Did you know? How best to nourish the largest organ of your body?
If you were given a choice of two soups , which do you think would be the healthiest to eat—-based on the following list of ingredients:
Soup A: Aloe vera gel, coconut oil, lemon extract, avocado oil, grapefruit seed extract, potassium sorbate, Vitamins A, C & E, Essential Oils of Orange, Lavender & Jasmine. OR
Soup B: Benzoyl peroxide, water, magnesium aluminum silicate, glyceryl sterate, PEG-100 sterate, disodium PEG-12, dimethicone sulfocunninate, sorbitol, demethyl isosorbide, tridecyl sterate, neopentyl glycol dicaprylate/dicaprate, polyethelene, cetyl esters, anthemis nobilis flower extract, sodium hyaluronate, sodium pca, xanthan gum, tridecyl trimellitite, propylene gycol, imidazolidmyl urea, proplparaben, methylparaben, fragrance.
Okay, you’ve probably guessed that we’re not talking about soup here. We are, in this case, talking about two different facial cleansers. Cleanser A is Kettle Care Sensitive Cleansing Gel which is one facial cleanser I have chosen to use. Cleanser B is one part of a popular acne cleansing system that my daughter uses to control her acne. The point that I am trying to make here is—-should you be willing to put anything on your skin that you would not put into your mouth, your esophagus, your stomach?? Because every substance you apply to your skin—the largest organ of your body—-is absorbed into the skin and into the bloodstream to one degree or another—just as if it were being ingested. Absorption amounts do depend on the size of the molecules involved—and whether or not a substance is mixed with another highly absorbable substance. But given the “chemical soup” that makes up many of our common soaps, lotions and creams, are you willing to take the chance—for yourself, your children or your unborn children? What’s so bad about these chemicals? Let’s talk about a few common chemicals:
Parabens – Widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic industry (including moisturizers). An estimated 13,200 cosmetic and skin care products contain parabens. Studies implicate their connection with cancer. Put them in a tube with breast tumor cells and the cancerous cell proliferate–parabens appear to fuel women’s cancer cells. They have hormone-disrupting qualities – mimicking estrogen – and interfere with the body’s endocrine system. You will commonly see these listed as ethylparabens, methylparabens and polyparabens.
Propylene glycol – Used as a moisturizer in cosmetics and as a carrier in fragrance oils. Shown to cause dermatitis, kidney or liver abnormalities, and may inhibit skin cell growth or cause skin irritation.
Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS), also known as sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) found in over 90% of personal care products breaks down the skin’s moisture barrier, easily penetrates the skin, and allows other chemicals to easily penetrate. Combined with other chemicals, SLS becomes a “nitrosamine”, a potent class of carcinogen. It can also cause hair loss. Main ingredient in many shampoos—if you are losing your hair, this may be why!
Toluene – Poison! Danger! Harmful or fatal if swallowed! Harmful if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) Other names may include benzoic and benzyl. Made from petroleum or coal tar, and found in most synthetic fragrances. Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage, and may affect a developing fetus.
Dioxane– Found in compounds known as PEG, Polysorbates, Laureth, ethoxylated alcohols. Common in a wide range of personal care products. The compounds are usually contaminated with high concentrations of highly volatile 1,4-dioxane, easily absorbed through the skin. A common ingredient in children’s bubble bath—-banned for use in Europe.
DEA – is diethanolamine, a chemical that is used as a wetting agent in shampoos, lotions, creams and other cosmetics. DEA is used widely because it provides a rich lather in shampoos and keeps a favorable consistency in lotions and creams. DEA by itself is not harmful but while sitting on the stores shelves or in your cabinet at home, DEA can react with other ingredients in the cosmetic formula to form an extremely potent carcinogen called nitrosodiethanolamine (NDEA). NDEA is readily absorbed through the skin and has been linked with stomach, esophagus, liver and bladder cancers.
