Clean Beauty: Why It Is Imperative to Finally Break Up With Toxic Chemicals.
Oh man, where do I start? This is a loaded topic, but it’s something I am so passionate about. I’m gonna paint a picture for you. It’s going to take you through a typical human day in the western world.
Wake up on a mattress that is off-gassing carcinogens—most contain chemicals like formaldehyde and polyurethane.
Get in the shower and wash your body with soaps chock full of chemicals, and use skin products that have innumerable dangerous ingredients, most of which are not labeled on the bottles.
Drink tap or bottled water that has more chemicals swimming in it, deemed “safe” by the government. For most of us that’s same water we just showered in.
Apply makeup with more than 180 different unpronounceable chemicals all over your skin—the human body’s biggest organ.
Hop into your car that has been off-gassing plastic since you’ve had it, and blast heat or air-conditioning that is unnatural recirculated air.
Drive down a road that is swimming in air pollution from our own and other vehicles.
Get to work, in a small office space with no natural air, perhaps in a closed cubicle, with no natural light, and carpet that is off-gassing more chemicals into your body.
Grab lunch in a plastic container that has been leaching chemicals into your food; containing food that was grown and picked weeks or months before it landed in your hands.
Go to the grocery store and pick up food that isn’t in season, which came from halfway across the globe, picked far before it was ripe, nearly devoid of nutrients, and sprayed with dangerous pesticides.
Head to the gym and throw on yoga pants made of micro plastics, which will inhibit your body from sweating out the toxins you are working so hard to eliminate.
Do the dishes and clean the countertops with chemical sprays and cleaners that are harsh endocrine disruptors, which are all well known to cause health problems.
Listen, it is amazing that we are all still alive, right? So, as I paint this dismal picture of the toxic soup we swim in day-in and day-out, maybe start asking yourself:
1. What out of all of this can I control?
2. What can I remove or replace?
There are a lot of things you can do. However, keep in mind that as a woman you typically use many more products than men. This is something that needs close examination.
On average, women apply around 515 chemicals to their skin every day—515!
Chemicals in simple products like makeup, soap, lotion, and what we absorb when using cleaning products. To the rescue comes clean beauty. Accessing these life saving products is a no-brainer in the move to protect our health and keep our bodies running optimally. Chronic daily exposure to chemicals can cause permanent health damage. Additionally, since we are exposed to so much our bodies never really get a break. Serious chronic disease and health issues are dangerously on the rise, debilitating and deadly things like allergies, cancer, autoimmune disease, and infertility. They are fueled by these toxic flames, and the FDA doesn’t have authority to remove them from our beauty products.
As a hairstylist, I believe it is my responsibility to introduce everyone to cleaner low toxic product options. The two brands we use at my salon are Oway (Organic Way)—buy here, and EVO hair care—buy here. They are both fabulous, and they perform like professional products should. There are other clean hair care brands out there that get an honorable mention from me as well like Rahua, Reverie and Davines. The basic things I look for in product lines, are products free of sulfates, parabens, DEA, TEA, propylene glycol, gluten, and those that are certified cruelty free.
The pores on our scalp are 80% bigger than the pores on our body, so it’s really important to make sure the products you slather on there everyday or every couple days are safe. I’m also a big fan of getting a simple water filter for your shower head. Any one will do. Home Depot can hook you up for a good price. You will notice shiny silkier hair with a water filter. Another reason it’s so important to enter into this non-toxic life is because a lot of these ingredients are very detrimental to women's hormonal systems. Hormones are natural signaling molecules, and synthetic hormone-disrupting chemicals scramble those signals and contribute to disease and disability. We know of about 1,000 synthetic chemicals that do that. These chemicals can have permanent consequences. Male and female infertility, fibroids, breast cancer, endometriosis, obesity, diabetes, cognitive deficits, and autism have been directly or indirectly linked to them. The sad truth is no one is looking out for us.
We have to look out for ourselves.
The best part of that is there are many emerging companies that do have our best interests in mind. Next time you run out of whatever product you are using, look into one of my suggestions. And, do some of your own research! It’s empowering to educate yourself. My go-to site for checking to make sure my products are safe is the EWG (environmental working group).