that are made here in Australia and are cruelty free. You’ll need to do some research, read labels, claims and reviews and remember, it takes time to find the products that suit you.
Enjoy your new clean regime and feel great about supporting your health and beauty.
Here are some great resources to learn more about ingredients:
*Safecosmetics.org: http://www.safecosmetics.org
*The Environmental Working Group (EWG): https://www.ewg.org/key-issues/consumer-products/cosmetics
