Happy new year friends! Can you believe we are already half-way through the first month of 2019? With a new year it typically brings new resolutions. I would love to take this opportunity to help you and your family become safer with the products you bring into your home for daily use.
Once you go down the “rabbit hole” of what’s in your everyday household products, it can be quite overwhelming. There is so much information and a lot of it can be pretty scary. I want to help break it down for you and make it a bit more manageable. Because cumulative exposure to toxic ingredients over time are incredibly damaging to the body. It changes the brain and it weakens the immune system. Just think about how important your immune system and brain are to your health and every day functioning!
I’m going to use some big and complicated sounding words here only so you know what to look for on your list of ingredients in your products. I’m also going to share what those ingredients are used and why you want to avoid them for your safety.
Let’s start with DEA or TEA and their derivatives (likely listed as Diethanolamide, diethanolamine, Ethanolamine, Triethanolamine, Cocamide, lauramide) are used as surfactants to make bubbles in your shampoos, hand soaps, and even baby products! Isn’t that crazy?! They are also used as pH adjusters, hair fixatives, or preservatives and can be found in all sorts of common everyday products like make-up, hair care, hair color, nail products, oral care, sun protection, and even shaving.
Why you want to avoid these – they are a KNOWN carcinogen. This means they cause cancer.
Next up, parabens (commonly listed as methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and ethylparaben) are used as a preservatives in all sorts of personal care products.
Why you want to avoid them – parabens are an endocrine system disruptor. Your endocrine system (your hormones) control and effect so much of your daily life and how you function such as anxiety, depression, sex drive, and sleep.) Parabens interrupt the body’s neurosensors. The neurosensors are what tells your body how to behave. When it’s interrupted it can tell your cells to die off when it’s not necessary. Cells that are dying that aren’t suppose to leads to illness. They can also tell the body to produce more cells than needed which leads to tumors and cancer.
Third on the list for today – phthalates (likely listed as BBP: butyl benzyl phthalate, DBP: di-n-butyl phthalate,DEHP: di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate,DEP: diethyl phthalate,DiDP: di-isodecyl phthalate,DiNP: di-isononyll phthalate,DnHP: di-n-hexyl phthalate) are used as solvents and in the production of plastics. Many of our daily products are stored in plastic bottles that contain phylates. Phthalates aren’t always listed in the ingredients list. They are very TRICKY because they can be hidden as fragrance. 1,000s of ingredients can be hidden in fragrance. So just STAY AWAY FROM FRAGRANCE as much as possible. The products that are stored in plastic bottles that contain phthalates leaches into liquid in the bottle and therefore transfer to your body when you use them.
Why you want to avoid them- they are endocrine disruptors and can cause cancer. Exposure during pregnancy can effect male babies in utero and can make them sterile. So sad.
The last on our list is Sodium lauryl sulfate (can be listed as sulfuric acid, monododecyl ester sodium salt; sodium lauryl sulfate; monododecyl ester sodium salt sulfuric acid; sodium dodecyl sulfate; sodium dodecyl sulphate; sodium salt sulfuric acid, monododecyl ester; sulfic acid, monododecyl ester, sodium salt also an accepted contraction of sodium lauryl ether sulfate,) is used as a detergent and surfactant (bubbles and foam). They are found in many personal care products.
Why you want to avoid them – They are a very harsh allergen detergent. It’s so strong that it’s used to strips garage floors. When used on the body it strips your protective oil mantel layer on your skin. Removing this layer makes you more susceptible to toxins. The SLES version means “mild”. The chemical process of breaking SLS down to a “mild” version makes it behave like agent orange!!!
I hope you will join me in 2019 as the year you replace toxic ingredients with safer ingredients for your family. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. As you use up products in your home, you can choose safer alternatives by using the EWG (environmental working group) app or the Think Dirty app to replace them. And of course Wild Child Botanicals has an amazing line of safe personal care products. You can check us out at www.wildchildbotanicalsusa.com
God bless and happy healing.