Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, found that the average woman's daily grooming and make-up routine means she 'hosts' a staggering 515 different synthetic chemicals on her body every single day.
— From Revealed... the 515 chemicals women put on their bodies every day at the UK Mail Online.
Yes, and we’re probably exposed to ten times that number every time we walk outside!
Perhaps.
Ok, no fake tan (-22), all natural organic shea butter instead of commercial lotion (-32), no nail polish (-31), generally don’t wear lipstick (-33) —-so I just saved myself 118 ……I’m not giving up the makeup…..I could forego the deodorant…..hahhaha, don’t worry, just kidding, keeping the deodorant.
Of course all this pales in comparison to the damage that results from all the industrial and automotive fumes in the air, not to mention that quick stop at the fast food restaurant!! yeah: perspective, baby!
Exactly – perspective. The Daily Mail never had much of it. I don’t use nail polish, fake tan, or hairspray. Not a daily lipstick wearer, and switched from regular fdtn to minerals (not sure if that’s bad or good but it did seem to make my skin better).
After looking at the chart, it’s clear my laziness is paying off.
Thanks for the perspective reminder Daisy…my inner hypochondriac was about to be unleashed.
Yup, perspective is key. What about all the chemicals in the “average” house?: antibacterial kitchen cleaners, plug-in air “fresheners”, floor cleansers, bathroom cleansers (have you seen the ads for the shower-stall sprayer that automatically coats the shower stall with cleaner?), laundry detergents. A lot of these end up on our hands and skin. And don’t forget food preservatives. Cosmetics seem kind of the least of it.
Almost all of those common household chemicals you mentioned are unnecessary, starting with anti-bac soaps and plug-in air freshners.
Seriously? I find that frightening. I’ve been weeding out the bad stuff since college (ahem- 31 years ago). . . I use a “regular” toothpaste, but other than that, everything is paraben-free, petroleum-free, sulphate-free, etc, and ORGANIC (which of course, is no guarantee of much, since the FDA doesn’t define organic in cosmetics). The way I figure it is this: if I give up all that other bad stuff, whether it goes into or onto my body and including all household cleaning products, fabrics, and materials (ie no fiberboard held together with formaldehyde or whatever), then I can wear all my fragrances because that savings puts me waaaaayy below 500+ chemicals a day.
You’re doing better than I am. Many of my household cleaners & personal products are natural, but not all by any means.
Well I could use less makeup & hair products for sure, but the combined use of these chemicals do add up at the end of the day. Especially if you add in flame-retardent materials in our carpets, clothing, furniture, mattresses etc… The fear is many of these chemicals may multiply the effects of one another, and many are endocrine disrupters–that IS scary, especially the amounts found in young children.
Yep. And all that Scotch Guard I sprayed on everything before they took it off the market.
This certainly isn’t shocking information (I’m sure all of us knew on a subconscious level that all of our beloved feminine possets and powders were composed of chemicals), but having it all added up and resulting in such a large number is just plain depressing.
Exactly — it’s the “515” that’s a surprise.
I don’t let it bother me. I have tried both ends of the spectrum. I have some natural products and some not so natural products and I judge by how well a product works for me and my needs.
Oh well, the rest of us will worry for you.
Thanks! Us perfumistas do know how to give support when needed.
I’m high maintenance, so there’s no hope for me. Better living through chemistry it is!
Odd grab-bag of largely useless fright warnings.
Parabens have everyone frightened, seemingly, but from all that I’ve read (from freaked out webpages to dry journals) there’s no clear link between parabens and breast cancer, male infertility, etc., which isn’t to say there isn’t a link, just that if there is one it isn’t clear. Much more frightening are the plasticizers—BPA (bisphenol A)—that seem hard to avoid (they’re everywhere, coating cans, bottles, boxes) and seem to show hormone activity. In other words, I think the packaging on your makeup might be scarier than your makeup.
Scariest chemical in perfume is benzaldehyde? The stuff in bitter almonds? I don’t think we’re getting enough of it to cause kidney failure; you’d have to ingest megadoses. As with almost everything, there is of course a chance it could irritate or cause allergies. I hope nobody’s out there huffing concentrated pure benzaldehyde for kicks. It’ll make you cough.
Rolling eyes at note “propylene glycol, which is also found in oven cleaners.” They didn’t mention, “and also in eye drops.” PEG is a water-soluble polymer, so far as I can tell largely harmless.
Isopropyl myristate, I remember, was in the uber-innocuous skin cream my dermatologist gave me when we were trying to figure out what was drying out my skin in London. It was an emollient, basically.
Polymethyl methacrylate, their #1 scary thing in your lipstick, is also known as acrylic. Ground up, dyed and suspended in a medium, it also makes acrylic paint. I’m not very scared of it. Maybe I’m wrong.
Polyethylene terephthalate, when made into fibers, is our good old friend polyester. It’s also known as in PET and makes up all the drinking bottles of soda, water, juice, etc in your corner store fridge.