Read the labels of a few of the soaps, shampoos and facial products that you use every day and determine—-think cumulatively—- how many of this just this small list of harmful chemicals you are exposing yourself to—and then ask yourself WHY? Education is the key! The natural beauty care market is exploding with wonderful natural, organic, healthy! alternatives to toxic chemicals. There is no reason to use this sludge on your body anymore! The following are a few of my favorite sources for natural beauty products:
“Kettle Care has been creating body care & hair care products since 1983. They hand pick their herbs in their own Certified Organic Garden, located in a small valley surrounded by the sheltering Whitefish Mountain Range, in Montana. In their 24 years of formulation experience, they have developed products that stay emulsified and preserved with remarkable therapeutic properties.”…from their website. I love their products and would never be without them, especially the Sensitive Cleansing Gel, Women’s Wellness Creme, Essential Face Creme and Earth& Sea Mineral Polish.
Aubrey Organics: a full line of certified organic beauty products. They never have and never will use petrochemicals in their products. A few of my favorites are the Sea Buckthorn & Cucumber with Ester C Facial Cleansing Cream for combination/dry skin and the Camomile Luxurious Volumizing (Hair) Conditioner. Also for a relaxing soak after a strenuous workout, I love their Relax-R-Bathe Herbal Bath Emulsion.
Mountain Rose Herbs: you are in for a treat when you visit their website. Especially if you are into making your own beauty products. Here you will find all the necessary butters, oils, clays and salts as well as essential oils and hydrosols. And you can buy in bulk. My favorite items are the French Green Clay which makes a wonderful purifying skin mask, the Apricot Kernel Meal for making exfoliating scrubs, and Himalayan Pink Salt which Contains 84 trace elements & iron and can be used in cooking and bath preparations. They are a good source for reasonably priced oils—-my favorites are sweet almond and jojoba oil. They are a also a wonderful source for everything tea—organic green, black, red and white teas as well as herbal and flower teas..and teapots, cups, strainers and infusers.
Some of the biggest names in cosmetics (Avon, Revlon Estee Lauder, Mary Kay) are proud of the fact that they contribute funds to breast cancer research. You will see pink ribbons on their products. Don’t be fooled. Their cosmetics contain petrochemicals that cause breast and other types of cancers. Only when we, as the consumers, refuse to buy contaminated products will there be a change in the market. We have that power! However, purchasing a product in a health food store is not a guarantee of purity or freedom from carcinogens. Read the label to ensure that only certified natural organic ingredients are used in the formulation.
And so, once again, I am going to try to persuade my 23 year old daughter to stop using the acne prevention system that she is currently using. Maybe this posting will help. Of course, I suspect that she no longer has acne. She is past puberty, and her diet has improved immensely since high school when she first started using this stuff. What would happen if she just stopped using it?! I have suggested that she try stopping, but she is too worried that her acne will come back. I say—-try not using it! I’ll bet that acne is no longer a problem. And if it is—there are all sorts of natural remedies that I can suggest. There are several herbs useful in the treatment of acne: burdock, yellow dock, dandelion root and red clover and sarsaparilla . And there are several essential oils: tea tree oil, bergamont oil, clove oil, lavender oil and rosewood oil. Certainly I, as the “Queen of Concoctions” 
can come up with an effective treatment! I’ll let you know!
This is great info! Thanks for doing all this work. Do you have some good resources to pass along? May I pass your site to friends?
You did a great job putting all this together. But I don’t really accept with the point: “skin—the largest organ in your body.” -Line 7, paragraph 4 of this article, because my personal studies from various sources reveals to me that the largest organ in the human body is the “Liver.”
Please try to give me more scientific proofs for me to be convinced that the skin is indeed the largest organ in the human body.
The liver is the largest INTERNAL organ. The skin is the largest organ of the body as a whole—weighing 6 to 7 pounds in the average adult and covering a surface area of approximately 18 square feet. So you are right. The skin is not the largest organ IN the body but it is the largest organ OF the body. I have changed the wording of my posting to make that distinction. Thanks for your comment!
Hey,
I respect your work very much. Well worded talent goes far in the journalism career. Keep up the good work, so far I’ve clearly understood and followed up with your writings and I just want to throw some kudos at you, very good to hear people putting their mind to words the clear way
Anyways, until the next time I run across your page, c ya’ ciao!