Ep. 071: Avoid these ingredients for clean personal care
In high school I was a big fan of body sprays and the best smelling lotion - especially the Japanese cherry blossom and sweet pea scent. I’d spray it on me EVERYDAY and lather my whole body in the lotion every night. Except, the more I learned about their ingredients, the less I started using it.
By the end of this blog post, you’ll have an understanding of what ingredients to avoid while shopping for personal care products.
Talc: You especially want to avoid using talc near the mouth and nose for adults and children. This can cause respiratory problems and skin irritations. However, talc is commonly known as being a possible carcinogen, specifically for ovarian cancer. It’s usually added to products to be used as an anti-caking agent.
Synthetic fragrances: Used to add an extra yummy aroma to your products, sounds pretty harmless. Except this single word can be a mask for 3,000 different chemicals. It can cause skin irritations, respiratory problems, headaches, and depending which of the 3,000 chemicals it could be - it may also be a carcinogen. A simple swap out of this is using essential oils.
Triclosan: This ingredient is used as an antibacterial and antifungal agent - it’s usually found in soap, deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, and cleaning supplies. Sounds like a pretty important ingredient, except it comes with a heavy price. This ingredient has the potential to create antibiotic resistance, infertility, and trigger allergies.
Anything with the suffix ‘Paraben’: Often used as a preservative in products, but not a necessary ingredient. There are many different forms of parabens, so anything with ‘paraben’ as a suffix is a big no for me. Some studies show that a build up of this ingredient can cause tumors in the breast, is a possible endocrine disruptor, and may cause skin irritations. A lot of risk for a completely unnecessary ingredient.
Imidazolidinyl or diazolidinyl Urea: This ingredient is typically used as a preservative and antimicrobial. This is the second most popular preservative after parabens. This ingredient has potential to trigger eczema, irritate the skin, and is a formaldehyde releasing agent - meaning it may cause symptoms similar to allergies like itchy/watery eyes, coughing, nausea, or scratchy throat.
I’ve been focusing on learning more about ingredients to avoid in personal products for a while and I remember in the beginning it was so overwhelming because it seemed like EVERYTHING had toxins in it. As if it was impossible to find all natural products.
That’s part of the reason why I started my own business making all natural personal products. Because we deserve to be able to use a moisturizer without worrying about the long term effects of the ingredients.
You’re worth it.
XO,
Liv
