Isopropyl Alcohol

First of all, isopropyl alcohol is highly flammable. While alcohol is used for disinfecting and costs relatively cheap, it is not wise to apply it on skin since it strips off the skin’s natural line of defense making it dry and cracked. In return, the skin is made more susceptible to bacteria and other pollutant.

We should be aware that isopropyl alcohol is a solvent that can alter other substance’s form. When inhaled, this potentially toxic substance can cause respiratory problem and central nervous depression. Its instant effects are headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. In severe cases, it can even induce coma and narcosis to user. These are the reasons why pediatricians strongly advise not to use isopropyl alcohol to newborn babies.

When accidentally ingested, the isopropyl alcohol will irritate the lining of the stomach and intestines which will result to vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. It will also alter your blood composition due to its denaturing effect.

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Propylene Glycol (PG)

Propylene glycol is an organic compound that is faintly sweet, colorless and in liquid or vapor form. Generally, due to its low oral toxicity, it is recognized as safe to use as an additive to food but we should also know that some of its uses include antifreeze, photo developing solutions, brake fluids, and coolants. That’s how “industrial” this toxic chemical is and yet it can be found in our daily personal care products such as hair products, liquid foundation, suntan lotions, deodorants, and toothpastes.

Propylene glycol acts as a humectant. It absorbs water and maintains moisture to medicines, personal care products and food while boosting artificial color and flavor of the product you are going to buy. Exposure to propylene glycol will cause systemic retention and can cause skin irritation and inflammation, kidney damage and liver problems.

Since propylene glycol serves its purpose well, allowed by the regulating government and most of all they are cheap, it is not hard to imagine why an antifreeze agent could end up in our shampoo bottles.

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FD&C Color Pigments

Colorful things are surely attractive especially for kids. For women, we choose colorful makeup and other cosmetic products to enhance our general appearance while kids prefer to use bubble baths and soaps with bright colors. With men, they find it necessary to cover up gray strands of hair thus the need to use hair dyes.

FD&C color pigments are usually made from tar and they can also cause irritation to the skin. They are most commonly found in eye makeup, lipsticks, hair dyes, nail polish and even with your colored medicinal tablets. These color pigments are for enhancing natural color to create a visual effect tempting enough for consumers to buy them.

Hair dyes contain coal tar and phenylenediamine, both are known carcinogenic that also causes inflammation of the scalp and in some instances, blindness. With regular use of hair dye products, the risk of developing bladder cancer is much higher than those who don’t use them. Bright nail polishes contain toluene, together with color pigments, they are more than toxic causing headaches, confusion and memory loss. Daily exposure to toluene may induce hearing loss.

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DEA, TEA & MEA

These toxic chemicals are used for regulating pH in cosmetics and personal care products. DEA provides luxurious consistency to lotions and creams and rich lather in shampoos since it is an emulsifier and foaming agent. While DEA was not found to be harmful to our health, its by-product NDEA or nitrosodiethanolamine is. NDEA is a proven to be a cancer-causing agent and can be easily absorbed by the skin. It has strong links to stomach, esophageal, liver and bladder cancers to humans.

Just a note, DEA is a generalized term for all diethanolamine and TEA and MEA are related substances. When applied topically, it may result to skin irritation or burning of skin. It can also cause impairment of vision with eye contact. If inhaled accidentally, it irritates the nose and throat. This chemical also disrupts hormone cycle thus affecting all hormonal balances of the body including testicular degeneration and low sperm count.

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Triclosan

Triclosan is a toxic agent made popular these days due to its extensive antibiotic property which promises to eliminate all forms of bacteria both known and unknown to humans even at low concentrations. Environmental Protection Agency or EPA registered triclosan as pesticide which inhibits growth of tadpoles while it extinguishes all forms of life around contaminated area. Because of these factors, it poses great health risks to humans, animals and the environment as well.

Triclosan is now included in detergents, dish washing fluids, soaps, deodorants, and toothpastes and that is just naming a few. When mixed with regular tap water, it produces chloroform, a cancer-causing agent. But how else can you use these products without even coming in contact with tap water? Also, they are not soluble in water meaning they will not breakdown.

When triclosan enters your body, it settles within your body tissues and accumulates overtime since, again, they don’t break down. Therefore, it can easily access your cell membranes damaging the liver, kidneys and lungs. Bacteria and fungi are sustained by enzymes while triclosan works by poisoning this specific enzyme to successfully eliminate them.

