As a female, it’s sometimes easy to fall in to the trap of temptation: To fill the bathroom cupboards with all those alluring bath, body and beauty care products that promise to bring about youth, glamour and beauty, and look oh-so-pretty on the bathroom shelf with their delightful packaging. But have you ever stopped and considered just how these products might really affect you and the environment?
Toxic Cocktail
The majority of bath, body and beauty care products contain a toxic cocktail of ingredients that are linked to cancer, birth defects, infertility, dermatitis and other allergies, learning disabilities and respiratory disorders.
Although the percentage of these potentially harmful ingredients is low in each individual product, the accumulation and toxic build-up from using a number of products over time is a significant issue.
What is it going to take for consumers to start making healthier choices? There are a number of “excuses” that are offered time and time again whenever this topic of discussion is raised: convenience; laziness; simply not caring; lack of education; the misconception that natural is more expensive.
If it’s convenience that concerns you, there are so many wonderful brands out there that offer natural alternatives and that deliver straight to your door via an online shop. Surely that’s more convenient than getting in your car, driving to the supermarket, walking the aisles and standing in line to pay for your purchases.
Healthy and Green
If you simply don’t care about the effects on your own personal health, have you thought about the consequences that your choices may be having on your loved ones who share the living space and air you all breathe whilst at home? Do you bathe or moisturise your child with products that contain known skin irritants and then wonder why your child has a skin condition? Have you ever considered the fact that if you use products containing toxic chemicals whilst you’re pregnant, that they will cross the placenta and affect your unborn baby? Or have you ever wondered why it is that you’re finding it so difficult to conceive a child? Maybe the exposure to any number of scientifically proven, harmful substances is to blame?
If you’re unaware of all that, it’s never too late to learn, and it’s never too late to change. There is so much information around and a number of brilliant books will back up my statements with scientific studies. Not Just a Pretty Face – The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry by Stacy Malkan is a real eye opener. As is Dawn Mellowships’s Toxic Beauty.
Natural
If you think that “natural” is the more expensive option, have you considered what the cost of medical bills might be if you succumb to the long-term effects of chemical exposure? Or if it’s the short-term cost that deters you, then how about simplifying things a little – there are many natural alternatives that have a number of uses. For example, one bottle of jojoba oil can be used as an effective body moisturizer; face moisturizer – it is known as nature’s wrinkle fighter; hand, nail and cuticle conditioner; nourishing hair and scalp conditioner; and skin-softening bath oil.
Stop and think – do you really need ALL of those bath, body and beauty care products? And do you honestly believe the deception and “wishy-washy” claims that are advertised on the packaging to seduce you into making a purchase? Do you really believe that you can be miraculously more beautiful, more youthful and sexier if you used this or that product? Come on… you’re more intelligent than that!
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