Toxic Exposure Adds Up—The Average Woman Applies Over 500 Chemicals to Her Face Everyday
We’ve been talking about various ingredients in your everyday personal-care products that can be harmful. We’ve mentioned phthalates, parabens, formaldehyde, talc, 1,4 dioxane, and more. But when it comes to your health, it’s not about any one particular ingredient.
You’ve probably heard about radiation exposure—radiation that you may encounter through x-rays, or even as a part of your occupation. It’s not about radiation, necessarily, but about how much radiation your body is exposed to over your lifetime.
When you think about chemicals in personal-care products, you can think about them the same way. How much is your body exposed to over several decades of your life? Using shampoo on one day is probably not going to increase your risk for disease, but using it every day for 60+ years could. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the average adult uses about 9 personal-care products a day. A study by Bionsen, a product company in the United Kingdom, found that the average woman applies about 515 chemicals to her face everyday! Think about it. Your shampoo, conditioner, body wash (or soap), shaving cream, body moisturizer, face moisturizer (or after shave), hand soap you may use several times over in one day, perfume, cologne, and makeup—mascara, foundation, concealer, blush, eyeshadow, brow color, liptstick, etc.
Most of these products contain one or more of the dangerous, potentially carcinogenic ingredients we’ve been talking about, that can disrupt hormones, depress immune function, cause developmental problems, and even cause dangerous diseases like cancer. If we’re not careful about the products we choose, we could be exposing ourselves over and over again to chemicals that could ruin our health.
“The perpetual advent of new and innovative beauty products has led to a massive increase in product usage over the years,” writes E. Huff for “Natural News.” “What was once a basic cleansing protocol has turned into a lifestyle of trying the latest and greatest products in an effort to maintain youthful beauty. As a result, women are exposed to more toxic carcinogens from beauty products than ever.”
How do you reduce your overall exposure? First, learn about certain ingredients to avoid, and watch ingredient labels. You can also try a few of these steps:
- Reduce your use of nail polishes. When you do use them, choose the non-toxic variety.
- Use mild soaps. Choose organic and those with few chemical ingredients, and avoid anti-bacterial types (read labels and stay away from “triclosan”).
- Choose fragrance-free products, or those with essential oils and natural-source fragrance.
- Reduce your use of perfumes and colognes, and/or choose organic varieties.
- Switch to natural, organic products like Pangea Organics or Intelligent Nutrients.
- Take a break from your products! Choose one day a week where you will cut down to less than 4 products used.
How are you reducing your exposure to toxic personal-care chemicals? Please share your tips.
Photo courtesy slynnro via Flickr.com.
I found a company about 12 years ago that I trust completely – Shaklee. I use their cleaning products, supplements and personal care products which include skin care, makeup, and haircare. I am so happy that I have been able to reduce my chemical exposures throught the use of these products.
I am also happy to see your article, because everyone needs to know the risks they are taking every day by using the products you described. Thank you.
By the way, Shaklee recently introduced a line of safe products for babies’ skin, too.
The truth of a product is in the ingredients list… no matter what a label says, the best way to verify the ingredients are truly “clean” is to read the ingredients list…many products like this are deceptively misrepresentated with the terms “natural” & “organic” but right now there are no standards for the use of these terms… so you still must be very careful to read the full ingredients list of the product.
there is a lot of greenwashing going on… if the label has many chemical names you cannot understand, the ingredients are not “natural” and “organic”
Thank you for sharing the resource Marti -Britta
I completely agree Erin. There are a lot of “frauds” in the market green-washing their products and tricking customers who are genuinely looking for “natural” and “organic” products for themselves and their families. It is imperative to read labels and consult http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com for ingredient definitions and toxicity.Thank you so much for commenting! – Britta
I reduced my family’s exposure to toxic personal care chemicals by finding a company that is transparent about their ingredients. No artificial Sulfates or phosphates,no parabens or other artificial preservatives,no phtalates,no petrochemicals. I share this because I am passionate about leading consumers away from companies that greenwash & towards supporting a company that is honestly what they market themselves to be. Daisy Blue Naturals prices are very economical..it does not have to cost you a fortune to use truly natural personal care products. To view a complete list of ingredients & products go to http://www.4234.daisybluenaturals.com