What You Put on Your Body...

Read this article then come back....http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2010/07/20/cetaphil-why-the-popular-cleanser-isn%E2%80%99t-doing-your-skin-any-favors/

OK, nice to have you back.

I normally would not post something negative about a particular product but I thought this was a good example of how marketing affects how we feel about product and the importance of label reading.  Did you know that public health laws allow:

• Almost any chemical as an ingredient in personal care products
• Misleading and incomplete labeling of ingredients
• Unsubstantiated claims about product benefits
• No required safety testing of products or ingredients

So really companies can say and put on their products whatever they want. What??? Combine that with the interesting little tidbit that chemicals from personal care products enter your blood stream within 30 seconds and that is pretty scary.  Scary for me and definitely scary for my kids.

If you go to EWG Skin Deep website and put in Cetaphil you will find that it is a 3.  (Their scale is from 1-10, 10 being bad)  So a 3 is not bad, it is certainly not the worst but you can get better.  If you scroll down you will see ratings on the different ingredients and what the side effects may be.  Two ingredients are as high as a 7.  Eek.  And this is a product that we have been led to believe is so wonderful for problem skin. Overall being a 3 it is probably not making your skin any worse but it is certainly not helping you as you may have thought.  With no natural ingredients (except water) how can your skin ever get better?   What about the other products you have that say "natural" or even the ones that don't.  What is really in them?  Do you know how they can affect you?

I learned about the Skin Deep website a few years ago when I was looking for safe sun screen for Maddox.  Somehow I heard about the how the spray kinds are so dangerous and I started looking into it and found EWG.  I found ingredients like this in the sunscreen I was spraying on my 2 year old.

OXYBENZONE - Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Endocrine disruption, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Enhanced skin absorption, Biochemical or cellular level changes, Use restrictions

FRAGRANCE - Neurotoxicity, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Miscellaneous

RETINYL PALMITATE (VITAMIN A PALMITATE) - Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Biochemical or cellular level changes, Use restrictions

Of course I threw away the spray stuff and went on a search for something safer.  I found Badger sunscreen and it scores a 1 which is a score I can happily live with.  I buy mine on Amazon but I have seen it in health food stores as well.  It works great and we have had no sunburns.  You do have to rub it in well or you will see a little white, but I'm willing to take the extra time to put it on knowing it is not harmful to him.  At first he didn't like it because he had to stay still but I explained that it was to protect him from the sun burning him (which hurts) and it was sunscreen or no pool, beach, play ground, etc.  Now he know it is what we do, no arguments, no biggie.

The purpose of this post was to give you a new resource to help you find safe products for you and your families.  What you put ON your body you are also putting IN your body since products on your skin are absorbed in less than 30 seconds.  Knowing that makes me even more aware and conscious of what I put on me and my kids.  Spend some time on the EWG website.  It is a great place to find information about food, personal care products, make up, cleaning products and sunscreen.

Go here   ------>     ewg.org 

Be healthy!

Jen