Remember the shampoo you found hiding in the back of the bathroom cupboard, a gift from a boyfriend you wanted to forget? Well, times change and memories fade and it’s been over 3 years, so you decide to give it a try. “Wow, smells great, feels good. Thank you, Bad Buddy, wherever you may be! “
But who is the winner here?
A shampoo, unopened, can have a shelf life up to 4 years. That’s a long time for a product to sit. But with formaldehyde* releasing chemical this makes it possible. Chemicals like diazolidinyl urea, hydantoin, methenamine and quaternium-15, which are used in different cosmetics, slowly release formaldehyde as they age.
Our skin is absorbent. It will deliver inwards whatever it is you put on it. The skin and scalp do not discriminate between healthy nutrients or toxic chemicals. It absorbs the good and the bad. And even more scary, the ugly.
Bad and ugly is the carcinogenic toxin formaldehyde. By itself, it is regulated in Canada, but formaldehyde releasing preservatives are not. Go figure. After all, the goal is for the product to sit on the shelf in the store or in your cupboard for as long as is possible.
These formaldehyde releasing chemicals are overwhelming prevalent in cleaning products and icosmetics, whether we are scrubbing the home or cleaning and moisturizing our body.
You can make your own body wash (and I strongly suggest you avoid many of the commercial ones) by mixing a liquid castile soap, a carrier oil (like argan or jojoba), raw honey, a vitamin E oil and essential oils (lavender, rosemary etc.). Just look up a DIY Body Wash on google and have fun.
Or you can, of course, lather in pure soap bars. All over. Head to toe. When you will always be the winner.
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