Holistic Skin Care

In the US there are 11 FDA banned ingredients in the cosmetics industry. In Europe there are over 1,300 banned ingredients! These are disturbing numbers and one HUGE reason why we have to pay attention to the ingredients lists on products we buy and understand what we are looking for.

Science has found that on average a woman in America puts up to 515 synthetic chemicals on her skin and 60% or more is being absorbed into her skin!

You may remember learning in 7th grade science class that our skin is our largest organ. Meaning whatever we put on it is absorbed so much it is essentially like putting it in our mouth and eating it.

That will make one think twice about the chemical loaded products like sunscreens, bug sprays, perfumes and lotions, self tanners, and so. Dr Mark Hyman, functional medicine doctor and head of the Cleveland Clinic says it like this, “if you wouldn’t put it in your mouth you probably don’t want to be putting it on your skin”.

Making your own products be it skincare, home cleaning products or personal hygiene products is the best way to be sure you have clean nontoxic products that are safe for your family and pets.

Here is everything you need to know about making your skincare at home. The world of natural skincare can be confusing as hell. So many skincare companies have slapped the “nontoxic”, “clean”, or “green” on their labels and marketing but in all reality, those terms mean nothing to the FDA.

This means that these companies are not regulated on the truthfulness of being clean and non-toxic.

This is not to say everything on the label is a lie……

But it does mean that we, the consumers, are responsible for doing our homework and fact-checking ingredients when we are buying skincare.

One awesome way to avoid this is to start making your skincare at home yourself. This allows you to be sure the ingredients are simple, minimal, and clean. It also allows you to tailor the skincare to fit your skin’s needs.

This method of homemade skincare has been traced back to ancient Egyptian women.

Many people feel natural skincare or organic skincare ingredients cannot be as strong or effective as skincare cooked up in a lab by scientists but this simply is not true. And in fact, those synthetic ingredients are now being linked to many health issues.

Autoimmune disease has skyrocketed in the last 100 years and 6 out of 10 women in the US now suffer from hormonal imbalance on some level throughout their lives.

Ingredients found in our skincare, personal hygiene, cleaning, and home products are loaded with ingredients like fragrances, parabens, sulfates, and even formaldehyde (yikes!) which are all found to be known endocrine disruptures.

Quick Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor. I am an everyday person just like you, who was frustrated and did not want to be on medication my whole life without ever actually fixing the problem. I call my posts I share how I used food as medicine, clean nontoxic living, and modern scientific tools and research to heal my autoimmune system and be free of all medication in hopes that you can find your own healing journey too.

How “Dirty” Skincare Affects Your Health

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report, it is said that eight million people die globally every year because of air pollution. Among those 4.3 million were reported to have died from household-related air pollutants. 

Please also remember that it is near impossible to come to the root causes of things like cancer and heart disease to pinpoint the main cause(s). 

I would say that number would be ten times that amount if our medical research could dig that deep. 

In doing my own digging one research study I found said that less than 10% of volatile ingredients are listed on the labels.

How is this legal?

The companies are protected by the “trade secrets” law to not have to share the full ingredients list, even with the regulating entities (such as the FDA) unless there is a legal health claim with a filed lawsuit.  

As an example, the word fragrance on the ingredients label can have upwards of 100 hidden ingredients like terpenes, formaldehyde, and other nasty ingredients they do not want you to see, and it is 100% legal.

Something as seemly harmless as your favorite fall candle, laundry soap, or make-up can have things such as:

• Terpenes

• VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds)

• Carbon Monoxide

• Formaldehyde

• Benzene

• Aldehydes

• Ethylene

VOCs – Volatile Organic Compounds

I will pick on one of the worst ingredients found in close to 90% of;

• Skincare & Makeup
• Personal hygiene products (deodorant, soaps, lotions, hair care products, perfume, etc)
• Cleaning products (household cleaners, laundry soaps, fabric softeners, room sprays/deodorizers, candles, etc)

VOCs are a nasty little chemical that is one of the few toxins able to break through our blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is our brain’s defense wall to keep out environmental toxins, but the particles in VOCs are so fine they can penetrate through.

