According to industry estimates, on any given day an average consumer may use as many as 25 different cosmetic and personal care products, including shampoo, nail polish, aftershave and lotion, containing more than 200 different chemical compounds.

A common assumption within the cosmetics industry is that 70% of what is applied to the skin is absorbed into the body. It is not surprising, then, that many dangerous chemicals have gotten into our bodies, our breast milk and our children. Some of these chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defects and other health problems that are on the rise in the human population.

Some chemicals found in a variety of cosmetics – including phthalates, acrylamide, formaldehyde and ethylene oxide – are listed by EPA and the state of California as carcinogens or reproductive toxins. While chemicals in any one product alone are unlikely to cause harm, repeated exposures to industrial chemicals from many different sources on a daily basis add up over time. Chemicals from multiple products used every day may also interact in the body, causing even more harm.

Because the toxicity of product ingredients is monitored almost exclusively by a self- policing industry body, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel. Because testing is voluntary and controlled by manufacturers, almost 90% of 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR or anyone else (FDA 2000, CIR 2003). Therefore, companies routinely market products with ingredients that are poorly studied, not studied at all, or worse, known to pose potentially serious health risks.

I’ll share some tips this week on not only what I’ve done to get carcinogenic products out of my life, how I have nicer skin now than when I was in my 20s and 30s, and also how I save a lot of money every year on skin care products.

In Dr. Stephen and Gina Antczak in “Cosmetics Unmasked” point out how contaminated cosmetics and toiletries are more common than what we would like to believe.

An example of how carcinogenic cosmetics are, here’s a quote from “The Politics of Cancer Revisited”…

Cover Girl Replenishing Natural Finish Make-Up (a foundation) – Procter & Gamble, Inc. Labeled Toxic Ingredients – BHA, carcinogenic: Talc, carcinogenic; Titanium Dioxcide, carcinogenic; Triethanolamine (TEA), interacts with nitrates to form carcinogenic nitrosamines; Lanolin, often contaminated with DDT and other carcinogenic pesticides. (Epstein, 1998, page 480)

Dr. Samuel Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalilition and Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Illinois, School of Public Health at Chicago, and leading international authority on toxicology and the carcinogenic effects of contaminants in consumer products, warns women of the harmful chemicals that may cause unreasonable cancer risk to them.

He points out that it is ‘unthinkable that women would knowingly inflict such exposures on their infants, children, and themselves if products routinely used were labeled with explicit warnings of cancer risks.’

This is the problem I have with these big companies – they continue to produce these products, and spend fortunes on glamorous advertising, and continue to expose us, the unsuspecting consumer, to such risks., especially when there are safe alternatives available.

When I was 13 years old I discovered that big companies didn’t really have “our” best interest at heart – I heard Ralph Nader on the radio discussing pesticides on our foods. I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that other people (big companies in particular) would do such a thing to their customers! I mean, hey, it’s ‘their’ customers who keep food on their table and a roof over their heads… why in the world would anyone want to produce something that has the very real possibility of giving their bread and butter a horrible disease?

I was shocked back then but as the years passed and I pursued my hobby (label reading and learning what these nasty things were) I became angry and disgusted – I vowed… if there was any way to make a difference, that “I” could make a difference, I was going to try my hardest.

And so my lifelong hobby evolved, growing more and more appalled that not only were people producing this horrible stuff but to make matters worse… they manipulated, flat out lied, and went to all sorts of expensive extremes to convince us we needed their product and that, somehow, it was good for us, would make us more socially accepted and liked, and make us better than we were.

Many years ago, I stopped wearing make-up – which was a difficult thing to do because my complexion was awful and all I wanted to do was hide it, cover it up and hope no one noticed how bad my skin was.

After 6-8 months of not wearing make-up I noticed my skin was looking much better, to the tune of a huge improvement. The only thing I was doing differently was not wearing make-up – which allowed my skin to be more exposed to sunlight, i.e., natural Vitamin D (which is free).

