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Spring is in the air and before we know it, we will be spending much of our free time outdoors. Unfortunately as we get closer and closer to warmer weather, the bugs come out as well. I’m talking about those nasty mosquitoes, and all those other annoying buzzing, biting insects that seem to declare an all out war on all humans. It’s as if our best defenses are not going outside, or spray on loads of bug spray. Of course we will spray on just about anything to keep those annoying little insects from biting, so that we can enjoy our time in the outdoors.
Have you ever considered what might be in the bug repellent that you are spraying all over your body? Chances are the main ingredient would be Deet, (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) which is a chemical that was patented by the US Army in 1946. Deet is used in just about all insect repellents at different concentrations. The reality of Deet, is that it is a pesticide that kills insects. This pesticide is known to melt plastic, prolong exposure can impair cell function, and is even more harmful when mixed with other chemicals, that are commonly found in many every day skincare products such as deodorants, sunscreens, and soaps.
Short term exposure of Deet is not as harmful, and is recommended to not use a repellent that has over 30% concentration of Deet; however there are natural alternatives that effectively repel these insects, such as handmade soaps that have insect repelling ingredients like citronella in them. When I know that I will be working outside, or going hiking / camping, I use a soap bar that is called Deep Woods. It contains citronella, eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint, bergamot, and lemon grass essential oil, and does a wonderful job naturally repelling biting insects. Sometimes I will just rub the bar as its dry on my neck and arms without any water, and is still very effective.
I highly recommend using natural insect repellents such as these soap bars, or products like Mercola’s Bug Off, which is free of Deet having a fresh lemon scent and natural ingredients, such as vanilla, citronella, lemongrass oil, and peppermint oil. Remember that our skin is permeable, what goes on gets in. As we choose safer skin care products to wash our bodies with, let us not neglect the products that we use which are suppose to protect us from the sun and biting insects as well.
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The average price for handcrafted soap bars such as goat milk soaps, range between one – two dollars an once, depending on the quality of ingredients. Many shoppers find it difficult spending over four dollars for a single bar of soap when they can spend much less and get much more. This leaves many consumers asking the question why handcrafted soap bars are so much more expensive than commercial soaps. There are several reasons commercial soaps are much cheaper then handcrafted soaps, and here are just a few.
- The ingredients used in commercial soaps are cheaper, and more available then natural ingredients. Synthetic fragrances can be made in a lab, while essential oils need to be taken from a plant, which can be much more time consuming and more costly. Even if a commercial product is advertising organic and natural, you should investigate the amount of that natural ingredient is actually in that particular product. It is my understanding that labeling laws only require very small percentages of a natural ingredient to be labeled as natural.
- Commercial soaps use harsh ingredients like alcohol, petroleum, esters, low grade oils, fillers, and detergents and so forth to make products quicker and cheaper. Many of these ingredients are the main cause for skin irritation. Yes they will decrease the cost of production but most often increase the probability of many health issues.
- Commercial soap companies take the most expensive ingredient Glycerin that naturally occurs during the soap making process, and sells it to pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies to make expensive moisturizers. So if you think you are saving lots of money using a synthetic soap bar, you’re most likely taking that savings, and using it on an expensive lotion or cream to relieve the dry itchy skin from that cheaper soap bar.
It is very interesting to me how we determine what something is worth. Many consumers will spend lots of money on nutritional supplements, organic foods, and pay expensive membership fees to gyms, but find it difficult to spend four dollars on a bar of soap that actually has just as much influence on your overall well being as diet and exercise. Our skin is permeable and what we put on it will absorb into our body. You may be spending a little bit more when buying natural skin care products, but most likely you will be buying less, and treating you, and your family to a much safer and healthier product.
Believe or not when you use natural skin care products you’re not only reaping many health benefits, but are being a good steward to the land in which you live. Also if you use, or make your own natural household cleaners you are contributing to a cleaner and safer environment as well. Essentially synthetic products do get disposed down toilets, and shower & sink drains, which get into our water supply, and if not recycling, empty bottles and packaging are disposed into the trash, that will eventually be either buried or burned, releasing the remaining harmful chemicals into the earth and air we breathe.
By using natural products like a shampoo bar or making laundry soap, you are reducing the amount of plastic containers that have to be constantly disposed, and also what your putting on your skin and down the drain is safer for both you and the environment. So if you are a loyal natural product user, stand tall and be proud you are not only keeping you and your household safe, but contributing to a safer place for all of us to live.
Petrolatum is one of the many chemicals to avoid when selecting all natural skin care products. This chemical is often used in lip products that are marketed for protecting your lips from sunburn. The sad truth is that Petrolatum is a mineral oil jelly, which actually causes the very symptoms the product is advertised to alleviate. Petrolatum promotes sun damage and interferes with the body’s natural moisturizing mechanism, contributing to dry skin and chapping. If you are in search of a natural lip balm with real medicinal properties, make sure it is not petroleum based, but instead made from natural ingredients such as Shea butter, beeswax, coconut, and jojoba to just name a few.
