You roll out of bed and hit the shower. You wash with gel, scrub both shampoo and conditioner into your hair, and afterward, apply antiperspirant. Then comes the “product” in your hair before drying it, followed by makeup. Concealer comes first, then foundation, blush, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. If there’s time, you might even do a quick touch-up of your chipped nail polish.
Whew, that looks better!
After work that night, you’ll apply a masque, then anti-aging and eye creams…and try to get some beauty sleep before it starts all over again.
Congratulations: In the course of a day you’ve put 168 different chemicals on your body.
That’s right – 168 chemicals. According to a study conducted by the EnvironmentalWorking Group (EWG), the average woman uses 12 personal care products or cosmetics each and every day, allowing her skin, mouth and lungs to absorb an average of 168 chemicals that may have toxic effects in the body.
Many of these chemicals find their way to the bloodstream, where they wreak havoc on our hormones and internal organs. Some are hormone disrupters that cause excess estrogen to accumulate in the body causing a condition called Estrogen Dominance; the rest simply overwork the liver as it tries to clean toxins from our system.
Ugly Facts about Beauty Products
Unlike, say, fruits and vegetables, our cosmetics are made up of dozens – sometimes hundreds – of component ingredients. As such, it’s very challenging for consumers to know which cosmetic products and companies are free from the most harmful chemicals.
To add injury to insult, cosmetics are something we come into contact with most days of our life. Over time, this exposure (if we’re not using clean, natural products) can have a debilitating impact on our health.
What’s more, cosmetic regulations in Canada are getting better, but they’re still not strict enough to weed out these nasty toxins.
In fact, a cosmetic product only needs one natural ingredient to use the word “natural” on their label! Shameful, we know!
The Good News About Cosmetics
If I’ve thoroughly depressed you about the state of your medicine cabinet, the good news is there are some great organizations out there committed to educating consumers and keeping us healthy.
My recommendations for finding high-quality, healthy cosmetics are (in no particular order):
The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Program
The Environmental Working Group has been researching an incredibly wide variety of consumer goods for over two decades. Their Skin Deep database is specific to skincare products, and currently has over 65,000 products rated on a scale from “low hazard” to “high hazard.”
CertClean-Certified Products
This independent organization has rated over 1,000 Canadian skincare products so far, and you can find all of them – plus details about what goes into certification – on their site.
The Suzuki Foundation’s Dirty Dozen & Shopping Guide
The Suzuki Foundation takes a slightly more scientific approach to consumer awareness, and actually provides a list of the 12 chemicals you should actively avoid when buying cosmetics, to help you read labels. They also provide a free downloadable shopping guide, if you don’t have time to read labels.
Your Local Health Food Store
I find most of my favourite beauty products shopping at my local health food store and the good news is that many of them are approved by the above websites.
It’s a shame that our cosmetics industry is so laden with harmful chemicals, but luckily there are groups out there who work tirelessly to inform people like you and I how to live safer, healthier lives.
A little education is a beautiful thing!
Dr. Marita Schauch, Bsc, ND
Tall Tree Integrated Health Centre
5325 Cordova Bay Rd.
Mattick’s Farm
Victoria, BC V8Y 2L3
250-658-9222