It wasn’t until I was in my late 30s that I started getting compliments on how young I looked and how beautiful my skin looked – I never thought I’d see the day when people would compliment my skin. I still get those comments today and I attribute that to what I “don’t” do. Yup, it’s challenging to be brave and toss a small fortune of cosmetics, creams, lotions, pimple ointments and so forth, into the trash can but it’s worth it.

I think of all the thousands of dollars I had spent on that junk over the years, and then look at all the money I didn’t spend on it over the past 20 years, and think… wow, wasnt I smart to eliminate a ton of stuff from my life that could never enhance the quality of my life. And, I have a small fortune in my pocket to spend on things that DO enhance the quality of my life.

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Young Living for skin care.

What am I Putting on My Face?

The Young Living products I use for my face and skin care:

Boswellia Wrinkle Cream (#5141) – nice texture, effective, I add 2 drops of Frankincense to it.

Wolfberry Eye Cream (#5145) – this is the best ever.

Satin Facial Scrub Mint (#3735) – a nice exfoliator, I love the smell too.

ART Foaming Cleanser (#5172) – a very nice, luxurious cleanser.

Frankincense Essential Oil (#3548) – I mix 2 drops with Boswellia Cream). Learn more about Frankincense, one of my favorite oils…

Per year, all of the above items cost me about $400 (wholesale, which I highly recommend if you’re not already doing). You only need a tiny dab as all of YL products are very concentrated.

Get Young Living products here!

How much do we spend on skin care!?

It’s estimated that US women spend $12,000 to $15,000 per year on beauty products. (see “Why Vanity Keeps Us Poor“). The cosmetic and toiletries industry is a $5 billion to $66 billion dollar industry. That’s a lot of money women are spending on stuff that known to cause cancer and other problems.

I’m curious…

Have you ever calculated how much you’re spending on skin care products per year? Add it up (be brutally honest now) and click on this link to provide an answer (all responses will be anonymous). I’ll post the expenses in next weeks newsletter.

Do You Know What’s in Your Bathroom?

Go into your bathroom and get out your skin care, and hair care, and dental care products, and sit down at the computer and click on this link, Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) cosmetic database then type in the various brand names and/or ingredients. The site will tell you just how bad (or not) each type of ingredient is in the products you’ve been using – yup, even the ones that claim to be all-natural and have organic ingredients.

I’ve found it’s tremendously cheaper to use YL products than to buy even the cheapy brands in the long run. It’s been many years since I’ve switched over to nothing but YL products, at first it seemed expensive to make the switch. But once I got entirely switched over and stopped buying the equivalent products impulsively at the stores – wow, I could feel the difference every month, the money I was saving, perfect during this economy. An added bonus – you’ll have a lot more room in your bathroom vanity!

For my body, I like:

Young Living’s Sandalwood Moisture Cream (#5148) or Sensation Hand & Body Lotion (#3707) (I switch back and forth between the two)

For my dry hands, feet, and knees I use:

I also keep Young Living’s Tender Tush (#3689) on hand because I find that during certain times of the year my knees, hands and feet can get pretty dry. I mix a small dab of Tender Tush and a small dab of Animal Scents Ointment (#5165) (Yes, it’s people grade quality – YL wouldn’t think of making a lesser quality for our animals).

I mix the two together in my palm and rub it on my feet, hands, and knees – within minutes those areas feel like a babies bottom! Oh, and the best part is, I only have to buy one of each per year.

Tender Tush and Animal Scents Ointment costs me a total of $39.25 (wholesale) per year to keep my feet, hands and knees unbelievably soft – much cheaper than the products I was buying 20+ years ago, it works much better, and is much healthier for my body.

How to get YL products at the best pricing

Become a wholesale customer by purchasing a Start Living kit (5 to choose from), learn more here. Beyond wholesale pricing, how you can save even more – join the Essential Rewards program.

Article by Evelyn Vincent, ©2007 Evelyn Vincent, Young Living Independent Distributor. Healing plant enthusiast helping others empower themselves for happier, healthier lives. Contact Evelyn at: http://TheVeryEssence.com to learn more or to order Young Living oils and products.

Disclaimer: Information found here refers solely to products from Young Living Essential Oils and is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. We urge you to do the health related research necessary to learn what is right for you.