My clean beauty and home journey started about a year before trying to conceive. I was actively learning more and more about the foods we consume and the effects of preservatives and pesticides on the body and I got to wondering: “If this stuff is allowed in and on our food. What the heck is in all of the products we use?” Now, let me preface this by saying; I am not 100% perfect. It takes time to get to know ingredients. Not to mention, it can be expensive to just throw away everything in your cabinets and start from scratch. So my biggest suggestion would be to replace one product at a time. Get to know the ingredients on your beauty and home labels as you would your food labels, and download one of the two apps below to help you on your way.
What are Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals?
Endocrine disruptors are both naturally occurring and man -made chemicals that can mimic or disrupt our hormones, otherwise known as our endocrine system. According to this study, EDC’s have been linked to thyroid, neuroendocrine, metabolic, reproductive disorders as well as an increase in hormone -dependent cancers (prostate, breast and endometrium). The initial lab study was performed on laboratory animals, but an epidemiological human study of EDC’s on humans shows that higher exposure to EDC’s lead to higher risk of the same disorders. Because EDC’s cannot be studied in a controlled, scientific human study, there has not been a hard, proven cause and effect between the two, considering long-term exposure to EDC’s in high-quantities in humans would be both dangerous and unethical. With that said, there have been thousands of peer reviewed articles on the effects of EDC’s, and that should hopefully be enough to lend itself to pushing you towards taking a deeper dive into your food, home and beauty consumption.
I know posts like this can overwhelm or even scare you into a tailspin, but please do not let it! Instead, allow this post to serve as a resource or a starting point to a healthier you.
Below, I will share a list of ingredients for you to start with. Not as a scare tactic, but as a “knowledge is power” approach to clean beauty!
What ingredients should you look for and begin to eliminate from your beauty products?
Phthalates: Have been linked to endocrine disruption. low sperm count. developmental and reproductive toxicity. How to decrease your risk: Reduce your use of fragranced product. Reduce your plastic use and do not microwave plastic. Lastly, read your labels or look for “phthalate free” on the package of a beauty product.
Parabens: Parabens are a very common preservative in cosmetic and beauty products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, shower cleanser etc. They act as endocrine disruptors and have been linked to developmental and reproductive toxicity as well as allergies.
Oxybenzone: Certain studies have shown that oxybenzone (most commonly found in sunscreen) may have an affect on breast development, infant birth weight and sperm function, but the larger impact has been shown on the environment and its link to the killing of coral reefs.
Formaldehyde : Formaldehyde can hide in cosmetic and beauty products as a preservative. Although formaldehyde is great at preventing bacteria, mold and fungus it is considered a Group 1 Agents carcinogen. With that said, usually, that is not the primary concern with cosmetic use. The major concern with formaldehyde releasing preservatives is its ability to cause an allergic reaction and or allergy due to prolonged contact.
Fragrance: I used to think fragrance was just yummy smelling herbs and oils, but the truth of the matter is that the blanket term Fragrance can be slapped on a bottle and cover a broad range of petroleum-based chemicals that can can trigger everything from headache, eye-irritation, nausea, forgetfulness and loss of coordination to respiratory irritants that can trigger asthma attacks and sinus issues.
How can I do that?
Well, the age of technology is a beautiful thing. These are two Apps I love to help navigate the clean-living landscape:
Think Dirty: I pay $27.99/Year
EWG Healthy living
These apps can help you rate many of the products your use on a daily basis! They have rating scales low, moderate and high and help you break down the ingredients in each. It can be a fun game, but also a very eye opening one.
Lastly, here are a few of my fav products for you to browse. These are products I have vetted through the apps and use on a daily basis. See my most recent IG post for details. I still use some hair products (not the ones shown here) that contain fragrance, but this is about a 90% shift to clean skin and beauty for me!
If there are any clean beauty products you swear by, please feel free to share below or slide into my DM’s. Let me know if you want me to come back with a list of my fav clean cosmetics?!