The Clean Beauty Revolution: The important connection between cosmetics and women's health

In our quest for flawless skin and radiant beauty, we often overlook the hidden dangers lurking in our personal care products. The harsh truth is that many of these products contain a cocktail of chemicals that not only affect our skin but also pose risks to our overall health. From hormonal disruption to carcinogenic properties, these ingredients can wreak havoc on our bodies in ways we might not even realize.

Understanding the Risks

Consider this: many commonly used personal care products contain chemicals that act as hormonal disruptors. These disruptors interfere with our body's endocrine system, which regulates crucial functions such as fertility, pregnancy, postpartum health, menopause, and hormonal imbalances like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

Furthermore, some ingredients found in beauty products have been identified as carcinogens, increasing the risk of developing cancer over time. Others function as pro-oxidants, accelerating the aging process – and not just of our skin, but potentially of our entire bodies.

The Myth of External Impact Only

One prevalent misconception is that since we're not ingesting these products, they couldn't possibly harm our health. However, our skin is our body's largest organ, and it readily absorbs products we apply to it. These chemicals can penetrate the skin barrier, entering our bloodstream and circulating throughout our bodies, exerting their detrimental effects on our health.

So How Do We Make Informed Purchases?

It's impossible to know 100% of the harmful ingredients in products. So how do you go about analyzing labels on makeup and skincare products? There are tools out there that can help you while shopping and have done the hard work for us. Here are some resources you can use to assess ingredient safety:

• EWG Skin Deep

• ThinkDirty

• Yuka

These apps/sites allow you to pull up the full ingredient list of products and assess each individually based on current research. I always search new products I'm thinking about buying to assess their safety before purchasing.