Did You Know…?

Beauty Products

by Marita Roussey


Toxins can be anywhere and everywhere. Knowing the facts can help you make active, informed lifestyle choices to ensure your quality of health.

  • Swallowing half a tube of toothpaste is fatal to a small child. “Keep out of reach of children. Harmful if swallowed: Contact Poison Control Center Immediately” is written even on bubblegum flavored toothpastes for kids! One active ingredient in toothpaste is sodium fluoride, a toxin in rat poison. Another, sodium lauryl sulfate is a degreaser, found in car wash detergents. Both are highly toxic to your nervous system and are absorbed through your mouth directly into your bloodstream.

Fluorides tend to cause kidney and bladder disorders, coughing, asthma, heart palpitations, and vision problems.

  • Your skin is an organ that breathes and eliminates toxins. Antiperspirants prevent sweating, which helps the body cleans itself of toxic substances. When sweat glands are prevented from doing their job, toxins become trapped inside your body. When you exercise, you want to sweat more, not less! You’ll need to read some labels, but there are still products just called “deodorants” that deodorize without clogging your skin.

Aluminum, a toxic metal, is found in antiperspirants. Autopsies have found high concentration of the metal in the brain of people who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Fatty breast tissue right near the armpits is especially absorbent and if the body can’t get rid of toxins through sweat, it will store it in the nearest place, forming a breast lump.

  • The main chemical used in sunscreen lotions to filter out ultraviolet light may be toxic, particularly when exposed to sunshine. Octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), which is present in 90 percent of sunscreen brands, was found to kill mouse cells even at low doses in a study by Norwegian scientists. Terje Christensen, a biophysicist from the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, near Oslo, said her research showed that sunscreens should be treated with caution, and used only when it was impractical to stay indoors or to shield the skin from the sun with clothes.
  • “If you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin” —Gary Young It’s important to understand that whatever you spread on your skin is continually being absorbed into your bloodstream and can potentially cause serious damage to your body. Studies have indicated that parabens, found in many creamy beauty products, can affect the body much as estrogens do. This can lead to diminished muscle mass, extra fat storage, and male gynecomastia (breast growth). Some studies also show parabens’ contributing to the growth of breast tumors. According to the lead researcher of the recent study, Philippa Darbre, an oncology expert at the University of Reading, in England, the chemical form of parabens is found in 18 of the 20 tumors tested indicated that they originated from something applied to the skin, the most likely candidates being deodorants, antiperspirants, creams, or body sprays.