Eco Chic
We live in a culture obsessed with beauty, yet most of the generic beauty products available on the market today actually age us faster. All the deodorants, hairsprays, makeup, moisturisers, perfumes, fake tan etc. we put on our bodies as women or men, contain artificial substances and parabens that actually do more harm than good and get absorbed by our bodies into our bloodstream on a daily basis.
But the good news is, there are non chemical alternatives available for all these products, and I will show you the best ones to use.
I will provide you with a list of ingredients to look out for.
The following ingredients are commonly found in many cosmetics, moisturizers, shampoos, conditioners, and toners—even those claiming to be natural, or mineral based:
Lanolin
This is often advertised as a good thing. It technically is natural, but highly undesirable. Lanolin is a yellow, greasy substance derived from the sebaceous glands, generally from sheep. Not something you want on your skin.
Formaldehyde
A common ingredient used as a preservative in cosmetics.
Whale Wax
Obtained from what digestive juices, or essentially vomit is often found in fragrances in cosmetics, shampoos, and conditioners.
Parabens
In a recent Canadian study, 19 out of 20 breast tumors examined had high amounts of parabens in them. If breast cancer doesn't turn you off parabens, what if you knew that parabens affect your hypothalamus, your ovaries, your thyroid, and virtually every single organ system in your body. Parabens also influence development of malignant melanoma, and can also affect the male reproductive system when newborns are exposed to butylparaben. Remember those science labs where we were told to dissect animals? Think about the putrid formaldehyde used to preserve their bodies. Parabens are just as irritating as this acidic harmful chemical. Would you want to put something with an equivalence to formaldehyde on your face or hair, twice a day, 365 days in a year? Skin and hair absorbs everything, and everything your skin and hair absorbs goes directly to your blood stream.
Urea
Urea is excreted from aquatic organisms, reptiles, mammals, and now often synthetically made in large chemical reactors. Urea is also used as a common anti-bacterial in cosmetics.
Mineral Oil and Paraffin
Not only are these petroleum by-products, they clog the pores of the skin.