October 31, 2017
Why What You Put On Your Skin Matters
I admit, I was terrified when I first learned that I would have to start blogging as part of my studies with Nutraphoria. Thoughts of, “what on earth do I have to say that will be of any interest to anyone” kept racing through my mind. After the initial panic died down, I decided that the best approach for my first blog would be to reflect on the reasons why I decided to pursue further education in the health and wellness field.
You see for years I have had a fascination with holistic approaches to health and wellness. I’ve dabbled with various wellness practices in an attempt to create a healthier internal environment for my body. In the past few years, as my babies have grown into active children, along with the natural aging process, I have actively sought healthier approaches to wellbeing.
Part of this active search for a “better way”, brought me to the realm of skincare. If you think back to Grade 8 biology (or sometime around grade 8) we are taught that our skin is our largest organ. Therefore, it only makes sense that whatever we put on our largest organ is being absorbed into our bodies.
Here I was trying to eat organic, limit sugar intake, avoid processed foods, while I was slathering harmful ingredients onto myself and yikes, my poor babies!!
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking to yourself, “what you put on your body doesn’t matter because it just sits on top of your skin anyway”, but did you know that within 26 seconds, 60% of everything that you put on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream? Unlike the food we eat, our skin isn’t able to metabolize what we put on it. So, if you’re reading this and thinking that what you put on doesn’t matter, you may want to think again.
Recent studies have shown that over 200 toxic chemicals were discovered in the umbilical cords of newborns. U.S. researchers have identified 10,500 industrial chemicals used as cosmetic ingredients, including carcinogens and pesticides! When you read this, what impact do you think that these industrial chemicals are having on our bodies AND do you still think that what you put on doesn’t matter?
The David Suzuki Foundation has published a report called the Dirty Dozen. This report outlines the 12 most toxic ingredients found in personal care items. You can find the entire report and a detailed description of each ingredient on:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2010/DSF-report-Whats-inside-that-counts.pdf
Research by the Breast Cancer Fund, has shown that breast cancer usually develops in the upper-outer quadrant of the breast. This also happens to be the area that is near the underarm where anti-perspirants are applied. 99% of breast cancer tissues show traces of six different Parabens. What is a Paraben? A Paraben is the most commonly used preservative found in personal care products such as shampoo, moisturizers, deodorants, soap, sunscreen, body lotion, etc. They also just happen to be listed on the Dirty Dozen report.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. The statistics for breast cancer was 1 in 20 only a few decades ago. 90% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, have no pre-existing genetic link to the disease.
Sadly, 1 out of every 2 men and 1 out of every 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, according to the National Cancer Society.
These are some pretty sobering statistics, aren’t they? It is stats like these, that opened my eyes and caused me to re-evaluate what I was putting on my skin and the skin of my innocent children.
I realize that I can’t undo what has already been done. Yes, I had slathered my kid’s pudgy little baby bodies with a cocktail of hazardous ingredients, and shutter to think of what I unknowingly put on them. You see my children were born in 2005 and 2006, BEFORE it became mandatory for manufacturers to list ingredients on their retail packages. I thought that because I was using products that were “made for babies” and manufactured by well known retailers in the industry, that it must be safe. Was I ever wrong! It wasn’t until 2006, that manufacturers were required by law, to list ingredients on their labels.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom! Simply put, I believe that we owe it to ourselves (and to our families) to know what is in the ingredients that we use each and every day. I also believe that if we eat organic but then go ahead and spray, rub, and wash our largest organ with chemicals, then we are doing something wrong!
Is switching out our shampoo going to save us from getting cancer? That I can’t answer. What I can say is that what we expose ourselves to on a daily basis, has a cumulative effect. The average adult uses 12 personal care products per day. Those 12 products add up to 4,380 per year! These small daily doses, do add up and combined with other daily toxic exposures such as the air we breath, the water we drink and the food we eat, accumulate in our system. We can’t control many things in life, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that what you’re putting on your body is safe?
I believe that what we put ON our bodies is just as important as what we put IN our bodies. What we put ON our body matters!!
