Back to Basics: "Why you should choose Sodium Lauryl Sulfate free hair and body care"
SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) is a chemical found in the majority of our store-bought personal care products today (unless, of course, you a buying a truly all natural product). SLS is added toothpaste, facial cleansers, body wash, soap, shampoo, and laundry detergent as a inexpensive foaming agent. Basically, without this toxic chemical, your personal care products would not have those lathery bubbles that make you think your teeth, hair, skin, and clothes are getting an extreme clean.
In reality, tooth, hair, skin, and laundry cleansing products CAN be made (and actually DO exist) without the toxic chemical that forms the bubbles and lather that we’ve grown to relate to “clean”. And although SLS-Free products may not lather as much (or at all) when they are used, they absolutely still clean the same (probably BETTER) than the chemical laden products we are used to.
SLS was a chemical that was originally used for industrial cleansing purposes and was never meant to be used in such close contact with our delicate skin.
SLS is a major skin-irritant and actually strips your skins natural moisture, drying out skin in the long run, and destroys the skins natural barrier to outside elements (it also dries out hair follicles and will eventually make your hair lose it’s natural shine). Without the skin’s protective barrier, toxins from outside the body can easily enter the body. The toxic chemical SLS itself can also penetrate the skin (and scalp), and enter the bloodstream, accumulating it’s toxic properties internally, as well.
Because of it’s ability to penetrate the skin and enter the body, SLS is often used as a way to allow the “vitamins”, “minerals” and “moisturizers” of the product to enter be absorbed into the deepest layers of the skin. The problem is that SLS itself is a toxic chemical that is being absorbed into the skin and the body, and it is also allowing all of those chemical laden ingredients of the product that you use into your skin and body as well (and believe me, the ingredients list is FILLED with chemicals…check it out for yourself!).
SLS accumulates in your body over time and is often found in the brain, heart, liver, and other organs. So even if every product you use has SLS in it as a LAST ingredient (which means it is used in the product the least…although there are no measurements/specifics listed on labels), just think of how many products you use on a daily basis (some multiple times a day) that have even the smallest amount of SLS in it. — SIDENOTE: SLS is often a first or middle ingredient! — Not to mention all of the other chemicals and preservatives that product is filled with in addition to the SLS (which helps those other toxins be absorbed into your body!)
Avoid these chemical laden products WHENEVER POSSIBLE (especially if you see SLS on the list!!) and stick with your truly ALL NATURAL products (or make your own cleansing products when possible…recipes for homemade laundry detergent, toothpaste, and others, coming soon as future Back to Basic posts!).
PS: For clean hair, don’t forget that going “no ‘poo” is always a healthy and inexpensive alternative to expensive all natural shampoos, and chemical-filled conventional shampoos. Click here to read my post about why you should go no ‘poo and how to do it, and here to see the pictures that go with it.
Handcrafted, all natural soap: Citrus Poppyseed
BACK TO BASICS: Explanation & Introduction
It’s Friday, Friday… and beginning next week, I will be posting a “Back to Basics” post every Friday!
Back to Basics stems from the idea that we, as a society, have lost touch with our most essential and basic needs (and desires). If you think back to how our ancestors lived: fruits and vegetables were grown locally, oftentimes in their own backyard, and food was made from scratch, using fresh ingredients. The thought of chemical ridden, processed foods would have been appalling to any of our ancestors, as well ancient cultures. And the same goes for toxic skin care products. Half of the products out there today we don’t need… we’ve just grown accustomed to them.
For quite some time now, I’ve been slowly but surely changing the foods I eat/cook, the beverages I drink, and the cosmetics and skin care products I apply.
This all began from when I spent 60 hours a week working at a store that was known for their pet fashions and supplies, carrying only the most nutritious dog (and cat) foods. While I was there, I realized that many people cared more about what they were feeding their pets and applying to their coats, than what they were feeding themselves and applying on their own skin. With a large selection of all natural grooming products including shampoos, conditioners, and coat sprays, I knew that there was something wrong with what we, as humans, use on our own skin every single day.
I began looking into all of the skincare products that I owned, reading every label and researching the ingredients. The first place I started was the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. You can search by product name, brand, company, or ingredient. — This database is an awesome way to get to know what you’re really putting on your skin each day. Don’t forget, your skin is your largest organ and everything you put on your skin can/will be absorbed into your bloodstream. When I realized how awful the products I was using were, I wanted change and I wanted it fast. I quickly looked into a bunch of all natural brands/products, and even began making my own homemade skin care recipes with ingredients I already had in my kitchen (recipes to come in future “Back to Basic” posts). The same eureka happened with the cleaning products I’ve been using when I realized, ‘duh! For something that lingers in the house and is inhaled while cleaning and for a long time after, cleaning products should definitely be all natural’! It was then when I switched and never turned back. I first began by buying all natural cleaning products from the grocery store, but soon realized I wasn’t as satisfied not knowing exactly what was going into the product, plus it was much more cost effective to make my own (recipes for this also coming soon).
More recently, I’ve moved onto the food aspect of things. All natural is obviously the direction I was moving in, so I felt that the foods I eat should be “all natural” as well. Since I’m still in the process of making a complete transfer, I’ve got to say that the food part of this is definitely the hardest, and is taking the longest. With patience though, I can already tell it’s worth it. Less processed, pre-packaged foods, less junk as snacking food, and more fruits, vegetables, “good” fats, and essential nutrients. This means, more cooking, baking, and whipping together meals and desserts from scratch, rather than the store bought versions that are filled with chemicals, preservatives, and generically modified ingredients.
And that’s the point of future Friday’s Back to Basics posts — to provide just a little bit of information regarding how to get started going “Back to Basics”. I will provide recipes for at home skin care, and from scratch food/drink recipes, as well as information regarding the “healthier” way to go.
Follow Back to Basics every Friday to keep up with the new things I have been learning, the latest recipes I’ve been using, and my thought process through it all.
Watch this short video of THE STORY OF COSMETICS from The Story of Stuff.
Less than 20% of chemicals used in our cosmetics are tested for safety. LESS THAN 20% of what we use on our hair, face, skin, etc. is tested before it is allowed to be sold on a shelf. And the chemicals that are tested and passed are usually considered “safe” based on ridiculous standards, and without knowing the long-term effects on human health. Doesn’t anyone else see what’s wrong here?? What you put on your skin is JUST as important as what food you put in your body. Your skin is your largest organ, and everything that goes on your skin can be absorbed through your skin, and into your body.
This is a very serious issue! Cosmetics/skin care products and their ingredients are not regulated by the FDA! Although, you’d think that if you’re buying products from a shelf in a store, in the 21st century, that what you’re buying must be safe. Right? Wrong. These companies will do whatever they can do make a product that seems to please consumers (mostly by fooling people), in order to make profit. And that’s what it’s all about. For them, at least. As for us, we’re left to figure these things out on our own — by reading labels, and deciphering what they mean.
Find out how safe, or unsafe, your daily products are, here:
Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database
(This is the website that introduced me to all natural skin care, and made me more interested in finding out /what’s in the products that I use & have in my house.
Other informative websites, here:
