Chemical Concerns
| Introduction |
| Don't worry, this isn't a chemistry lesson and we're not going to set you homework. The reason that we have included this page is when we started to buy natural body care products, we read that a product didn't have this, or didn't have that in it, but we didn't know why that was supposed to be good. And when we started to do research in books, magazines and on the internet, we found a lot of conflicting views. And we got quite confused. So we decided to take a common sense approach, to find products that we liked using and that didn't contain anything that we'd read bad things about. We must emphasise that we are not chemists, nor do we have any professional science background - Gary R does have a grade B O level in Chemistry though :-) However, we think if we can find a product that doesn't contain anything controversial, performs as well as our regular product, and isn't stupidly expensive, it's seems silly not to use it. The list below is what we've come up with from our own research. If you have any views or information regarding the chemicals listed, we'd be really happy to hear from you. And if you think we should add any other chemicals to the list, please let us know and we'll gladly have a look into it. |
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| Parabens |
| Parabens are preservatives commonly used in personal care products, cosmetics and worryingly even some foods. Some people can be allergic to these and develop itchy skin after using the product, some research (but this is disputed) reports that parabens can act like estrogens and therefore may be able to disrupt normal hormone functioning and may be linked to breast cancer. (Sources: American Academy of Dermatology, Breast Cancer Fund , BUPA - all explain the issues but reiterate the disputes) |
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| Aluminium chlorohydrate and Aluminium zirconium chlorohydrate |
| Aluminium chlorohydrate and Aluminium zirconium chlorohydrate are found in antiperspirant deodorants, this is what stops us perspiring and can cause skin irritation (U.S. Food and Drug Administration - note: when using high dosage prescription aluminium antiperspirants) - even beyond the area of application. The other issue here is that by not perspiring/sweating, we are not letting our body get rid of toxins, or allowing it to do it's job and cool us down. |
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| Phthalates |
| Phthalates are a group of chemicals widely used as additives in many consumer products including toiletries, perfumes and cosmetics. They are also used as solvents for fragrances in perfumes and aftershaves. There is concern regarding the hormone disrupting properties of some phthalates. It is thought they might interfere with male hormones and disrupt the development of baby boys whilst still in the womb and have also been linked to asthma. (source: WWF website: Chemicals & Health: Indecent Exposure Questionnaire, Breast Cancer Action) |
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| Artificial musks |
| Artificial musks are a large group of man-made chemicals used to fragrance a wide variety of toiletries, cosmetics and cleaning products. They are simply covered under the terms "parfum" or "fragrance" on product labels. Artificial musks are persistent and bioaccumulative and common contaminants in the environment. They have been detected in a wide range of wildlife species, in human fat tissue, blood and breast milk. It has been suggested that they can trigger allergies and asthma and recent research has shown they can inhibit the way cells detoxify themselves. (source: WWF website: Chemicals & Health: Indecent Exposure Questionnaire) |
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| Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulphate |
| Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulphate (SLS/SLES)is basically a detergent (it is the emulsifier that makes foam). There is much negative information about this product (disputed), but the main concern is that it can be a skin irritant and be absorbed by the skin. Some products have natural non petrochemical sources of this chemical but if you have sensitive skin it is probably worth avoiding. The Jason shower gel and hand wash use a cousin of SLS: sodium myreth sulphate (SMS) (similar to ammonium lauryl sulphate, ALS), a number of sources consider the molecules in this to be bigger and so consequently less easily absorbed by the skin. (source: various: including Ecover and Jason) |
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| What to do? |
| All the products we supply do not have these substances, and are also devoid of others that are considered bad. We are exposed to many chemicals in our everyday lives, but at least by reducing what we put on our bodies we can hopefully make a difference. |
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