When it comes to your skin, and the products you apply to it, it’s important to remember one simple idea. Your skin is the gateway to the rest of your body, and although people don’t often think of it this way, whatever you put on your skin is absorbed “transdermally” into the blood stream. This is how things like nicotine patches and transdermally applied estrogen creams and other externally applied medicines and remedies work, they are absorbed, albeit many times at a slower rate, but nonetheless absorbed, into the body via the skin instead of orally.
With that thought in mind, now think of how many skin care products you use. I know for me, that count is around ten per day. I use two different day time moisturizers in the morning, the first layer is my sunscreen lotion and the second is my brightening day cream. I then layer on foundation and my Revlon skinlights skin illuminator. We’re already at four. Add to that, my allover application of body lotion to prevent dryness at night, and then the two different creams I use at night, and you’ve got seven. Ok, not quite ten, but when you also add in the skin care treatments I use to prevent age spots and wrinkles, then I know I’m at least at the ten mark.
You get the point. There are a lot of opportunities for you skin to be exposed to the wrong types of ingredients. So it’s important that if you are health conscious, to be picking ingredients that are the least offensive and troublesome when it comes to causing problems within your body, and on your skin itself. Now, down to the nitty gritty. What are the ingredients you should really try to avoid when shopping for your skin care products, and if you really want to get technical, your other body care and hygiene products if you possibly can?
I’ll admit, I still buy typical store brands of things like body lotions and toothpaste and soap, but if you really want to get down to all products, we should all probably be shopping in the organic/natural (and of course more expensive) sections when we are looking for anything we apply to our body, hair or mouth.
Without further ado, here’s the list of undesirable ingredients to avoid if you can:
Parabens
Acrylamide
Petrolatum and petroleum based ingredients as this is a thick coating and often clogs pores. Mineral oil is included in this group by the way, and I’ve had lots of bad experiences with anything mineral oil based breaking my skin out.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Propylene Glycol
