With winter here and more people trying to combat dry skin, I think it’s important to mention a couple of big time skin care ingredients that must be avoided in order to make progress.

We all know that EFA’s are good for skin. Unfortunately most of those good oils found in skin care products are refined or tampered with. Many, many dry skin products contain mineral oil and petrolatum which are highly refined petrochemical derivatives that may leave your skin and lips dryer. Say what?

Yes, these ingredients, found in thousands of dry skin care products, make your skin and lips dryer. They interfere with the skin’s ability to generate its’ own moisture so if you use these products long term…forget about it. And even worse, both mineral oil and petrolatum have been known to cause chemically induced acne. Just broke out for the first time? Only break out in winter? Check your dry skin products ingredients and if they contain either of the above mentioned ingredients, ditch them. Yes, ditch them.

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It amazes me how many women are attracted to Aveda makeup and skin care products. I think at one time, I was too, however at that time, I am sure that I could not afford it. Aveda products are known throughout the beauty industry and popular among salons and beauty schools. The products range from makeup and skincare to hair care products.

The impressions we have formed of Aveda makeup, skin care and haircare products are primarily from the services we received over the years in beauty salons such as facials, manicures, pedicures, and hair colorings. And why wouldn’t we form a positive, natural impression? The Aveda name sounds healthy. Aveda products smell wonderful. We look great! We feel great!

When you visit the Aveda website, you are immediately seeing big, bold, clean water ads, and organic farming ads, “Farming is the #1 polluter of US waterways. Organic farming keeps them free of pesticides and chemicals.”

And yet, they continue to dump toxic chemicals into the Aveda line. As many of you know from reading this blog, parabens seep into skin tissue and have been linked to cancer. The Aveda makeup and skincare line uses several of these parabens in much of the cosmetic line, mostly methylparaben.

Phenylenediamine, resorcinol, along with fragrance, slicylic acid, and ethyl lactate which causes skin, eye, or lung irritation are some of the not so natural ingredients in Aveda products.

It is nearly impossible to get exact ingredients in each of their products by visiting the website. They have a general “ingredients list” on the Aveda website. Natural? Sure. The ingredients they list are natural. But why are they not listing the rest? On the website….”Aveda products show that what you put on your body should be as healthy and natural as what you’d put into it.”

So how did we come to love Aveda makeup? How did we become so obsessed with Aveda skin care? It started with the beauty schools, and on to the beauty salons. The products smell sooo good. They are used in the most expensive, relaxing services we look forward to now and again. We were under the impression that they were natural. We didn’t know then what we know now.

Author’s note: many great companies incuding Aveda are now removing ingredients based on progressive research and or customer demand so it is important to check the ingredients list on the package before ditching your favorite products.

How dangerous are your personal care products?

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My two cents about the following article…I love Dr. Mercola and have been a follower for many years. I have followed much of his advice through the years and now live a healthier lifestyle. There are many anti-mercola groups out there claiming that he is far too extreme and in some cases, I have to agree. However, he makes valid points in all of his writings and he brings important facts to light that never would have surfaced if not for his research. Thousands of personal care products that we use daily, contain cancer causing ingredients-this is certainly something we should worry about.

I also swear by the “skin deep“, cosmetic safety website. I now search for low hazard beauty care products prior to buying them. You can search for anything from toothpaste to baby products and get a hazard score. FYI-Clearasil Ultra Acne Clearing Scrub has the highest hazard score of hundreds of acne products.

Here is Dr. Mercola’s article: How dangerous are your cosmetics?

Most personal care and beauty product consumers would be slightly unnerved to find that the government doesn’t require any mandatory testing for these products before they hit store shelves. As a matter of fact, a government agency found out that cosmetic manufacturers could use just about any raw materials in their products and then put them on the market without needing approval by the FDA.

The lack of government involvement has led to companies who manufacture these types of products to not adhere to any testing standards and market products that are considered to cause potentially damaging health risks.

A six-month computer investigation evaluated the safety of over 10,000 personal care product ingredients and included 2,300 people. The investigation revealed the following information on personal care use:

• Each day, the average adult uses nine personal care products that contain 126 different chemical ingredients
• Over a quarter of a million women and one out of every 100 men use on the average of 15 products a day

Findings From the Personal Care Safety Assessment

• Only 28 of the 7,500 products in the study were completely tested by the cosmetic industry’s self-regulating panel
• An astounding one-third of all the products assessed contained at least one ingredient that fell under the classification of human carcinogen
• 71 percent of the hair dye products evaluated had carcinogenic coal tar as part of their ingredients
• Almost 70 percent of the products reviewed were found to have ingredients that could be tainted with impurities related to cancer and other health complications
• 54 percent of the products violated the safety recommendations proposed by the self-regulating Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board. Some examples of the unsafe ingredients in these products were discovered in diaper cream, products on the market for damaged skin such as chapped skin and other ingredients found in spray products
• Over the course of keeping watch over the cosmetic industry, the FDA has banned a mere nine personal care products

Based on these findings, researchers agreed that the lack of monitoring by the FDA has led to a huge leniency toward the testing of cosmetic ingredients and has resulted in a large portion of products available on the market that pose health risks to the consumers.

Recommendations to Cosmetic Manufacturers by the Environmental Working Group

• Take out all possible cancer carcinogens and other developmental toxins from products
• Ensure that ingredients are certified and free of impurities with known possible human carcinogens or developmental toxins
• Eliminate any ingredients that qualify as harmful or unsafe

Environmental Working Group June 2004

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit public-interest research group known for making connections between chemical exposure and adverse health conditions.

The Washington-based organization has made it easy to calculate your risk of exposure to potentially harmful substances through the personal care products you use.

In its new “Skin Deep” study EWG uses a complex formula to assign a health-risk rating to each of 7,500 personal care products. The rating system offers a means of quantifying the answer to a controversial question: Just what are we doing to ourselves when we slather stuff on our bodies?

Please don’t shrug this issue off.

It is important to recognize that whatever you spread on your skin has a very real chance of being absorbed into your blood stream and causing some serious damage in your body.

Finding your cosmetics risk rating is easy. Just go to the “Skin Deep” report and type in the brand name of your deodorant, toothpaste, soap, shampoo and whatever else you use.

The site will tell you how many ingredients the products collectively contain. The calculator will rate the aggregate health threat those ingredients may pose to you.

Each product is ranked according to its ingredients’ potential to:

• Cause cancer
• Trigger allergic reactions
• Interfere with the endocrine (hormonal) system
• Impair reproduction or damage a developing fetus
• Any harmful impurities in the product are also considered. Containing unstudied ingredients or a “penetration enhancer” that helps chemicals get absorbed through the skin also enter into the equation, as does any violation of industry safety recommendations surrounding its use.

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