Toxic chemicals in most well-known personal care products

[7thLetter]

After a long while, I've finally ditched the dollar store products and started to switch to more natural body wash, shampoo, and oral care products.

I've mentioned this topic before but if you haven't switched out your personal care products to more cleaner and natural ones it might be a good idea to do so.

Most if not all, personal products on the shelves at your local Shoppers Drug Mart or any other similar retail stores contain toxic ingredients that with regular use will lead to all sorts of cancers or any other damaging effects to your health down the road. Most might say this is obvious but then they still use the same products.

For shampoo I've switched from the regular Pantene or Head & Shoulders shampoo to a natural plant-based shampoo by Dessert Essence.

Everyone knows the fluoride in your toothpaste affects the third-eye and all that, so with toothpaste I switched to a fluoride-free product by again, Dessert Essence. Interestingly enough, there's fluoride and other toxic ingredients in your dental floss as well, I literally used to think it's just a harmless piece of string. Dessert Essence offers a cleaner product for that as well, and mouth wash too.

For body wash, I get quite a bit of body acne so for several years I was using an acne body wash by Neutrogena. But I've started to realize it has been drying up my skin, and I'm not a scientist but it seems to lead to my body possibly secreting oil at the dried skin areas which leads to MORE ACNE. We're supposed to use that product to get rid of acne but its like a fucking product that maintains the acne so you can continue using it so the company makes more money, like a subscription service.

Now I've ditched that product and for body wash I'm currently using body washes with Tea Tree Oil which is said to help get rid of acne + other benefits. The brand I'm using now is Dr. Bronner's, and I'm also going to try out the Dr. Woods brand as well, just ordered some yesterday.

Deodorant, switched from Old Spice to this brand called "method men." Aluminum-free + more natural ingredients, and I switched because I found that Old Spice was literally burning my skin, it would give me huge rashes.

Now most importantly, I haven't yet but I'm going to switch out my laundry detergent as well. Been using the regular Tide, Gain, and Head & Shoulders brands but they do contain toxic chemicals and these aren't good to breathe in, its literally all over our clothes and our pillow & blanket when we sleep at night. I might switch to a brand called "Nature Clean" or "Eco-Max."

What personal care products do you use? Do you recommend any specific brands?

Edited July 23, 2021 by 7thLetter

[Leo Gura]

16 hours ago, 7thLetter said:

dollar store products

OMG

[Roy]

Better yet don't use ANY products unless you really need them!

Our bodies can handle a lot more than we think if we give em the chance to toughen up. Eat clean and exercise often and most of those personal care products won't even seem necessary.

We've been conditioned with unrealistic standards of what health "should" look like.

[7thLetter]

4 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

OMG

Leo still uses dollar store products confirmed.

Guys we caught him red-handed

[7thLetter]

4 hours ago, Roy said:

Better yet don't use ANY products unless you really need them!

Our bodies can handle a lot more than we think if we give em the chance to toughen up. Eat clean and exercise often and most of those personal care products won't even seem necessary.

We've been conditioned with unrealistic standards of what health "should" look like.

Good point, I mean after all I guess it is sort of unnatural in a way for humans to even have or use products at all.

But I mean, I don't know how I feel about washing my body and hair with only water and leaving my skin all oily. And brushing my teeth with water too? I'd be a stinky man if I did all that lol

Washing our clothes with water on its own I would say wouldn't be much of a good idea either

Edited July 24, 2021 by 7thLetter

[mandyjw]

? Awesome! Laundry detergent is a big one in my opinion. I use the powdered Charlie's soap. Works great. 

The only thing with natural soaps is I find I have to use bleach to clean drains and the washer properly because they leave residues. It's worth the trouble though. I don't like Dr. Bronners only because I find it really coats and clogs drains after a while or lets stuff grow in there. Maybe it has to do with the chemistry of the water or something though. I do better with a shea butter bar soap. 

