Vitamins for Skin - Healthy Skin - Nutrition for Skin - Avoid Toxins and Chemicals on Skin
Point One: Our skin is our largest organ. As such it absorbs many things all day that affect our health. When you put something on your skin or scalp, you ingest it, the same way as if you put it in your mouth. RULE: Never put anything on your skin that you would not put in your mouth.
Point Two: In the 1940’s car makers and other industries discovered and created man-made chemicals for use in cars and to degrease engine parts and other heavy duty items. These chemicals were cheap and effective.
Point Three: Soon after the cosmetics industry found out about some of these cheap chemicals and started investigating their use in cosmetics. This was driven by the ability to mass-produce, to lower the cost to produce, and the ability to make more chemicals any time they needed it, since it was an unnatural product and didn’t need to be grown or harvested in any way. Mind you, this didn’t lower the retail price of the item, just boosted the bottom line for the manufacturer.
Testing has shown by dissecting breast, brain and uterine tumors, that these tissues are full of shampoo, lotion and cosmetic chemicals!!! Since these chemical are inorganic, the body does not know what to do with them, so it stores them in fatty tissues; thus the huge rise in these types of cancers in the last 50 years even for people who eat well and do all the “right” things. Well we haven’t actually been doing all the right things…we have been lathering on deadly chemicals everyday that collect in our tissues and kill us with cancer and other diseases.
Worse, yet, we perpetrate this on our children by slathering on the sun screen summer after summer with all the toxic chemicals that are in that. They will sooner die of the cancers caused by the toxins in most sun screens than from the sun! Run, do not walk, RUN to your swim bag and throw away that nasty stuff now and before summer comes, PLEASE get some chemical free sun screen for your children (and yourself)!
Here is a list of the worst of those chemicals that have been included in cosmetics ever since the 1940’s:
The Toxic Top Ten
-Parabans – This is a man-made preservative – it is estrogenic (causes too much of the hormone estrogen) and causes breast and uterus cancers. Also causes accelerated aging due to the way it causes more exposure to UV rays chemically when placed on skin.
-Phthalates – This is a man-made chemical that makes other chemicals pliable in consistency - it is estrogenic and causes birth defects.
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfate – This is an industrial degreaser and often the top ingredient in shampoos, especially the cheap ones like Suave, etc. This is the same chemical salons use in more quantity to strip hair of dyes and colors. It strips natural and man-made hair color and all natural oils that keep your skin in balance. This is also found in many types of toothpaste.
-DEA / MEA / TEA – This is a man-made chemical used to create PH balance – known cancer causing agent.
-Propylene Glycol / Butylene Glycol (Anti-Freeze) - This is a man-made chemical used to keep the radiators in cars from freezing in the winter and included in skin and hair products as a wetting agent. This ingredient is also found in many foods, such as ice cream. This chemical causes the break down of cell structure on your skin as well as inside your body, specifically in the liver and kidneys, and can cause brain damage.
-Urea - This is a man-made preservative – it is a known skin irritant and why many have reactions to lotions with this ingredient. Dermatologists will then tell you that you have sensitive skin, when really it the problem of using toxic chemicals. Shouldn’t we all be that sensitive to toxins?
-Synthetic Fragrances – These would be anything to perfume a product other than organic essential oils from fruits and herbs – they are known skin irritants and cause some people to have headaches when they inhale them. This also includes many perfumes…remember, you are inhaling the toxins right into your lungs when you spray on perfume (or hair spray). Why not switch to essential oils instead?
-Synthetic Colors (Red Dye #4, Blue Lake, etc) – Used to make man made chemicals look pretty – many are known cancer causing agents and skin irritants.
-Mineral Oil / Petrolatum / Vaseline / Mentholatum – All man made from the bi-products of crude oil. Use to “moisturize”, however does NOT do that. It creates an air and moisture tight barrier that for a time feels softer, but has actually kept the moisture from the air from your skin, as well as creating a heavy non-breathing layer over your skin. Skin needs to breathe to be healthy.
-Talc / Talcum Powder / Most Mineral Makeup – found in excised tumors, also will creep into pores and expand them permanently.
But the news is not all bad – it is great!! There are natural alternatives that actually DO work, that don’t cost much more (unless you are using that really cheap toxic stuff like Suave.) As you can see from the list below, these are all things you can take internally, but for skin / hair care, you can also use them topically for great effect!
The Beauty Baker’s Dozen:
-Topical Vitamin E – great for true moisturizing at the cellular level and reduces or eliminates scarring
- Topical Vitamin C / C Ester / Ester C – great for collagen repair
- Topical Alpha Lipoic Acid (wonder vitamin for skin over 40) – recycles vitamin C to get more use out of it, and also prevent further aging and can even erase lines and wrinkles with continued use.
- Topical Green Tea Extracts – prevents sun damage and skin tumors
- Topical Hylauronic Acid (wonder nutrient for dry skin) – actually pulls the moisture out of the air and into your skin – moisture magnet when used topically. Taken internally, excellent for hydrating joints.
- Topical Astaxanthin (algae) – 100 times stronger in effect than Vitamin E, and also repairs collagen and is an anti-oxidant
- Topical CoQ10 – actually produces more collagen in older women, great to heal skin damage
- Topical Pyncogenol – natural sun protection
- Topical DMAE (comes from fish) – firms skin, good for sagging skin
- Topical Peptides (natural fruit acids) – good for around the eyes for fine lines and wrinkles
- Topical Sea Buckthorn (from algae) – awesome for skin problems such as rosacea and eczema, kills off skin mites which cause allergies, helps collagen and anti-oxidant
- Topical Lavender Essential Oil – good for burns, bruises, anti-inflammatory
- Topical Tea Tree Oil – good for acne, itch, bee stings, cuts, inflammation, anti-bacterial, anti-viral essential oil. Use this instead of Neosporin or Bactine Spray. No First Aid Kit should be without this item!
- Internal Fatty Acids/Fish Oils/Omega 3 Oils – These taken internally moisturize your skin from the inside out.
So take some time to clean out the toxins from your medicine cabinet and bathroom today and buy some stuff that is GOOD for you! Get Giovanni Cosmetics organic shampoo, conditioner and skin care at discount prices!
Some trusted chemical free non-toxic cosmetic skin care brands:
