March 13, 2011

How to Choose Personal Care Products

Would you eat it? This question is something you should be asking yourself when buying personal care items and beauty products as our skin quickly absorbs everything we put on it. For example, if you were to stand barefoot on a garlic clove, within minutes you would taste the garlic (and have pretty smelly feet). It is important to not only make sure you are eating healthy foods, but also using healthy personal products.

The Environmental Working Group, who also provided the organic "Dirty Dozen" list, analyzed cosmetics and personal care product ingredients against definitive government, industry and academic databases of hazardous chemicals and found that more than one in five personal care products contain chemicals linked to cancer, 80% contain ingredients that commonly contain hazardous impurities and 56% contain penetration enhancers that help deliver ingredients deeper into the skin.

Similar to choosing healthy foods, follow similar rules when searching for healthy personal products: look for short ingredients lists, easy to pronounce ingredients (not a bunch of chemicals) and try to find organic. A great resource is EWG's Web site Skin Deep cosmetic safety database, you can type in the name or brand to get a rating and report.

Last year I wrote about the many benefits of coconut oil, and besides its many uses in the kitchen, it is my favorite skin lotion. After recently traveling on a long plane ride, Jen's skin got really dry, so she did an (unscientific) experiment and used coconut oil on one arm and organic lotion on the other. After just one day, the arm she used coconut oil on was completely smooth while the other arm was still dry.

Also, coconut oil is a nourishing conditioner for your scalp and hair, and it can be a natural remedy for dandruff.

The next time you are shopping for personal products, ask yourself, would you eat it?

We use organic, extra virgin, expeller pressed coconut oil, available at Kehres Health & Chiropractic for $13.00. To purchase, contact us at 989-607-4322 or drkehres@kehreshealth.com

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