Beeswax; great for the skin and aromatherapy as well!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
posted by Rob 4:00 AM
Beeswax is an amazing substance created by the honey bee inside the hive. This wax has become very popular in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and natural skin care industry offering outstanding therapeutic and natural moisturizing properties. Beeswax is not only therapeutic for the skin but offers aromatherapy as well. Unlike many commercial candles, beeswax candles are free from synthetic chemicals such as paraffin’s which the EPA has said can release carcinogens like benzene and touluen. The burning of these paraffin candles release toxins that can be just has harmful as to second hand tobacco smoke.
Just as it is important to consider what we are putting on our skin, we should also be aware of the air that we are breathing. Making every effort to live a more chemical free lifestyle is extremely difficult. It is not just the products we put on our bodies, or the food we put in our bodies that we need to be conscious of, but our environment as well. Replacing the candles in your home is just one simple thing to consider for healthier living this New Year.
Beeswax candles when burned emit negative ions into to the air cleaning it of dust, pollen, mold, and other toxins and pollutants. These candles also burn hotter, brighter, cleaner and longer than any other candle, and are drip less and smokeless as well. Be sure when shopping for beeswax candles to only buy 100% beeswax, because if it isn’t, you are most likely getting something else that is mixed with chemicals. Labeling laws allow beeswax to be on the labeling if it has as little as 10% beeswax.
If you knew sun screen could be harmful, would you stop using it?
Thursday, December 24, 2009
posted by Rob 5:00 AM
When we think natural skin care; handmade soaps, shampoo’s, moisturizing creams, lotions, and salves, come to mind, however most of us do not consider what to put on our skin for protecting it from the sun, and just assume that all sun screens are safe. I just recently received a comment on an article I wrote on protecting your skin during the winter months; the comment stated that I forgot to mention, not to leave the house without applying sun block whether its winter, summer, rain or shine. With skin cancer at all time highs, it appears that by applying more and more sun block is the answer, or is it?
We do need Vitamin D, which our best source of this is from the sun, and it is said that Vitamin D actually helps prevent and treat many cancers such as lymphoma, lung, prostate, colon and skin cancer. So it is good to receive the right amount of sunlight each day, however it is important not to overdo it. We should receive about one hour of sun light per day, but it is recommend only going out for about 10-15 minutes early in the season slowly building up a tolerance, avoiding sun burn.
Remember our skin is permeable, what we put on it works its way in. Sun Screens are considered toxic chemicals and are applied all over the body at recommendations of every two hours or so. That is a lot of synthetic chemicals being absorbed into your body that could be affecting your system, increasing the risk of disease. Sun screens also blocks your skins ability to produce Vitamin D by over 95%, which is the very thing we need from the sun. Sun screens will not stop cancer and potentially could be increasing the chance, but changes in our diet could actually have more of an effect in causing skin cancer than the sun. In the past century our diets have changed considerably. A hundred years ago we consumed very little processed vegetable oil and today we consume over 70 pounds per year from the fats of corn oil, sunflower sesame that are 100% omega 6 fats. Research is showing that this increase in omega 6 fats does have an effect in skin cancer and we should reduce or avoid these oils and be sure to get plenty of omega 3 fats.
There are natural sun resistant ingredients such as Shea butter that can be found in products such as a natural lip balm, but the very best sun protection would be to wear a wide brim hat, long sleeve shirt and paints when forced to be in the sun for long periods of time, and to take breaks from the sun finding a shady spot if possible. It is important and healthy to enjoy the sun in moderation’s, and to avoid overuse if not no use at all of sun screens.
Are anti-bacterial products that contain Triclosan in them Safe?
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
posted by Rob 5:00 AM
I had just recently read an interesting article from the folks at beyond pesticides as I was researching the chemical Triclosan which is commonly found in over 700 household products containing antibacterial properties. Triclosan is also known as Irgasan and Microban. The article mentions of an independent study a group of girl scouts conducted in St. Paul Minnesota for a science project fair. The girls grew their own bacteria and tried to kill it with Triclosan, and found that the bacteria actually started to grow. This two year study has led the girls to believe that because it did not actually kill the bacteria, that anti-bacterial products with Triclosan in them could actually create Super Germs. The girls also met with local law makers who submitted a bill in effort to ban the use of Triclosan.
The girls also found that though anti-bacterial soap can kill 99.6 % of germs, regular soap can kill 99.4% of germs. Other studies have been conducted as well of hundreds of households who do use anti-bacterial soaps and those who do not, and there was no decrease in colds, or any sickness.
Triclosan has been classified by the (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a health and environmental danger. Studies that have been finding Triclosan in 3 out of 5 human breast milk samples shows that this chemical does work its way in to our bodies. Triclosan has been linked to dioxins which are carcinogenic chemical that cause cancer as well as many other health problems such as birth defects, decreased fertility, and a weakened immune system. Also Triclosan has been reported to react with chlorine molecules in tap water, forming chlorinated dioxins which are harmful as well.
