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If you Can't Eat it or Pronounce it then Don't take it Home!

Written by: Lenore Miller

Article Overview: When was the last time you had a look at the ingredients on your skin care, cosmetics, shampoo even tooth paste? Could you pronounce the names of the ingredients? More importantly would you eat them? This is a must read for anyone concerned about what they put in their body or on their skin.

If you Can't Eat it or Pronounce it then Don't take it Home!

When was the last time you had a look at the ingredients on your skin care, cosmetics, shampoo even tooth paste? Could you pronounce the names of the ingredients? More importantly would you eat them?

I have been a keen consumer of natural and organic products for some time like most of us, however, I can get a bit slack sometimes. Recently I gained some real insight into what is in the standard shampoo, skincare and cosmetic lines and how those ingredients impact on our health and the health of our environment. At the bottom of this article I have included a list of ingredients you will not want to be putting in or on your body. It has certainly helped me re-focus on what’s in the things I buy for my family and I to eat and put on our skin.

Have you ever bought a product because it said 'Natural' or 'Organic' on the label? You could reasonably expect that Natural meant safe, edible, food grade - is this, however, the definition used by skin care and cosmetic companies? I was fascinated to find that the beauty industry definition of ‘natural’ means that the ingredient may have started out as a natural ingredient, like coconut oil, for example. After being processed, heated, chemically treated, it no longer resembles the natural product is started out as - it’s also no longer healthy, safe or food grade and it is definitely not edible. Yet the product is labeled as natural. How horrifying to think we buy these products and think we’re doing ourselves a favor.


There are also products that claim to be organic, but do they have the organic symbol on the packaging confirming that they are in fact certified as organic? Most times I have found they do not which means they are not certified organic and have not been quality controlled at all. Certified organic means that there is a minimum of 95% certified organic ingredients excluding water. Pesticides are not used in farming the ingredients and there are no genetically modified or synthetic ingredients present either. Certainly, nothing on our list below of things to be avoided - so unless a product has been certified organic you cannot be sure it is in fact safe to consume or put on your body or in your environment

The following preservatives release formaldehyde, yes that’s right the stuff they use to preserve dead flesh: Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate (Suttocide)‏, Imidazolidinyl urea (Germall 115), Diazolidinyl urea (Germall II)‏, Quaternium-15, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (Bronopol)‏, DMDM Hydantoin (Glydant)‏ 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide contamination, You will also want to avoid these ingredients: ‘PEG’, ‘polyethylene’, ‘polyethylene glycol’, olyoxyethylene’, anything that ends in ‘-eth-’ (such as sodium laureth sulfate), ‘oxynol’, ‘ceteareth’ or ‘oleth’.

These ingredients, nitrosamines, have been identified as one of the most potent classes of carcinogens, having caused cancer in more than 40 different animal species as well as in humans. NDELA is the specific nitrosamine "to which human exposure is the greatest," since it occurs "in cosmetics" and is "absorbed readily through the skin."
Carcinogenesis 1985, National Cancer Institute

So ensure you avoid these ingredients: MEA (Monoethanolamine), DEA (Diethanolamine), TEA (Triethanolamine)‏e.g. Cocamide MEA, Cocamide DEA, DEA-Cetyl Phosphate, DEA Oleth-3 Phosphate, Lauramide DEA, Linoleamide MEA, Myristamide DEA, Oleamide DEA, Stearamide MEA, and TEA Lauryl sulphate.
These lists are not, in any way extensive, however, it’s a place to start, if you are interested in more information look out for a book called ‘Dangerous Beauty – Cosmetics and Personal Care’ written by Peter Dingle and Toni Brown. It’s a good start and not too complex to get your head around. My rule is if I don’t think I can eat or and I can’t pronounce it, it doesn’t come home with me!

If you want to live a truly energetic and outrageously healthy, happy lives, then I suggest you ensure you are taking care of your body, fuel it effectively and minimize the amount of toxic chemicals you come into contact with both externally and internally. Your body will thank you for it.

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Article Tags: shampoo, skin care, skin care cosmetics, tooth paste, when was the last time



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