Steve and I were relaxing this evening and while surfing the 'net we thought to ourselves, "how cool would it be to have a place where we share all our favorite and most interesting websites and articles". Since most of our time on the internet revolves around educating ourselves about all things homesteading and a bit of survivalist stuff we decided to name the blog "The Homesteading Survivalist". Here is where we will talk about all the things we are currently researching and learning about.
This evening we are re-discovering the truth in skincare. I say re-discover because there are a lot of subjects in which we know about, but are not masters of. We have known for quite a few years that most commercial skin-care products (including shampoos, conditioners, soaps, toothpastes, body washes, deodorants, make-up, shaving products, lotions, etc) are not healthy or safe for you. Most skin care products contain chemicals which are skin irritants as well as allergens. We have been using Burt's Bees for quite a while, and knew it was "better", but we were still curious to see if it had any harmful chemicals in it.
Upon researching "natural products" we were made aware of several "chemicals" that are allowed in natural products, and we were curious to see if they are harmful. Upon researching we have found some really amazing new websites that we want to share.
A really amazing website that we have found is called Truth in Skincare.
http://www.truthinskincare.com
This website is packed full of articles on all kinds of different chemicals, what they are found in, and what they can do to you, such as Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, a new one we learned about!
This evening we are re-discovering the truth in skincare. I say re-discover because there are a lot of subjects in which we know about, but are not masters of. We have known for quite a few years that most commercial skin-care products (including shampoos, conditioners, soaps, toothpastes, body washes, deodorants, make-up, shaving products, lotions, etc) are not healthy or safe for you. Most skin care products contain chemicals which are skin irritants as well as allergens. We have been using Burt's Bees for quite a while, and knew it was "better", but we were still curious to see if it had any harmful chemicals in it.
Upon researching "natural products" we were made aware of several "chemicals" that are allowed in natural products, and we were curious to see if they are harmful. Upon researching we have found some really amazing new websites that we want to share.
A really amazing website that we have found is called Truth in Skincare.
http://www.truthinskincare.com
This website is packed full of articles on all kinds of different chemicals, what they are found in, and what they can do to you, such as Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, a new one we learned about!
Today I wanted to give you a heads up on a preservative called Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate (yeah, it's a mouthful!). I have found way too many companies and websites touting how it is a "natural preservative" or trying to whitewash it by saying it's a gentle preservative based on natural amino acid glycine. Some claim that it's safer and better than parabens because it won't release formaldehyde. Guess what? All false!
Unfortunately, people and companies often get carried away and will do just about anything to make their products more marketable. There's been a large number of "natural" product makers that have been less than truthful by touting Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate as a natural preservative and I'll repeat again: this is simply NOT true! It is true that it is based on glycine (a natural amino acid) but lets take a look at what they look like chemically. Pictured on top is Glycine and below it is Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate. Needless to say, it requires an extremely heavy and synthetic industrial process to produce sodium hydroxymethylglycinate.
Some more facts: Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate is actually a skin and eye irritant. In both test animals and humans. Even after washing with water it can burn your eyes.
And the second new website that we found is called EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. This website has deconstructed over 78,000 different skin care and cosmetic products, broken them down by ingredient, and then rated each ingredient (as well as the whole product) on a "safety" scale- the "ingredient hazard score", from 1-10 reflects known and suspected hazards of ingredients. This is based on toxicity, irritant levels, etc.
Why is this important you ask? Because the American government doesn’t require health studies or pre-market testing of the chemicals in personal care products, even though just about everyone is exposed to them. This website helps put the power of information in consumers’ hands. When you know what’s in the products you bring into your home and how those chemicals may affect your health and the environment, you can make informed purchasing decisions — and help transform the marketplace. Care about your health and vote with your dollars. Your health is the most precious thing you have in life, so own it!
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
That should keep you busy for a while! That's all for tonight for us... more to come!!!
RSS Feed