JLove’s Interview: The Dirty on Skincare
Have you ever wondered what is actually in your personal grooming products and if they are safe or not? A great depiction of skin care gone awry is in the 2004 version of Cat Woman, where Hedare Beauty had a ‘miracle’ product called BeauLine that was touted as the next ‘transformational’ beauty product but instead, with continued use, it actually destroyed the skin. While this is a fantastical and dark portrayal of skin care gone bad it left me wondering how far away from the truth our reality is here in the US. Reality…maybe not as far from this movie as you might think.
JLove: According to National Geographic, “Body organs aren't all internal like the brain or the heart. There's one we wear on the outside. Skin is our largest organ—adults carry some 8 pounds and 22 square feet of it. This fleshy covering does a lot more than make us look presentable. In fact, without it, we'd literally evaporate.” [1] Most people don’t realize that our skin is the largest organ on our body. Our pores are literally eating and feeding on things from our environment and our personal grooming products. Will you help us understand what this means?
Adina: Think of a nicotine patch. The reason it works so effectively is because you're placing it on your skin and allowing the nicotine to enter your bloodstream directly. Approximately 60% of what you put on your skin gets soaked in within the first minute. That's insane! And there's no protection offered by your stomach or intestines (as with eating and digestion), it just goes straight into your body, into your blood, immediately. When you are having a reaction like a rash or eczema or rosacea that is not a problem with you, that is your skin telling you something is wrong. We should be grateful for these symptoms. But instead of putting a bandage over them, we should take them as a sign that there is something about our environment or our products that we need to fix.
JLove: That's a great point Adina. I recently read that the government doesn't review the safety of products before they're sold. Is that true?
Adina: Ingredients themselves are regulated, but actual products are not. It's a strange discrepancy. Additionally, some ingredients, like fragrance, can be proprietary formulas with a hundred ingredients in them, and they don't have to be listed because they're protected by the law. Furthermore, there are nearly a thousand ingredients that are considered “safe” in the US but those same ingredients have been BANNED in other countries. Here in the US, if something hasn't been proven to be dangerous, it can be used. In other countries, if it hasn't been proven to be safe, it can't be used.
Adina: Think of a nicotine patch. The reason it works so effectively is because you're placing it on your skin and allowing the nicotine to enter your bloodstream directly. Approximately 60% of what you put on your skin gets soaked in within the first minute. That's insane! And there's no protection offered by your stomach or intestines (as with eating and digestion), it just goes straight into your body, into your blood, immediately. When you are having a reaction like a rash or eczema or rosacea that is not a problem with you, that is your skin telling you something is wrong. We should be grateful for these symptoms. But instead of putting a bandage over them, we should take them as a sign that there is something about our environment or our products that we need to fix.
JLove: That's a great point Adina. I recently read that the government doesn't review the safety of products before they're sold. Is that true?
Adina: Ingredients themselves are regulated, but actual products are not. It's a strange discrepancy. Additionally, some ingredients, like fragrance, can be proprietary formulas with a hundred ingredients in them, and they don't have to be listed because they're protected by the law. Furthermore, there are nearly a thousand ingredients that are considered “safe” in the US but those same ingredients have been BANNED in other countries. Here in the US, if something hasn't been proven to be dangerous, it can be used. In other countries, if it hasn't been proven to be safe, it can't be used.
JLove: Public health laws allow:
- Almost any chemical as an ingredient in personal care products
- Misleading and incomplete labeling of ingredients
- Unsubstantiated claims about product benefits
- No required safety testing of products or ingredients
Adina: Treat your products like you treat food. Look at the ingredients. Do you know what they are? If not, keep looking. Do a little bit of research. Use your phone or computer to look up ingredients. You may find it challenging to locate products that are completely natural, but they're out there. And better yet, you can make them yourself. Use coconut oil to moisturize your body, olive oil to remove your makeup, sugar or salt to scrub your body, baking soda to wash your hair and brush your teeth. Make really small changes. You'll notice the difference immediately, and you'll be safer.
JLove: Thank you so much Adina. This is very useful information. Additionally, The Environmental Working Group has put together the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, where you’ll find product and ingredient safety ratings, health information about cosmetics ingredients and smart shopping tips you can trust. This site is an excellent resource and a quick and easy way to take the safety of your skin into your own hands >> http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
Adina genuinely wants people to be safe all the while using products that are effective. Her passion for creating edible skincare is available to you and she has generously provided you with a coupon. You can receive 10% off the Sprout Skincare line at http://sproutskincare.com by using coupon code: NIBMOR
[1] READ MORE from the National Geographic about our skin here >> http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/skin-article/
Theme... New Finds
Lately, I have been dipping my feet in the pool of Different or out of the norm. I have been trying new exercise classes at the gym, new recipes in the kitchen, hanging out at new places on the weekends, and even switching up my hair style. So I find it only appropriate to have a playlist that I consider my “new finds”. (Just for the record, these songs listed below have been released for a while but they have just recently become my obsession)
Jammin’ Playlist:
1. Settle Down by Kimbra
2. Somebody that I used to know by Gotye ft Kimbra
3. Tightrope by Janelle Monae
4. Hot right now by DJ Fresh ft Rita Ora
5. Let go by Safety Suit
