Whenever I mention "organic" shampoos, most of my friends would be surprised to find that even non-food product can be organic. Yes, just like food, instead of harmful chemical fertilizers, preservatives and artificial colourant, you can find chemicals in your conventional daily personal care products, such as chemicals that make your soap foam, make your hair shiny, the synthetic fragrance/perfume found in your shampoo, or the bleach in your toothpaste, and the list goes on.
These harmful chemicals should be avoided since these are products that you use on a daily basis, and the fact that your skin is the largest organ of your body and what you put on it will eventually be absorbed into your body.
Similar to buying organic food, I will always look for the organic seal/certification first to ensure the product is certified so I can rest assured that I am not being cheated by another "natural" marketing scheme. But sometimes these natural products are home-made or without certification, so scanning through the ingredient list would be the best thing to do.
For a start, here are 7 harmful ingredients that you can easily find in your bathroom that you should avoid:
1) Parabens
I'm sure this pretty much falls under common knowledge now, as you can see many products are being reformulated and repackaged with a "Paraben-Free" sticker on it. Parabens are used as preservative in a wide variety of personal care products and cosmetics. It inhibits growth of fungus and bacteria and other microbes. Known to disrupt hormone functions which leads to increased risk of breast cancer and reproductive toxicity. Any other ingredients ending with -paraben i.e. methylparaben, propylparaben etc., it has parabens!
2) Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)
Known simply as SLS, this is the ingredient that makes your shampoo and soap foam and create bubbles. The most common misconception is that you need foam to clean, and that the richer the lather, the better the soap. But what you should know is that in the long run, SLS will strip your scalp off its natural oils that protects your scalp for health hair growth. It causes problem like hair fall, oily, itchy and dandruff scalp. Some may develop dry skin problems. This harmful chemical is actually used as an engine degreaser, and is known to cause skin, eyes and respiratory tract irritation, organ and reproductive toxicity, and possible mutations and cancer.
3) Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
To make SLS less irritating, it goes through a process called ethoxylation, which becomes SLES. However, this process creates by-products which includes 1,4-dioxane which is a carcinogen, and with similar health concerns as SLS above.
4) Parfum (Fragrance)
This is made from undisclosed synthetic ingredients (manufacturers not required to specify the ingredients to safeguard their formulation) which causes many problems such as nausea and headaches to allergic reactions and respiratory distress. Imagine the amount of chemicals used to create such a strong scent that you could smell it when someone walks past you!
5) Ethanolamine Compounds (MEA, TEA, DEA...)
Used as emulsifier - binds substances such as oil and water, to make creams and lotions. This ingredient is pretty tricky to detect but these are the names to look out for:
Triethanolamine, diethanolamine, DEA, TEA, cocamide DEA, cocamide MEA, DEA-cetyl phosphate, DEA oleth-3 phosphate, lauramide DEA, linoleamide MEA, myristamide DEA, oleamide DEA, stearamide MEA, TEA-lauryl sulfate
Ethanolamines can react to form nitrosamines, which is listed as a carcinogen and causes liver cancer. Also affects male reproductive health.
6) Dibutyl Phthalate
Found in nail polish and perfumes, it is a plasticizer, usually found in PVC to make it soft and flexible. This highly toxic ingredient may cause endocrine disruption and organ toxicity, and also harms the environment.
7) Formaldehyde
It is a by-product released by cosmetic preservatives. You may see them on labels as:
Diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin, quaternium-15, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, and sodium hydroxylmethylglycinate
Found mainly in nail polish and hair treatments (usually hair smoothing products). It is classified as a carcinogen and many nail polish manufacturers are removing this toxic ingredient from their nail products. Besides the cancer hazard, it can cause allergic reactions to the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
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| Image from https://jameskennedymonash.wordpress.com |
So, why are the manufacturers still putting these harmful ingredients into our personal care products and sold so widely everywhere? Because these chemicals are really cheap! And also the regulations for cosmetic products are extremely low when compared to food regulations.
Well I think it's about time we take a closer look at our favourite shampoo, or lipstick, or sunscreen and start questioning: "What EXACTLY are in these products??"
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| Image from http://backdropsbeautiful.com/ |
I know these ingredients on the labels look a lot like alien language but there are a few research groups and organizations out there (been around for a while now) that aim to provide information on these ingredients to protect consumers like us, such as EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
Try searching up the ingredients and you'll be surprised what they actually are!
Sources:
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
http://www.safecosmetics.org/
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
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