How to Ensure You Have Healthy Skin?

Did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body?    Did you also know that your skin is very porous, meaning that most of the things you put on your skin gets absorb into your blood stream?    There are a lot of chemicals we put on our skin to protect it from the sun for instance, but a lot of these chemicals can also be harmful.    We need to be aware of all the things that can harm our skin.

Can You Tell If Your Cosmetics Are Safe?

Most of the products we put on our skin contain a lot of harmful chemicals, which over time can contribute to cancer, birth defects and other life threatening diseases.

Here is a list of some of the harmful chemicals and the products in which they can be found.    Doctors and environmental experts have recommended that you avoid putting the chemicals listed below in your body.

• Parabens: a hormone mimicker and a preservative that does not allow bacteria to grow in your cosmetics.   It is found in hair products, moisturizers, skin cream, hair remover, soap and shower gel.
• Formaldehyde: a disinfectant and preservative in soap, nail polish, deodorant, shampoo and shaving cream.
• Ethyl Acetate: the liquid in nail polish, tooth whitening, perfume and mascara.
• Phthalates: keeps the colour and scents dissolved in nail polish, perfume, hair spray and others.    You need to find out more about these and other harmful chemicals if you want to keep your skin and bodies healthy.   

Using Safe Cosmetics

There are many products out there that do not contain these chemicals; look for them.  Get into the habit of reading labels to see if any of the products you have at home contain these.   I did and I threw them all away.     It cost a bit more to replace since the products without these chemicals usually costs more, but in the long run I know that it would be worth it.    Also the European Union (EU), a governing body consisting of 27 European countries, has made safe cosmetics an important part of its laws.    They have banned any chemicals, which scientists suspect that may cause cancer or birth defects.    They are also in the process of making a law to have companies test all their chemicals first before using.    When searching the labels, if it says “EU Cosmetics Directive Compliant”, then according to the European Union, the product is safe.

Unfortunately, the laws that monitor the things that we put in our bodies are different from the laws regarding things that we put on our bodies.    There is help out there though from an environmental cosmetics database called Skin Deep.   They keep a list of all the cosmetics that are safe, so you can search the website by the brand or the product to know how safe they are before you buy.    You can visit them at EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database.

Do you have confidence in the cosmetics you use?   

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