The skin is one of our largest organs of elimination and does so through shedding cells, perspiration etc. It also takes in a lot of toxins and dirt as it absorbs so easily and these go into the body, our bloodstream and our organs. Just sitting in a bath filled with aromatherapy oils allows the oils to enter your body within 3 minutes or so and begin to take effect but just as we can use this to our advantage to become healthy there are many toxin filled substances out there which we could be unknowingly using on our skin that will, in the long run make us ill. Then we wonder why we are breaking out in spots on our face, developing eczema or psoriasis and dehydrated areas of our body. We need to be aware of these toxins and watch out for them.
Some brands of skin care and makeup contain a really bad cocktail of toxins which could disrupt your body in lots of ways so it becomes important to read labels. If you don’t want to do this then to be safe buy organic makeup products that have already been endorsed by an organic agency as safe.
One of these toxic products is Dioxane which is found in sulphate based shampoo and body wash. Tests have even shown that some have even been known to cause kidney, respiratory and neurological toxicity.
Also you need to look out for triclosan which is an antibacterial product often used in toothpaste and liquid hand soap. It can irritate your skin and it has been found it can pass from mothers into breast milk. Put in water it is toxic to our fish it is that toxic it turns males into females which is harmful to our ecology.
Also look out for mineral oil which although it ‘sounds’ natural to some is really a by product made when gasoline is separated from crude oil. It’s used in baby oil, lipstick and body lotions. It’s called paraffin or petroleum sometimes and is used as it does not go rancid. However it coats the skin like plastic wrap would and blocks the pores so pimples and rashes can occur. It can also stop the absorption of vitamins and minerals and cause bacteria to be trapped as well as blocking the skin so it can’t eliminate toxins properly.
Formaldehyde is used to preserve dead specimens in a lab. So why are formaldehyde releasing preservatives used in our makeup? These release formaldehyde in small doses to stop bacteria from forming in our shampoos, liquid soap, washes and creams etc. however they can trigger allergies and irritate the eyes.
Polyethylene glycols are used in creams as thickeners, softeners and solvents. They also contain dioxane which is a known carcinogen already mentioned above. These should not be used on damaged skin as they can enter the body and cause kidney toxicity.
These are only 5 of the toxins you should avoid. There are others too numerous to put into this article. In short look for labels on your makeup and cleansing products that say Triclosan, Methenamine, liquid para_n, PEG followed by a number, polyethylene or laureth (or anything ending in ‘eth’). To be safe though attempt to use pure organic products as much as possible.