I know this is crazy, and you may be asking yourself; what do I do? Well according to the girls study and many others, regular soap kills nearly the same amount of germs as does the anti-bacterial ones do. Also there are some essential oils that are commonly found in handmade soaps such as Tee Tree oil, and grapefruit seed extract that have antimicrobial properties in them. Most importantly we should wash our hands often, lathering the soap for a good 10-15 seconds and rinsing in warm water drying with a clean dry towel.
Natural and organic seems to have taken on multiple definitions today, and often a misleading conception is that because the label says organic, or natural it must be safe. I find this to not always be true, and which is why I think it is very wise if it is indeed a natural product you are searching for; to be informed and educated on how to read labeling and understand what the ingredients are. One example of this is, if you are chemically sensitive and want to give natural homemade soaps a try. There are many soap makers that hand craft soaps from home that may not be using all natural ingredients, such as essential oils and instead use less costly fragrance oils. Fragrances oils are nice, they smell great, and are more available, but they are synthetically made having no therapeutic properties and can cause further skin irritation for the one who is chemically sensitive searching for that chemical free product. Just because a product says all natural, organic or even doctor recommended, does not mean it is safe for everybody. We are all different and are bodies react differently to natural and non- natural products and should never assume because the label tells us it’s natural and organic that its safe to use.
However going back to my original thought and title to this post; what does natural and organic mean to you? Do you simply trust what the label says, or do you agree that it is important to know how to read and understand the ingredients that are in that particular product, and to know your own body and how it reacts to these ingredients as well, or have you never given this any thought at all, and I have just given you something new to think about?
I had first learned of harmful chemicals like Formaldehyde being found in baby products, such as some of the big name baby shampoos, from a good friend of mine, who for years though she was deliberately going out of her way, and spending the extra dollar, to put only what is pure and natural on that which is most precious. After she had learned of this new startling information she had just received from watching the news, I happened to be over for a visit and this topic came up at the dinner table. Considering I have been in the natural skin care business for a little while of course I was asked what my thoughts were, and what I would be using. I simply stated that if 100% pure and natural is what your looking for, you most likely will not find it in any of the big stores. I recommended finding local soap makers or shopping on-line for 100% natural skin care products.
Of course I gave them a quick tutorial on what to look for in the ingredients, to know if it is 100% natural. Well weeks later she called me up saying that she had started to use an unscented goats milk body lotion on her two older boys, which she added; both suffer from eczema and the lotion appears to be very effective, at night before they go to bed they request for the “special lotion”. The other product she started to use for her family was the unscented goats milk soap bar molded in a natural sea wool sponge. This is an excellent choice, especially for children or any one with sensitive skin. These natural sponge soap bars are very mild and safe to use, and the natural sea wool sponge is one of the softest and silkiest sponges out there which is 100% chemical free.
Formaldehyde is a strong smelling chemical compound that is colorless, flammable and classified by the EPA as a carcinogen which is a (cancer causing chemical). This popular ingredient is commonly used in manufacturing building supplies such as insulation, plywood, particle board, glues and adhesives. Formaldehyde is often used as a preservative and has found home to many products that we use to clean our homes and wash our bodies with such as shampoos, hair gel and kids bubble baths. As more and more people are becoming aware of what is in the products they use to bathe their children wash there cloths and clean their homes with, have desperately been turning to natural products, making laundry soap of their own, and learning how to make their own household cleaners using natural ingredients like vinegar.
Formaldehyde has many names and there are many formaldehyde releasing preservatives such as quaternium-15 that are found on the labeling of most cosmetic and personal care products. It is important to research these ingredients and the different names associated with them, because the companies selling you these products and our government aren’t. I just recently read that the FDA is not required to regulate personal care products until after they are released to the market place, and the ingredients cannot be reviewed or approved before sold to the public? When I hear news such as this it compels me to research and inform myself of the ingredients that are in the products I am buying, and making those decisions for myself and family if I think it is safe enough to use, and not relying on govt. agencies and the companies selling the product to do this for me.
I do understand that the amount of harmful chemicals such as Formaldehyde, are used in small percentages, which can easily be found on the Internet, but why is it that in other countries such as Japan and Sweden they have banned the use of this ingredient in all cosmetics and toiletries. I cannot help, but to be suspicious when cancer rates and asthma, breast cancer, autism and many other sickness and disease are at all time highs. It seems like we live in a day where health and nutrition is very popular. There are many trying to change their diets and join memberships to gyms, and quite smoking. Health is highly valued today, and I am becoming more aware of the so many subtle health dangers we are exposed to today that were non-existent just a few generations ago.
I believe that not only diet and exercise are major keys to overall health but also information as well. Inform yourself! Learn how to read labels and what the ingredients are that you are ingesting or rubbing all over your body. Remember also that your skin is permeable and what goes on it will get into your body as well.