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Imidazolidinyl Urea & DMDM Hydatoin

For dead humans, they won’t probably mind getting a good dose of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is used in embalming and it is also emitted by imidazolidinyl urea and DMDM hydatoin. These two formaldehyde-emitting chemicals are found in most of our personal care products in the market today. This substance can be in liquid or gas form, colorless and with a very distinctive smell.

Initially, formaldehyde is used for synthetic resins and textiles. Nowadays, it can also be found with your makeup, lipstick, baby shampoos, and moisturizers. For personal care products, they inhibit bacterial growth thus prolonging shelf life. Other uses of formaldehyde are for waterproofing fabrics, enhancing dyes, production of adhesives and binding construction materials.

This substance is known to cause cancer. Aside from that, it can also induce skin blisters, skin inflammation or dermatitis, dryness of skin and severe breathing problems. When absorbed in large doses, it can cause cancer while if inhaled, it can induce serious irritation to the eyes, nose and throat.

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Phthalates

Phthalates are practically everywhere we go since this substance can be utilized in many ways. It is commonly used as plasticizers. Plasticizers are substances added to plastics to make it more flexible and resilient. While there are many uses for this substance, it is also highly toxic for human consumption.

Phthalates can be found with your ordinary powders, deodorants and aftershave. Do take note that phthalates have many different names under its belt so it becomes doubly hard to determine if the product is subjected to phthalates or not.

Health wise, phthalates can harm your babies since it was found that it affects baby’s male reproductive system causing them produce lower and deformed sperm count later in life. The most significant health risk of using phthalates is that it can actually disrupt your endocrine system, causing birth defects among pregnant moms. It damages the liver and testes among humans exposed to it.

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Synthetic Fragrances

When shopping for a perfume, have you considered examining its label? Probably not, since you are only after its great smell and how will the fragrant product react to your body right? That also goes for your soaps, shampoos and other personal care products you use everyday.

The word fragrance in the ingredients section of your product label doesn’t necessarily mean natural fragrances were used especially if you bought it cheap. Synthetic fragrances are derived from petroleum sources and it is specifically engineered to cheat your sense of smell by disguising as natural and they are cheaper than natural oil, much to manufacturer’s delight.

Of course, synthetics are always bad for our body so this one is not an exemption to the rule. Synthetic fragrances cause headaches, skin and respiratory problems, and hyperpigmentation and that is counting only the short term effects of this chemical. Actually, this substance doesn’t break down and they linger up to 2 days prior to washing. Traces of synthetic fragrances can also be found in human fat, breast milk and blood, which only prove that this chemical substance can infiltrate your body system.

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Mineral Oil

Mineral oil is a clear, colorless, oily liquid that comes from distillation of petroleum. Its raw form is crude oil and it is very cheap when purchased. The most common example of mineral oil is petroleum jelly. It can also be found with your baby oils, baby lotion and other baby care products in the market today. Mineral oil boasts of preventing chapping of the skin and cradle caps among infants hence establishing their market base from there.

A good pediatrician doesn’t encourage the use of harsh chemicals to your baby’s skin and they even advised mothers not to use chemical based products since baby’s skin is extra sensitive. Adults and infants alike, petroleum based products clog pores and prevent it from releasing toxins. Moreover, it will not allow your skin to breathe and breaks the natural cycle of it. One should be aware that mineral oil is toxic, and they cause cancer as well.

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Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)

Sodium Lauryl sulfate or also known as SLS is used as detergent and surfactant and it is commonly found among our personal care products and home cleaning agents which produce bubbles. Like any other detergents, sodium lauryl sulfate removes natural oil from the skin causing skin irritation. It can also irritate eyes upon contact.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate has found its way to your shampoos, bubble baths, toothpastes and soaps. It is the same chemical used in your usual engine degreaser, garage floor cleaners and car shampoos. Just recently, manufacturers tried to downgrade SLS to what they call “milder” chemical known as sodium laureth sulfate or SLES. Milder or not, it is still the same chemical that can cause gastrointestinal and liver problems.

Your children are also prone to SLS contamination since they can now be found in most baby care and kid’s personal care products. While long term effects of this toxic chemical are not instantly felt, dryness and tight-feeling of the skin is caused by Sodium lauryl sulfate. Severe reactions include inflammation and flaking of the skin.

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