Chemical concerns: How safe are your beauty products? This picture has got us thinking about chemicals in skin care products. It's been circulating the internet for a little while now, but it sums up the issue many of us face, how do we live up to modern standards of beauty and ensure we're using only the safest, best skin care products for our skin. The sad truth is that most people will focus on achieving the results and ignore what goes on to their skin. If you consume toxins in your food, they're going to pass through several filtering steps such as your stomach, liver etc. before entering into your bloodstream. With toxins on your skin, they get to bypass nature's filter and are absorbed directly into your blood and tissues.
Toxins In Beauty Products
The reason this is hotly debated by some, and rarely resolved is that many of the chemicals often lack sufficient testing. We know that they are unsafe in large quantities, but small exposure is deemed to be okay. As someone that suffers from allergies and the occasional bit of eczema, I know that my skin responded almost instantly when I switched to a fragrance-free laundry detergent with more natural ingredients and binned the bathroom shampoo and body wash for Botáni branded natural body wash.Beware Of These Chemicals In Beauty Products
The consumer website Choice.com.au offers an overview of the skin care and beauty industry about toxins in beauty products. One issue we face is that it is challenging to globally ban the same products, with some countries being concerned with different chemicals. Their investigation suggested that many of the larger international brands have begun to move away from known harmful chemicals so these companies can sell the same product globally. Regulating and enforcing every skincare product brought into Australia is difficult, and some do sneak through; either without ingredient labelling or with banned ingredients.Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Toluene and Formaldehyde
If you've heard of these, or are familiar with the term "3-free nail polish", then I applaud you! These are the three toxic ingredients found in some nail polishes and hardeners. They can disrupt your endocrine glands and have been banned in Europe and some cosmetics.Phthalates
DBP is one of these. Aside from nail polish, phthalates are found in synthetic fragrances. A group of chemicals that disrupt your endocrinal system, phthalates have been linked to early female puberty, and have been cited as a risk-factor for breast-cancer.Parabens
This group are often found in antifungal products, or act as preservatives. Basically what gives many products a long shelf life. Commonly found in creams, deodorants and more. They are easily absorbed into the skin and may be linked to breast tumours.Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)
A mixture of compound chemicals, PEGS have been deemed safe to use in cosmetics. The concern arises when PEGS contain impurities such as lead and cadmium, that have not been removed during the manufacturing process. PEGS are also not recommended for use on damaged skin.Titanium Dioxide
Found in mineral makeup and sunscreen, the safety of these nanoparticles in skin products is unknown.How To Find Natural Beauty
This is just a small sample of the products we recommend you keep an eye open for within your beauty products. As I said before, the biggest concern with many of these chemicals are the unknown element, or that they are highly toxic in large quantities and have other concerns surrounding exposure in small quantities. Unless you want to don the lab coat and do the extra, long-term research needed with some of these chemicals (if you do, please let us know what you discover), it's up to you to make the call on how much exposure you are comfortable with.Natural Beauty With Botani
We've worked very hard at Botáni to avoid anything that comes close to these lists, instead of going straight to the sources of the botanical world. It's in our brand name for a very good reason! Our ingredient lists read almost like a recipe for a delicious and healthy natural meal! You are likely to recognise many of the names on there, and with a product like our Coconut Glow Body & Hair Oil. We've even put some of the star natural skincare ingredients in the product title. That's how proud we are of the extent we go to find the natural skincare solutions. And things are only getting better within the industry. It's not just us that care! What do you look for in a brand you trust? What brands do you avoid?
Want the chance to try Botáni's Coconut Glow Body & Hair Oil? For your chance to win a Coconut Glow Body & Hair Oil, worth $29.95 simply 'Like' our Facebook page and 'Share' the post about this week's blog with your friends. Let us know that you've done this by posting a comment below answering Warwick's questions about brands. Make sure you include your Facebook name so we can contact you if you win!*
Getting healthier skin is that simple!
*Competition is only open to Australian residents. All winners will be requested to complete a review of the awarded product. Entries are open from September 14th - 18th, 2015. We will announce the winner by Facebook on Friday, September 18th 2015.
