It is no secret that chemicals with varying and unknown levels of toxicity pervade our world. If you are the average woman, you put about 168 chemicals on your body with your personal care routine 1, 85 if an average man. If you eat a breakfast of overnight oats, you most likely ingest glyphosate (the weed killer linked to cancer).2 When you spend time in your home, you most likely inhale volatile organic compounds from your furniture and carpet and the products used to clean them. Our bodies are full of chemicals, the CDC monitors levels of over 256 of them, and keeps adding more to that list.3 In today’s world, we increase our body’s toxic burden with just about everything we do. With environmental toxins so pervasive, how does one even begin to make a difference?
Virtually everything we buy — food, personal care products, household cleaners, furniture, even clothes — contain a dizzying list of chemicals. In a way, reminders like the above make it seem like an almost hopeless quest: where does one even start to make a difference and yet… beaches are made of grains of sand, so one needs to start somewhere.
Part One — Personal Care Products
First, a look at personal care products. Our personal care products, while it may not intuitively seem obvious, do have an effect on our immune systems. We have become accustomed to the long list of unpronounceable chemicals in our toothpaste, shampoo, cosmetics, deodorants and skin creams. While not natural, one might expect that they are at least harmless; however, nothing is further from the truth. Our everyday personal care products contain a wide range of chemicals that are known or suspected to be toxic and others whose safety is unknown. Toxic products in skin care are absorbed into the body and can be harmful. Two examples of this are the endocrine disrupting phthalates and parabens.4
Personal care products can be quite a toxic brew. Some of the most commonly known “dirty” chemicals are formaldehyde, toluene, parabens, phthalates, mercury, tar, acetone, and lead. Their health risks include allergies, depression, kidney damage, lung disorders, cancer, tumors, miscarriages, cognitive dysfunction, dermatitis, and more. They are found in shampoos, deodorants, cosmetics, soap, toothpaste, perfumes, skin lighteners and skin creams. You could very well be using multiple products that contain one or more of these.5
The FDA does not monitor the safety of the ingredients of personal care products and has a minimal role in their oversight. “Domestic cosmetics is an $84 billion industry that is regulated currently by about a page and a half of federal legislation.”5 These codes were established in 1938, although there appears to be some movement toward updating them. The relationship the FDA has with the industry is best explained by its own website:
Neither the law nor FDA regulations requires specific tests to demonstrate the safety of individual products or ingredients. The law also does not require cosmetic companies to share their safety information with FDA.
FDA website6
Companies are left to decide for themselves whether their products are safe. Self-regulation does not always work so well. Johnson&Johnson’s talcum powder has been in the courts for its association with ovarian cancer. Talc can contain asbestos, a known carcinogen, as an impurity. Court documents reveal the company knew about asbestos in its talc for decades. Talc is also found in other cosmetic products and is a common ingredient in body and facial products that can be inhaled. A recent 2020 study commissioned by Environmental Working Group found asbestos in 15 percent of cosmetic products tested; EWG says that cosmetic companies use screening methods that are not adequate to detect the asbestos.7
Unlisted ingredients
You might think, as did I, that reading ingredient lists is sufficient to evaluate purity and safety. I am a believer (if not always as diligent as I would like to be) in reading labels to be informed; however, this due diligence is not enough to protect you from potential toxicity. Manufacturers consider fragrance, aroma, and perfume formulations their trade secrets and by this merit are not required to divulge their ingredients. An ingredient they list simply as a scent or fragrance may contain anywhere from 50 to 300 distinct chemicals.8 And fragrance formulations are one of the biggest offenders and often contain multiple toxic ingredients.
Where to Begin
1. Reading labels and researching ingredients is a good place to start.
The Harvard Health website list of ingredients to avoid provides a conservative one, based upon the often limited scientific research on them as a whole. As the site points out, clean cosmetic companies — I will get to those below — have each created their own list of bad ingredients. As a starting point, some chemicals to avoid are formaldehyde, fragrance mix, and MI/MCI.9 Formaldehyde not only has several derivatives but is also released by other chemicals.
2. Evaluation by Environmental Working Group
EWG is an activist organization monitoring toxicity in the environment and working to change industry standards. Its website will give you its rating on various products. You can also search by ingredient to see how it rates. EWG has a list of 12 chemicals it proposes be banned.10
3. Start with small changes.
Maybe pick one personal care product to start. Or maybe look into seeing if there is a toxic ingredient in multiple products that you use. And begin to explore alternatives:
- Clean cosmetics
Clean cosmetics is a growing trend with a corresponding growing number of companies offering this as part of their line. There are companies specializing in clean personal care such as Kjaer Weis, W3ll People, Burt’s Bees and more. Well-known names like Allure, GOOP, Sephora, Marie Clairex and Glamour all have their own lists of best clean cosmetics brands. According to Harvard Health Website, the common ingredients most clean makeup companies avoid are 1,4-dioxane, formaldehydes, coal tar ingredients, petroleum distillates, and placenta extract.
- DIY personal care recipes
Cosmetic companies spend billions of dollars on research and development to arrive at appealing formulations that smell the best and feel the best — texture, smell, consistency, are all carefully evaluated. While homemade makeup may not always add up to that kind of perfection, you can make great simple, nourishing personal care products. I am a fan of this approach. I made a wonderfully healing cream from a DIY blog recipe. While I found the formula too heavy and waxy to use as the face cream it was supposed to be, it turned out to be a wonderful salve for my dry, cracked heels. The mixture contains the essential oils of frankincense, myrrh, and sandalwood in a base of beeswax and honey.11 That’s it, nothing more. Even clean personal care products rarely reduce to this basic level. Frankincense was even used by Cleopatra and is often found in premium skin creams. Besides the good press though — I have come to rely more on (n of 1) — my own experience. You can find a plethora of different formulations — soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, toothpastes, even shaving cream. Have fun and experiment with them.
4. Maybe less is best
And lastly, you might assess whether you need all of the products you use to be the cleanest, fragrant, most beautiful and alluring you. Minimal makeup, just like going naturally gray, is a growing trend. The following story may inspire you to consider this route.
Toxic Beauty, a 2019 documentary (which you can watch online for free12) highlights the story of a young medical student with a twenty-seven-step beauty routine she assiduously follows daily. The documentary follows an experiment as she tests for two endocrine disruptors — phthalates and parabens — over the course of three consecutive days. The first sample is taken the day after she uses her regular products, the second sample a day after she uses no products, and the third sample a day after she substitutes clean cosmetics. Blood tests revealed her phthalate level was 5 times lower and her paraben level was 35 times lower after she used the clean products. She seemed pleased with the substitutions and perhaps motivated to make some changes because of a recent benign (but I imagine sobering) tumor in her breast. The student used a “Detox Me Action Kit” offered by Silent Spring Institute. The kit can assess certain harmful chemicals in your body.13
Make your personal care routine part of your healthier you lifestyle
Detox with the IonCleanse
Toxic load in the body does matter when it comes to a strong immune system and a healthful life. In addition to reducing your exposure to toxic chemicals, a regular detox program would be beneficial. Adding the IonCleanse by AMD detoxification system would help reduce that load.
The Harvard Health website referenced acknowledges that reducing your toxic load does matter and suggests that even small changes in your personal care routine can be significant. Grains of sand on a beach.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this installment of our series. As always, if you have any thoughts or comments, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. Part Two of this article will cover some of the toxins we find in the home environment.