Toms of Maine toothpaste is a favorite, really easy to find too.

[7thLetter]

3 hours ago, mandyjw said:

I don't like Dr. Bronners only because I find it really coats and clogs drains after a while or lets stuff grow in there. Maybe it has to do with the chemistry of the water or something though. I do better with a shea butter bar soap.

Does it really? Hmm interesting, I haven't thought of that.

On the label of the one I'm using now it says "Organic Sugar Soap." And one of the ingredients in the soap is sucrose so perhaps that's what it is, along with the combination of all the oils that go with it.

Edit: wow Charlie's soap is quite pricey, but I like how few ingredients it contains. Both the powdered & liquid form.

Edited July 24, 2021 by 7thLetter

[Flowerfaeiry]

@7thLetter that's great! Be aware of "green washing" where companies will claim natural ingredients and use earthy tones on their packaging to make something seem more healthy.

The word natural has turned into a great marketing technique and that's about all.

[7thLetter]

@Flowerfaeiry Definitely something to be aware of.

Same thing happens with our foods, I often tend to look at the ingredients list on the back to make sure I don't fall for anything like that.

I did the same with these natural personal-care products that I mentioned here as well but its a little bit more difficult to spot an ingredient on the ingredients list that may be harmful because it's literally a whole entire list of ingredients that sound like chemicals. Ingredients in the Eco-Max laundry detergent for example such as, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Decyl Glucoside, etc. No idea what these are, but I definitely trust the product more than I do the usual Tide or Gain laundry detergents. I did Google these ingredients though just now and found them to be safe.

Thanks for mentioning this

 

[Flowerfaeiry]

@7thLetter for sure! Also, a product being natural doesn't inherently mean it's safe. So I'm always aware of that. 

[7thLetter]

36 minutes ago, Flowerfaeiry said:

@7thLetter Also, a product being natural doesn't inherently mean it's safe.

Got any examples?

I was just brushing my teeth and I just found out the natural toothpaste I use contains “carrageenan.” That’s one example.

I know they often put this ingredient in almond milk and is to be avoided but I had no idea it was in my toothpaste. I guess as long as I don’t swallow the toothpaste it should be fine

[Flowerfaeiry]

@7thLetter yea I think that would be ok. Essential oils is a big one. They can be really strong and shouldn't be used indiscriminately. And in general I'm talking about how "natural" is not always synonymous with better. 

 

[Michael569]

On 23/07/2021 at 11:31 AM, 7thLetter said:

We're supposed to use that product to get rid of acne but its like a fucking product that maintains the acne so you can continue using it so the company makes more money, like a subscription service.

Spot on sir. 99% of skin acne products are a complete waste of money. Acne is best treated both from the outside and from the inside. The commercial acne creams are literally just chemically removing the black & whiteheads, there is no treatment involved. It is a shame that this is also how medical treatment of acne is done. Either that or putting you on Roaccutane that works similarly to a weak dose of chemotherapy 

On 23/07/2021 at 11:31 AM, 7thLetter said:

What personal care products do you use? Do you recommend any specific brands?

no specific recomms as this is very country-specific but make sure to pace yourself slowly. Replace one product at a time. Sometimes you may need to try 2 or 3 different brands to find something more gentle that also works. 

Frankly the biggest difference I noticed was stopping use of Gillette blades and only keeping to an electric razor . Saves a lot of money and you don't need foam, after shave and after shaving cream. Reduced exposure to chemicals and gives you much better skin quality 

 

[vindicated erudite]

Endocrine disruptors are everywhere nowadays.  The biggest things you should avoid are:

• Processed foods.
• Microwavable plastic containers.
• Factory farmed milk and plastic milk jugs.
• Tap water.
• Washing products.
• Perfumes and deodorants.
• Receipt papers.
• Plastic cutlery.
• Plastic water bottles.
• GMOs and certain fish

Basically if it has plastic, try to avoid it.

Edited July 26, 2021 by vindicated erudite