Does It Matter What We Put On Our Skin?

A few years ago I was enjoying savasana during another yoga session in Kohler, Wisconsin. Our instructor was giving departing words of wisdom. As I sunk into my mat, eyes closed so I wouldn’t become distracted by the beautiful lake on full display through the wall of windows, my meditation was still thrown by Yogi J’s words:

Women apply a (big number) of chemicals to their skin every day.

I don’t recall the full context of her words, and I don’t remember the exact figure J quoted,* but it was enough to make my mind swirl and keep a fully relaxing savasana at bay. I was surprised (and admittedly a little freaked out) by the statement, but as I thought about it, the staggering figure began to make sense.

I thought about all the personal care products I use in a day, some with several applications:

• shampoo
• conditioner
• hair styling products
• body wash
• makeup (foundation, eyeliner, shadow, lipstick, etc.)
• hand lotion

The list could go on. But the above list shows what an impressive resume of daily chemical exposure we build. Which should lead us to consider:

Does what we put on our skin (and our children’s) matter?

There are physicians, among others, who give an unequivocal yes. And, believe it or not, they are critical of other physicians in their rationale. States Dr. Mark Hyman on his blog drhyman.com, arguing that eating a healthy diet is tantamount to healthy skin:

Most dermatologists take the opposite approach, by treating skin from the outside in. They want to sell us overpriced stuff that doesn’t work. Even worse, many of these products contain harsh chemicals that can make your body more toxic.**

Dr. Hyman’s words made me think back to my binge-watching days of HBO’s Sex and the City. This scene was funny then and still is (despite what we now know about harmful skin care…): www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgpFKCVZmVU

The trouble continues, Hyman goes on to say, after we address internal problems like nutrient deficiencies and digestive problems that also affect the skin. We try to support that “healthy glow” by applying topical products to keep the radiance, slow the aging, and corral the acne. But here’s the clencher: these concoctions can include toxic chemicals that contribute to exactly what we want them to prevent. Consider this: The U.S. prohibits only eight toxic chemicals in the personal care products it manufactures. (Ok, I’ll toss the United States a bone and state that other sources claim a full dozen…) But the European Union has banned over 1,300 toxic chemicals in the personal care products it produces. That’s enough to chuck that made-in-the-USA mascara or age-defying neck cream into the circular file. After I discovered parabens in my refreshingly-scalp-tingling, peppermint-scented hair conditioner and my favorite Colorado sun-defying SPF, in the trash they went.Ouch. But I had to do it, for both me and my kids.

And if you’re also cringing in your seats at the idea of tossing your favorite products, I don’t blame you. We are hooked on our beauty regiments, and the numbers show it: the U.S. cosmetics industry is a $50-billion dollar a year mega-business that’s not slowing down anytime soon. We love our personal care routines and aren’t exactly thrilled at the idea of tossing our hard-earned cash in the trash.

But we can be smarter about what we spend that cash on.

Some information to ponder:

• First, the FDA doesn’t regulate what goes into cosmetics and personal care products, meaning ingredients are not safety-tested before hitting the market. However, the cosmetic industry has taken it upon itself to review these chemicals, through its self-funded Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) board. If you’re a cynic like me and this sounds a tad biased, feel validated when you hear that only about 10 percent of the 10,500 ingredients used in making cosmetics in the U.S. are actually reviewed by this panel for safety.

• Second, the cosmetics industry uses smoke and mirrors to hide what ingredients are in their products. Not being regulated by the FDA, the industry isn’t required to use the vernacular set forth by the government and can therefore rename toxic ingredients to sound more benign. For example, “fragrance” can mean just about anything, safe or not, as “fragrance” is an acceptable catch-all for any ingredient a manufacturer wants it to be. For example, phalates, a known nasty, have been found in about 75% of products under the name “fragrance,” according to a study done by the Environmental Working Group.

So what can we as consumers do to avoid the health risks hiding in our makeup, hair care and lotions? Top of the list: avoid the other “dirty dozen” by reading ingredient lists. We all have heard about the dirty dozen in the produce aisle, but here are the 12 chemicals** (plus “fragrance”) we should avoid in our personal care products (note: this list is a veritable alphabet soup…you feel free to print off the list as a quick reference…):

• parabens (known to mimic estrogen)
• anything with “fragrance”
• toluene
• DEA
• petroleum
• phthalates
• sodium laurel sulfate
• butylated hydroxytoluene
• ethyl acetate
• butyl acetate
• diazolidinyl urea
• triethanolamine
• propylene glycol

[List from “What you put ON your body is as Important as What You Put IN It” by Amy Myers, M.D., on mindbodygreen.com.]

Other tips for getting clean with your personal routine:

• Do a quick and dirty “spot check” of ingredient labels. The longer the list, the more junk you and your family are exposed to when you use the product. Choose products with a shorter list of ingredients.

• Choose products made according to European standards as opposed to U.S. standards. If it isn’t obvious how that pricy but tempting facial cleanser or eye shadow is made, then ask. The EU is much stricter about what goes into personal care items (remember the EU has banned 1,300 chemicals, while the U.S. only about 12…)

• Prioritize. It would cost an arm-and-a-leg and then some to replace every lotion, body wash and plumping mascara at once, so make the shift gradual. Choose to replace first the products your kids use, the ones you use most and don’t wash off (like lotions), and that you use over a larger portion of your body. For example, first replace the family sunscreen, body wash, body lotion and facial moisturizer. Then a few months later, replace your shampoo, your kids’ shampoo and your facial cleanser.
• For more tips on what to buy “clean” and what to avoid, take a look at this blog post on huffpost.com.

We’ve all heard the saying You are what you eat. But we are also what we put on our bodies. Put good things inside and maintain that inside-out healthy glow with applying good things to your skin.

Be green, keep it clean and make it your routine.

[This just in: a bipartisan bill has been introduced to the Senate, the “Personal Care Products Safety Act,” that would give the FDA regulatory power over the ingredients used in personal care products. The FDA would have the ability to recall products determined to contain hazardous ingredients and would also require cosmetics makers to provide a full disclosure of ingredients to potential consumers. Read the full article about the proposed bill here.]

*According to the Environmental Working Group, we Americans use about 10-15 personal care products every day that total 126 different ingredients.

**Speaking of harsh chemicals used by dermatologists, here’s an example. In addition to freezing common warts, a dermatologist may prescribe a topical treatment that compounds salicylic acid with, wait for it, a chemotherapy drug. Yes, you read that right, 5-fluorouracil and common salicylic acid to treat common warts. Yikes.