Carcinogens in Personal Care Products

Studies have proven that when you apply something on your skin like perfume, cosmetics, lotion and soap, your skin will absorb it.  The skin is your body's largest organ and has over 1 billion pores.  It's your body's first line of defense against anything entering your body.  Think of your skin like a giant sponge, absorbing anything entering your body.  It usually takes 10-15 minutes for a product to be completely absorbed into your skin.  Your skin is a living organ, similar to your other organs like your digestive system.  So, you are feeding your skin whatever that product is.  IF YOU WOULDN'T EAT IT, YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T BE PUTTING IT ON YOUR SKIN.  If you are eating organic foods but using synthetic and toxic skin care products, it defeats the purpose of what you are trying to do.

The most commonly used carcinogenic petrochemical Ethylene Oxide actually generates the carcinogenic contaminant 1, 4-Dioxane.  This chemical is banned in Europe and it does not have to appear on the label because technically, it is a by-product.  Leading brands that tested positive are Jason (Jason's Tea Tree Shampoo and Conditioner and Jason's Hair Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner), Avalon Organics, Kiss My Face, Giovanni, Nature's Gate, and Grandpa's, maker of pine-tar soap.  For more information, go to the Organic Consumers Association Website.  There is also a YouTube video:


Did you know that you can use vinegar instead of conditioner for your hair?

The US FDA does not require companies to test products for safety.  In fact, labeling of personal care products is not regulated at all by the USDA.  The USDA created a "green label" on personal care products, which means that they are 95% certified organic and do not contain any synthetics or petro-chemical products.  Some companies are Dr. Bronner's, Terressentials, Weleda, Logona, Dr. Hauschka, and Aubrey Organics. 

As consumers, we need to avoid the following contaminants: Mineral Oils, Parabens, Petrolatum, Propylene Glycol, Phenol, Sodium Laurel, Lauryth, Myrtesth, or Lauryl Sulfate.  Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is in over 90% of personal care products.  Even though the source is from coconuts, the extraction process may contain harmful chemicals.  Brands that are totally free of these ingredients are: Aubrey Organics, Weleda, Queen Bee, Dr. Bronner's, Alaffia, Jozlyn's Remedies, Four Elements, Logona, Heritage House, Wiseways Herbals, Star Lady Botanicals, Moonsprytes, True Botanica, Evan Healy,and Burt's Bees. 

The USDA does respond to consumer pressure!

Just remember, that approximately six pounds of skin that each human carries around is a porous membrane one-twentieth of an inch thick, through which numerous environmental toxins enter the body.  Skin is a "more significant gateway for toxins into your body than what your eat," says Diana Kaye of TerrEssentials.

Interested in a completely edible tallow body balm?
Check out Young Living Essential Oils (YLEO) personal care products

Source: Viroqua Food Cooperative's newsletter.

Related blog post:
http://oilsforhealthyliving-heidi.blogspot.com/2012/05/are-we-killing-ourselves.html

For more information, www.oilsforhealthyliving.net

Drugs and Essential Oils

What are Essential Oils?
An essential oil is a volatile, aromatic liquid that is generally distilled from the stems,leaves, flowers, roots, bark of seeds of a plant.  Essential oils are far more potent than dried herbs, because essential oils are highly concentrated and contain the true essence of the plant.

Essential oils contain hundreds of different chemical constituents (and these are healthy for your body), whereas a pharmaceutical drug may have one or only a few chemical constiuents. The body can easily form antibodies against the few chemical constituents in antibiotics, but the hundreds of different chemical constituents in essential oils leave the virus confused. There is no way a virus can form antibodies against the hundreds of different chemical constiuents in essential oils. In nature, an essential oil's chemical constituents are perfectly balanced in relation to each other. The unique characteristics of essential oils make them highly beneficial to humankind.

Blood studies reveal that the lipid structure of essential oils penetrates into cells deep inside the body and can pass throughout tissues within minutes. When this happens, both the body and the mind benefit simultaneously.

Drugs and Essential Oils Work in Opposite Ways:
- Drugs have toxic properties
     - Essential oils detoxify
- Drugs clog and confuse cel receptor sites
     - Essential oils clean cell receptor sites
- Drugs depress the immune system
     - Essential oils strengthen the immune system
- Antibiotics attack bacteria indiscriminately, killing both the good and bad
     - Essential oils attack only the harmful bacteria, allowing our body's friendly flora to flourish

Essential Oils Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier
The American Medical Association (AMA) has said that if they could find an agent that would pass the blodd-brain barrier, they would be able to find help for ailments such as Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  Such agents already exist and have been available since Biblical times.  These agents are essential oils - particularly those containing the brain-oxygenating molecules of sesquiterpenes.

The Wellness Trend
Paul Zane Pilzer, who evaluates shifts and trends in our economy and has been an economic advisor to two presidents, said in September, 2001: "I found that the greatest need in America today is wellness.  What we call the 'health care' business is really teh sickness business.  The $1.4 trillion we spend on medical care in concerned with treating the symptoms of sickness.  It has very little to do with preventing illness, with being stronger or healthier."

What can Essential Oils do for You All Day Long?
- Clean the air of pollutants
- Purify the water you drink and bathe in
- Be combined with food and nutritional supplements for increased support to cell metabolism and antioxidant action
- Enhance your skin, nails and hair
- Give you very effective oral hygiene
- Stimulate and support your immune system
- Reduce stress and bring emotional balance into your life
- Enhance your ability to learn new things and remember old ones
- Act against many strains of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites
- Help infants and children as well as adults
- Helps pets with many of the same problems we humans have
- Be recognized, absorbed, and used by our bodies because their molecules are genetically familiar to us

For more info: www.oilsforhealthyliving.net