What you put on the outside of your body is just as important as what you put in your body!
Imagine your typical day: You get up in the morning and brush your teeth with toothpaste. Then you shower using shower gel or soap, shampoo, and conditioner. After you’ve dried yourself off, you apply moisturizer to your skin, makeup to your face, and perhaps some hair gel, mousse, or hairspray. A spray of perfume or cologne, an application of deodorant and you’re ready for breakfast.
You’re probably not aware of the phenomenal amount of toxins you’ve just absorbed into your body within your first hour of waking. Even worse, it is likely that every single product you use contains toxic and carcinogenic elements – from your toothpaste to your deodorant.
Keep in mind that the skin is the body’s largest organ and it is very efficient at absorbing and transporting to the blood and cells whatever it comes into contact with. Barbara Griggs, the author of Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine (Healing Arts Press, Rochester, 1991) tells this story of healing via poultices applied to the skin: “This hot, aromatic poultice of stimulating and antiseptic herbs very probably did the trick – and reminds us that until only very recently, poultices and foot-baths were prevalent ways of applying and delivering medicine, not just because of their local heating or counter-irritant value, but because their virtues are absorbed through the skin. Mustard foot baths – piping hot – have always been a popular remedy for coughs, colds, and ‘chestiness’ in my family – a folk remedy of long standing which we have always found highly effective.”
Ointments and creams are also commonly used to deliver relief through the skin and have been used for millennia. Conditions such as arthritis, fungus, numerous skin conditions, sore muscles and joints, and even angina are treated with ointments and creams. Ointments today contain drugs that are rubbed into the skin. Because of the possibility of side effects and overdosage, very specific instructions guide the proper usage of these products. These instructions include what side effects may occur and the action to take if they do.
It has been widely known for generations that what comes in contact with the skin is absorbed and enters the bloodstream quickly. Try it for yourself. Peel a clove of garlic stand on it with a bare foot and see how soon you taste garlic.
Today, doctors use skin patches to deliver medications through the skin and into the bloodstream without injections. The latest generation of this technology involves using a gel to rub on the skin and deliver the medication. These methods are revolutionizing the delivery of drugs for many purposes including pain relief, birth control and to stop smoking.
Be sure to read product labels. When you see ingredients listed that are long and hard to pronounce, many of which contain numbers, ask yourself what these ingredients are and how safe are they. Look them up on the internet if you can.
The truth is that there are hundreds if not thousands of synthetic, chemical products used in personal care products and they increase dramatically every year. Reports and studies are linking these chemicals to physical disorders regularly. Furthermore, the FDA is not investigating the ingredients in personal care products. The result is that manufacturers can put practically any chemicals they want into personal products, even if they are hazardous chemicals listed in the RTECS (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances) database of toxicity, and even if they are considered a toxic waste chemical by the EPA. Some are known carcinogens and contribute to liver failure and nervous system disorders.
The solution is to protect yourself by learning the truth about these products and to switch to products made with safe and or natural ingredients. There are safe products that you can buy that are worth looking for and finding. You don’t have to continue to expose yourself and your family to toxic chemicals in your personal care products.
References:
- 1. Transdermal Patches Are More than Skin Deep. Thomas Morrow MD, Managed Care Magazine. April 2004.
- 2. Eliminating Avoidable Toxins by Jini Patel Thompson, author of Listen To Your Gut
- 3. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo
- 4. Newstarget.com article Popular shampoos contain toxic chemicals linked to nerve damage by Mike Adams.
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