Seeking and Finding Wholeness

I encourage you to check the ingredients listed on of your hair, skin, body, dental and personal hygiene products (i.e. shampoos, soap, tooth pastes, moisturizing creams, hair coloring, etc). Note that ingredients are listed by their weight, so the ones listed first make up more of the product than the ones listed last.

When reading the ingredients you are looking for the hidden carcinogens, irritants and other harmful ingredients. You may expect a lot of the cheap shampoo brands like Suave, Dove, VO5 and Pert Plus to contain bad ingredients, but you should know that some of the expensive, all natural or even organic brands may contain harmful ingredients.

Check the label of any product before purchasing it, inhaling it, eating it or applying on your skin (or on anything that you will touch or eat, including your pets).

This article will inform you about a few, but most common, of these harmful chemicals that belong in a chemistry lab, not your house, in mouth, or on your skin or hair. Don’t take my word for it, do your own research on these chemicals and make up your mind. This list is here to alert you, if you want to learn more Google is your friend.

I am not a chemist, I did not make any discoveries, I simply took the time to search online for all the bad ingredients first for my own use (as I was forgetting the names of the ingredients to avoid as my list kept getting longer) .. Now my list is posted here in this article, conveniently for you on one page, hopefully for someone out there to find helpful.

Here’s the list, with some details:

* Phthalates: Industrial compounds found in shampoos that enter the body through the skin and wreak havoc on the endocrine system. In fact, phthalates are associated with male obesity, insulin resistance and reduced sperm production.

* Triclosan: The University of Vermont lists triclosan as an antibacterial found in shampoos that interferes with normal bacterial levels in the body with continued use. Dilution in water can cause triclosan to mutate into a form of dioxin.

* Paraphenylenediamine, or 1,4-diaminobenzene, a contact allergen that is often used in the manufacture of black hair dyes and shampoos.

* Sodium Chloride (Salt – NaCI): Used to increase the viscosity in some cosmetics. Can cause eye and skin irritation if used in too high concentrations (Hampton). Its usually used to make a cheap, watery consistency product look thick and rich instead.

* Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS): Very harsh. Found in most shampoos, the manufacturers use it because it produces a lot of foam and it is cheap. Used in cleaning car engines. Northwestern Health Sciences University explains that sodium lauryl sulfate, found in some shampoo formulas, may actually alter your skin’s structure, allowing for deeper chemical penetration. Deep penetration makes it easier for dangerous chemicals to enter your blood stream. Showed penetration into the eyes, as well as systemic tissues (brain, heart, liver, etc.). SLS also shows long-term retention in tissues. In soaps and shampoos, there is an immediate concern relating to the penetration of these chemicals into the eyes and other tissues. This is especially important in infants, where considerable growth is occurring, because a much greater uptake occurs by tissues of younger eyes and SLS changes the amounts of some proteins in cells from eye tissues. Tissues of young eyes may be more susceptible to alternation by SLS (Green). Forms nitrates, a possible carcinogen when used in shampoos and cleansers containing nitrogen-based ingredients. These nitrates can enter the blood stream in large numbers from shampooing, bubble baths, bath and shower gels and facial cleansers. These synthetic substances are used in shampoos for their detergent and foam-building abilities. They can cause eye irritations, skin rashes, hair loss, scalp scurf similar to dandruff and allergic reactions. They are frequently disguised in pseudo-natural cosmetics with the parenthetic explanation “comes from coconut.” (Hampton) Dr. David H. Fine, the chemist who uncovered NDELA contamination in cosmetics, estimates that a person would be applying 50 to 100 micrograms of nitrosamine to the skin each time he or she used a nitrosamine-contaminated cosmetic. By comparison, a person consuming sodium nitrite-preserved bacon is exposed to less than 1 microgram of nitrosamine (Hampton).

* Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) – milder, but still harsh Used as a wetting agent in the textile industry. Irritating to scalp and may cause hair loss (Wright).
Chemical name: Sodium Lauryl “ether” Sulfate An ether chain is added to SLS. Called a premium agent in cleansers and shampoos.
In reality it is very inexpensive but thickens when salt is added in the formula and produces high levels of foam to give the concentrated illusion it is thick, rich and expensive. .

Read more…

I just wanted to write a quick post and say “Baking Soda, What a Precious Salt!”  Baking soda can be used for so many things, from cooking to deodorizing,  it makes a good tooth paste, has anti fungal effects and can be used to wash hair and quickly eliminate dandruff. What a useful precious salt!

Do you use baking soda for things other than cooking?

Below you will see what wikipedia says about backing soda. Retrieved 10/27/2009 10PM CST.

Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO₃. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slight alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. The natural mineral form is known as nahcolite. It is also produced artificially.

Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, bicarbonate of soda. Colloquially, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning “aerated salt“, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage.

Cooking

Sodium bicarbonate is primarily used in cooking (baking) where it reacts with other components to release carbon dioxide, that helps dough “rise”. The acidic compounds that induce this reaction include phosphates, cream of tartar, lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa, vinegar, etc. Sodium bicarbonate can be substituted for baking powder provided sufficient acid reagent is also added to the recipe.^[3] Many forms of baking powder contain sodium bicarbonate combined with one or more acidic phosphates (especially good) or cream of tartar. Can also be used for softening peas (⅛ tsp. per pint of water and bring to boil for one hour)

Thermal decomposition causes sodium bicarbonate alone to act as a raising agent by releasing carbon dioxide at baking temperatures. The mixture for cakes using this method can be allowed to stand before baking without any premature release of carbon dioxide.

Neutralization of acids and bases

Many laboratories keep a bottle of sodium bicarbonate powder within easy reach, because sodium bicarbonate is amphoteric, reacting with acids and bases. Furthermore, as it is relatively innocuous in most situations, there is no harm in using excess sodium bicarbonate. Lastly, sodium bicarbonate powder may be used to smother a small fire. ^[4]

A wide variety of applications follows from its neutralization properties, including ameliorating the effects of white phosphorus in incendiary bullets from spreading inside an afflicted soldier’s wounds.^[5] Sodium bicarbonate can be added as a simple solution for raising the pH balance of water (increasing total alkalinity) where high levels of chlorine (2-5 ppm) are present as in swimming pools and aquariums.^[6] Read more…