7 Most Common Chemical Toxins in Personal Care Products

Why make your own shampoo, body lotion, body scrub toothpaste and deodorant

Spring is a natural time of the year to clear out, declutter and detox. We go to great lengths to cleanse our bodies, fix elaborate smoothies, eliminate processed foods from our diets, learn to cook from scratch with the cleanest ingredients, go to yoga, the gym or a run in the woods… All in an effort to improve our health, have more energy and hopefully even turn back the clock somewhat.

Little do we know that we are sabotaging all our good work daily by smearing up to 126 known chemicals and toxins on our bodies, carcinogens, allergens and endocrine disruptors.

As one of my lecturers famously said: If you can’t eat it, you probably shouldn’t put it on your skin (which is our largest organ).

We are becoming more literate when it comes to decrypting food labels, but who really reads the fine print on the shampoo bottle or indeed the premium anti-aging cream endorsed by one of our favourite celebrities? And, should we read it, we will most likely be at a complete loss as to what any of it means. The question is, would you happily eat any of it?

The list of those nasties is long, some are more commonplace than others and some indeed worse than others.

Here are 7 of the worst offenders found in the most frequently used personal care products:

Realistic White Cosmetics bottle can Spray, Deodorant, Air Freshener. Vector illustration

ALUMINIUM, found in most deodorants, stops us from perspiring. First of all sweating is one of our body’s detoxification pathways, a channel to eliminate waste and toxins. Should we really prevent it altogether? But there are worse concerns, aluminium is a metalloestrogen and binds to oestrogen receptors in breast tissue cells whereby significantly increasing breast cancer risks (1). Or, it could travel to our brain and contribute to the calcification linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Clear links have been established between aluminium and those degenerative conditions (2)!

PARABENS, a class of preservatives commonly found in shampoos and body lotions. They are known xenoestrogen compounds which mimic oestrogen and bind to the same receptocytes on our cells affecting their activity as well as accumulating in our tissue, breast tissue in particular, leading to hormone dysregulation, disorders of the reproductive system and cancer (3).

SLS and SLES (sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium lauryl ether sulfate) are foaming and surface acting agents.They are what makes toothpaste, shampoo and bubble bath produce the nice foam we have learned to expect. They also help make products more spreadable.According to a study published in the International Journal of Toxicology we now know that they cause protein denaturation (as in what happens to egg white when exposed to heat for example) and have a degenerative effect on cell membranes whereby accelerating aging (ironic don’t you think?).

MINERAL OIL, is a byproduct of the treatment of petroleum when making gasoline, scarily marketed as “Baby Oil” since 1938 (I can’t find an emoji that truly depicts how I feel about that one!). Besides the fact that it clogs pores and accumulates in body tissue, it is a known carcinogen listed in a report published in 2011 by the National Toxicology Program. It has been shown that even cosmetic grade mineral oil can be contaminated with industrial grade oil used as motor oil and other machinery lubricant (4)… I rest my case.

FRAGRANCES, where are they from? What are they made of? Wait for it, researchers don’t know either! On most products those chemicals, which are known to cause immune dysfunctions, allergies, eczema, respiratory distress and more, are not fully labelled and are only known by the manufacturer whom is not obliged to disclose the provenance nor the type of chemical.

SYNTHETIC COLOR, “green #3”, “yellow #4” (#WTF?)… are synthetic food dyes often derived from petroleum or coal tar sources are found in toothpaste stripes and mouthwash for example (along with several other baddies such as saccharine, alcohol and more). Just like in their confectionary counterparts, these dyes have been shown to cause psychological disruption and aggravate ADHD in children (5).

FORMALDEHYDE, a class of known carcinogens derived from methylene glycol, methylene oxyde, formic aldehyde. Formaldehyde is used as preservatives in hair care products, body washes, cleansers and nail products. It is most noxious when heated (with hair dryers or straighteners for example), can cause allergies and be harmful to the immune system.

What we put on our body will eventually end up inside our body, adding to the toxic load in our lives. The amount of each chemical might be quite small, but they usually don’t come on their own and the combination to one another in the same product compounds their nefarious effects. Plus, with multiple daily use, we end up micro dosing ourselves continually, accumulating them in our tissues and straining our detoxification pathways unnecessarily.

Of course, we want to smell nice, have glossy hair, shiny skin with a youthful glow and sparkling white teeth, but finding “clean” cosmetics in a blatantly unregulated industry can be a minefield. What better solution can there be than making them ourselves having complete control of each and every ingredient we put on or in our beautiful bodies.

This is why I am so proud to announce you my latest creation, an ebook for 40 mostly easy recipes requiring ingredients that are really affordable, easy to come by and most importantly, that will do you no harm.