Why I don't use lotion any more

Many of us want to live healthier. We grow our own food or buy organic produce. We exercise (or try to). We might even meditate or do yoga. We know that taking care of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual lives is important for balance.

But many people forget about one aspect of physical health and balance: Do you realize that the skin is your largest organ, absorbing lots of chemicals every day? Currently, there is no federal law that requires companies to test personal care products for safety prior to marketing them to the public. The Food and Drug Administration lists over 10,000 chemicals and compounds that we slather onto our skin daily. Almost 90 percent of those have never been tested to make sure they are safe, and the ones that were tested are often declared unsafe.

More than 1,110 personal-product ingredients have been banned for use in cosmetics in the European Union because of concerns that they may cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive ills. By contrast only 10 are banned here in the U.S.

We use soap, shampoo, lotion and cosmetics daily, and thus consume parabens (synthetic preservatives), phthalates (fragrance), toxic sulfates for lathering, stabilizers (linked to kidney damage), formaldehyde, and other toxic chemicals that haven't been regulated. Many of these ingredients are linked to cancer, fertility disruption, birth defects, allergies, skin toxicity, biochemical changes in the body, developmental and reproductive disorders, endocrine disruption, tissue irradiation, organ toxicity, and environmental pollution.

Ouch.

Even products sold as “organic” and “natural” are often exactly the same as the chemical stuff you buy at any drugstore. There is huge labeling fraud going on. Whereas organic food is heavily regulated to be certified, there are no standards or laws governing the contents in personal care products (as well as household cleaners and even nutritional supplements). Shocking, yes?

But there is a solution!

1. Educate yourself. I know, it sucks to have to spend time on this, but treat this issue as you would anything you care about.
2. Read labels. Avoid these ingredients.
3. Look for USDA organically certified ingredients.
4. Make your own soap and lotion. It's so easy! I will write more about this in future blog posts, but in the meantime, you can google recipes. There are hundred of them out there!
5. Support people you trust who make healthy products. There are lots of small scale mom and pop companies out there.

I don't usually use my blog posts to advertise my stuff, but I do want to tell you about the goat milk soap I make and sell in my online Etsy store. It's all natural (for real), cold pressed, and the only ingredients are my very own goat milk, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, pure essential oils, and lye.

I have many happy customers who agree that this is the best soap they ever used. I have quite a lot of customers with eczema, and they say this is the only soap they can use! Personally, I used to slather myself with lotion because of my very dry skin, but ever since using my own goat milk soap, I haven't used lotion!

Goat milk is super moisturizing and contains many vitamins, but is particularly high in Vitamin A, which is necessary to repair damaged skin tissue, and maintain healthy skin.
Goat milk contains alpha-hydroxy acids such as lactic acid which help remove dead skin cells from your skin’s surface. This leaves new cells on the surface of your skin that are smoother and younger looking.
The cream in goat milk boosts the moisturizing quality of goat milk soaps.
Goat milk also contains important minerals for the skin such as selenium. Selenium is believed by scientists to have an important role in preventing skin cancer. Selenium can also help prevent damage to the skin from excessive time in the sun.

If you want to support me, head on over and get some!

What are the things you have learned about personal care products in your life?