Recently, I've taken an interest in what's in our cosmetics. From shampoo, lotions, foundation and even deodorant. I've got two girls who love playing with make-up. Well not just make-up, bath products too! I don't think it's a big secret that chemicals surround us and are in everything. It's really hard to find a product with NOTHING bad in it. Although if you do read a label of your favorite bath product, more than likely you will not understand the scientific names. I'm trying hard to educate the girls that we have to be our own advocate when it comes to our health. Our government usually tries to protect us from harmful things-Right??? Well not when it comes to make-up. They actually don't have any say in what goes in our make-up. The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 is working to change all that and hopefully one day we can feel more comfortable about what we rub on our face and body.
So what are some of these harmful chemicals in our cosmetics?? Parabens, Cholorine, Formaldehyde, Lead??? Lead, yes lead is actually in most lipsticks. While "they" say some levels of lead are safe, several lipsticks have much higher levels. Do we really want our children smearing lead all over their lips? I don't!! Even if it is in small traces. Some of these chemicals have been linked to breast cancer, asthma, skin rashes, the list goes on. So how do you protect your babies precious little body?? It's not an easy task.
Harrison has had seborhea on his back since he was born. His doctor said if I wanted I could use Head and Shoulders on it or just leave it alone. I've tried leaving it alone but his poor back feels like an alligator. It doesn't seem to bother him. I decided I didn't like the doctors answer so I took him to see my dermatologist. She suggested a few other products to try. CeraVe and Mustela being two products to try. The CeraVe label reads about 20 different ingredients that I can't pronounce. Mustela is some better and prides itself with being Paraben, Phthalate and Phenoxyethanol FREE. Parabens have actually been detected in Breast tumors. Scary right??
Your going to laugh but I actually bought some cloth diapers a couple of weeks ago. Thinking I could save the planet and my baby's bottom, the cloth diaper kit came with a cover and three cloth diapers. Yes only three, it was a sample kit. HA HA!! I didn't hate the cloth diaper but it is soooo bulky that it makes fitting his clothes over the diaper difficult. The updated cloth diaper comes with biodegradable liners that you can throw away for those messy number 2's!! That's a plus from the days of washing it out in the toilet. My mom laughs and says "you try wearing a bath towel around your bottom and see how it feels". I've never worn a bath towel but I have worn a bulky pad and I know that's uncomfortable. Baby H (as Megan likes to call him) doesn't seem bothered by either cloth or disposable. But wait!! There's still hope!! I have found a company that makes a diaper that is free of alcohol, cholorine, perfume, dyes, phthalates, parabens, lotions, optical brighteners, PVC, heavy metals, organotins & formaldehyde, SLS & SLES and lanolin. OF course I had to copy that from their pamphlet!!! The Honest Company who was founded by Jessica Alba has a new line of diapers, wipes, lotions, laundry detergents, and bath products. If you go to their website https://www.honest.com/ you can try their products for free except for the cost of shipping ($4.95). I have already tried their diapers and wipes and besides the wipes being a little on the small side, the diapers are great!! No leaks!! Today the "Family Essentials" sample arrived. I can't wait to try it out!!!
My next great quest is to find make-up products that are free of all the chemicals. There is a website called http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ that grades over 69,000 products. Sadly most of my make-up received a bad grade. It will even tell you what health concerns your product could pose. For example, my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer has a low health risk in cancer, moderate health risk in developmental and reproductive toxicity and a somewhat higher health risk to allergies and immunotoxicity. It will also outline the ingredients in your product. Another great website is called Safecosmetics.org. It has several great articles like "what's in your products?", talks about government regulations, companies that are trying hard to make their products safer, etc.
So even with all this new KNOWLEDGE I have, I still got up this morning and used the same Dove Soap, the same F rated tinted moisturizer, and the same deodorant with aluminum. And even sprayed a little Phthlatate (perfume) on me. Just this week in the news "phthlatates could be making you FAT". Like I said..you can't hide from it. I guess you could compare it to eating bad foods, we know donuts are not good for us, we know that fried foods are linked to Heart disease but we still eat it!!! WHY IS THAT???