The octinoxate in your hairspray? A chemical sunscreen. May be absorbed by the skin and cause trouble according to some studies; I try to avoid chemical sunscreens (sensitive skin, I have) and I just wear a hat. I never wear hairspray, either, not because of chemical fear but because I can’t be bothered to keep a hairstyle that requires it.
Sodium lauryl sulfate is a detergent. It gets the grease out of your hair. Sometimes it’s too good at it and strips the moisture out of your skin and then you have itchy dry scalp, which may let in other irritants. It’s also in body washes, hand soaps, etc.
Propylene glycol: very, very common chemical, used as a moisturizer, and you’ll find it too providing wetness in all those hand sanitizers everybody’s pumping right now to avoid the flu. You have to ingest/absorb a hell of a lot of it to find ill effects. Don’t get it in your eyes or it will hurt till you wash it out.
And now I’m too tired to go on. I suppose maybe they called out something really scary but so far this is just slow news day keep-the-people-terrified stuff.
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Just because something is in a chemical sunscreen, or in acrylic paint, or commonly used in moisturizers and lipsticks, or in our plastic bottles, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy for us to use everyday, all day on our skin, for pretty much our entire lives.
I’m not saying scare tactics are good, but the ubiquitous use of all these synthetic, petrochemical based ingredients might not be as safe as we think. Or maybe they are? We don’t know for 100% certain. I chose the “better safe than sorry route”.
Trish, you misrepresent what I wrote. I did mention that octinoxate (the chemical sunscreen) might cause problems and I avoid it. All these substances are very different. They’re not all in the same big bag of Scary Chemicals. It’s important to be specific and not to generalize these things—the idea that everything natural is good and everything derived from petroleum is evil is just not true. For example, the most toxic thing I handle on a regular basis and occasionally get on my skin is turpentine, the solvent used for oil painting, which is derived from tree resins. It is far more problematic health-wise than anything listed in this article. This is just a slow-newsday piece designed to make you scared for your life and therefore in the mood to buy some protection amulet like, say, deodorant made of copper and manganese. From Bionsen.
Yes, I did misrepresent what you wrote about chemical sunscreen, I apologize. But you misrepresented what I wrote by assuming I believe “everything natural is good”. I do not. If course I am not going to inhale turpentine nor do I put aluminum under my arms and that’s a natural substance. (I do however avoid petroleum products for environmental reasons).
The point I was trying to make was that just because something is commonly used (like plastic in our bottles) doesn’t mean it is safe. We should all read our labels, do our own research and do what feels safe for ourselves. This is just my opinion of course, but we shouldn’t base our decisions on one alarmist article, or any one person, but from many sources that are hopefully reliable and that have used good research methods.
And I’m tired just from reading…thanks for all the info.
Thanks for that, Taniasanchez. Nice antidote to the constant stream of scare stories that often contradict each other. Natural doesn’t always mean safe.
P.S. Note “Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company.” Checked their website. They mostly boast of not having aluminium or parabens in their deodorant, but they don’t provide actual ingredient lists, than explaining their deodorant is based on Japanese spa ritual (my ritual now is to laugh) and it contains “elements of zinc, copper and manganese.”
Kind of like the water bottle company Sigg, which would not reveal their water bottle lining material, claiming it was proprietary information. Turned out it was lined with BPA (bisphenol A) and they had to do a lot of backpedaling.
Zinc, copper and manganese doesn’t sound much better for you than aluminum.
Wait…not lined with BPA, just lined with a material that contained a small amount of BPA. But Sigg lost plenty of customers by acting in such a misleading manner.
Sorry – should have said “had BPA in the lining” – a place I worked would not carry them at all because they wouldn’t divulge. I prefer Klean Kanteen anyway – the mouth is big enough to get ice cubes in and they aren’t lined at all.
We switched to Klean Kanteen ages ago for the same reason. Much easier to clean, and the Sigg sport tops were too hard to assemble anyway.
Indeed, the misleading part was the big turn off. The fact that they would never disclose the ingredients in their “resin” lining kept me from purchasing their bottles in the first place.
I can’t believe they didn’t mention the lead in red toned lipsticks….sheeesh , here they had a legitimate “panic-maker” and they let it slide…..and rather than all the vague “may inconclusively disrupt your gall bladder function ” type warnings they love to spew, the one thing they could really have spent the space warning people of is the lead, since lead is conclusively known to cause problems. Cuz putting lead on your lips just seems like a bad idea.
Lucky me, I don’t wear red lipstick….
I do. Maybe that’s my problem. Have been blaming being dropped on my head a baby all this time…
“AS a baby.” Dang it.
They don’t put lead in lipstick do they? I thought they use iron oxides for red. Well, I’ll certainly be reading the small print on the back from now on!
I thought they used that stuff made of insects.
These people just take the fun out of everything!
Exactly!
Just throw me in huge vat of formaldehyde already and get it over with – I think I’m with Miss Kitty V. on this one
Ha.