Skin Care Ingredients
Do You Have a Clue???

Have you ever asked yourself what skin care ingredients are in your products? Probably not! I never did!

Did you know that on any given day you may use as many as 25 different cosmetic and personal care products containing more than 200 different chemical compounds? So, why do these products have these chemicals in them and what harm are they causing?

Back in the 1960's the government saw that there were a lot of problems with skin care because people would get bacterial infections from the skin care not being properly preserved. So in the 1960's the government said you have to put preservatives in as part of the skin care ingredients.

The two most common preservatives are formaldehyde (yikes!) and parabens, which are chemical preservatives.

All the studies are coming out now as to what those preservatives are actually doing to our body. And it's not that back then it was a government conspiracy ... they honestly didn't know the long term effects of those skin care ingredients. The reason was that all of the short term studies were deemed safe. Now all the long term studies are coming out and there are three things that parabens in the skin care ingredients are linked to:

• The Breast Cancer Foundation, in their articles, state that we have to get parabens out of skin care ingredients and personal care products because they looked at 22 breast tumors and 18 of those tumors had parabens in the tumor. So we now know that parabens don't get out of the body ... they actually lodge in our body. That is the #1 thing they are concerned about.
• Parabens mimic estrogen so they think this is why so many women have problems with menopause as they get older. If you go back a few decades, women still went through menopause but they didn't have all the issues we have now so they are linking that to parabens as well.
• The studies are linking parabens to the lower sperm count in male babies as well and that's because of the estrogenic response that parabens have in mothers that have passed it onto their fetuses and that could be why some couples have a hard time getting pregnant.

Read the following news articles
on parabens and their problems.

Cosmetic Chemicals Found in Breast Tumors
5 Lbs of Chemicals Absorbed on a Daily Basis
Old Makeup is Dangerous
Five Types of Parabens Detected Intact in Human Breast Tumors
Breast Cancer Fund & Campaign for Safer Cosmetics
Cosmetics, Parabens and Breast Cancer
Cosmetics May Be Contaminated

According to the FDA “Natural” implies that ingredients are extracted directly from plants or animal products as opposed to being produced synthetically. Natural can mean just about anything to anybody and the term is not always clear to the consumer.

Natural ingredients can be made up of hundreds of known and unknown ingredients, and that does not always mean they are good for skin.The chemical process used to extract the oil or other natural substance from the plants are almost always completely synthetic and unnatural. This does not suggest that plants do not have benefits in skin care products, because they do.

Plant extracts though can be highly unstable and this is where you will see the blends of naturals, combined with nature identical ingredients.When we see cosmetic companies advertise “all natural” ingredients it is misleading marketing, when their preservative is most likely a chemical. (If they are not using a preservative, then we are speaking of an even greater problem than natural versus synthetic.)In some product ingredient lists, chemical products listed could be the detergent agents that create foam, or thickening agents.

Natural defines the source of the ingredient; it does not always indicate effectiveness or risks. Ingredients like peppermint or menthol have a natural source but they both are serious skin irritants. Poison ivy is natural, but would you buy a product for your face with that ingredient?“Natural” does not always mean good and “Synthetic” does not always mean bad!

When you go to the Skin Deep website you will be amazed to see the wealth of information on skin care ingredients!

Here are some samples of what I looked up.

• Dove has their ProAge Campaign for antiaging skin care products and personal care products. The Dove ProAge mission is to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today's stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves. Dove, manufactured by Unilever, is the #1 personal wash brand nationwide.

  One in every three households uses a Dove product, which includes beauty bars, body washes, face care, anti-perspirant/deodorants, hair care and styling aids. Sounds great, doesn't it?

  However, according to the EWG Report on the Skin Deep website, the safety ratings for the Dove products are not very good. With a 1 being the lowest concern and a 10 being the highest concern, Dove Essential Nutrients, Creamy Foaming Cleanser is ranked at 7. Dove, owned by Unilever, has not signed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

• Let's not just pick on Dove. How about Suave, which is also owned by Unilever, and their product, Skin Therapy Fragrance Free Moisturizer Natural Oatmeal. Sounds like a healthy alternative. Right? Wrong! Again with 1 being the lowest concern and a 10 being the highest concern, this product scored a 7! Again, Unilever did not sign the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
• And let's look at one more. How about Clinique Advanced Stop Signs Age Defending Serum, which is owned by Estee Lauder. Again, sounds like a wonderful antiaging skin care product and you think if you pay for a higher-end product, it should be good quality. However, with 1 being the lowest concern and a 10 being the highest concern, this product scored a 6! Also, Estee Lauder has not signed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

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