This is why a strong candle or perfume often triggers an immediate headache, sneezing, coughing, etc. Our body’s last line of defense has been broken down and it is responding by trying to protect us by causing discomfort.

Volatile Organic Compounds VOCs include a variety of chemical gases that are admitted from both solid and liquid objects. 

Thousands of our common everyday household products contain VOCs including paint, varnish, wax, cleaning products, decreasing products, and most cosmetic products sold in stores.

Ground-level irritation from VOCs can reflect in I irritation, nose irritation, and throat irritation. The more aggressive reaction can stimulate or trigger asthma or other lung diseases including bronchitis. 

Exposure to high levels of VOCs increases the risk of premature death and individuals already suffering from heart or lung disease. Children, whose lungs are still forming may be at higher risk of developing VOC-related diseases. 
Key signs or symptoms associated with exposure to VOCs include:

• conjunctival irritation.
• nose and throat discomfort.
• headache.
• allergic skin reaction.
• dyspnea.
• declines in serum cholinesterase levels.
• nausea.
• emesis.

Make Your Own Skincare

Making your own skincare is a great way to be sure that you are not getting dirty ingredients in your everyday products! Pinterest is a great resource to get free DIY recipes for literally anything you can think of but lets cover some of the basics here.

Skincare: (links to my favorites are below)

DIY Foaming Face Wash – 1/3 Cup Honey + 1 Tbsp Glycerin + 1/3 Cup Carrier oil (I love olive oil) + 20 Drops Essential Oil (skin loving options: lavender, geranium, rose, tea tree, frankincense, mhyrr, pachouly) +1/3 Cup Liquid Castle (unscented)

DIY Spray Toner: 1/4 Cup ACV (apple cider vinegar) + 1/4 Cup Witch Hazel (note: make sure it is alchole and fragrance free) + 3 Drops Tea Tree EO + 4 oz glass spray bottle

DIY Glow Serum: 10 Drops each of Lavender + Frankincense + Copaiba EO + Jojoba Oil + 2 oz Amber glass bottle with dropper top

DIY Facial Mostuizer

The BEST moisturizer in the world, legit this stuff is life changing! Is Grass-Fed Grass Finished Tallow Balm (See my post on the amazing benefits of tallow for our skin by clicking here)

1 Cup Grass-Fed Tallow + 48 Drops EO + 1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Not going to lie this one is pretty time consuming unless you have triple rendered tallow on hand….. if not shoot me an email and see if I have any in stock with RootsCo. I normally sell my skincare locally only but in the cooler months I am able to ship my balms and butters.

DIY All-in-One Soap: Shampoo + Shaving + Body Wash + Hand Soap + Face Wash

For Soap I use my RootsCo All-in-One Tallow Soap bars. They are Shampoo + Shaving Soap + Body Soap + Face & Hand Soap all in one. The face wash recipe above is great and I used it for years until I started making my own soap.

Again, I will share the recipe but soap making can be quiet intimidating (as lye is VERY dangerous to work with unless done properly) and it takes about 30 days or so for the soap bars to cure (aka be ready).

32 oz Tallow + 1 1/2 oz EO + 12 1/4 Cup Water +4.2 oz Lye

Again please use caution in soap making, it can cause a chemical reaction that can burn the skin if done improperly.

Feel free to email for avaliblity and pricing to by a RootsCo all in one bar from me.

Home Cleaner All-in-One

This is all I use around our house! Windows, floors, countertops, toliets you name it. Immunity Boost Cleaner is a concentrate so you use only a very small about these two bottles last our family of 4 (homeschooling and working from home we are home all day with 3 dogs and 4 cats… so the messes pile up fast lol). It smells amazing and has been tested against blech in cleaning up raw chicken and passed the test!

Think Dirty App

So one of my favorite tools to find these nasty hidden toxins is to think dirty. No not “think dirty”, this is a PG blog people.

The free app that’s called Think Dirty.

This handy dandy little app was not around at the beginning of my searching for hidden toxins days. I will say OMG what a time saver! 

This app has just about every skincare, make-up and beauty, personal hygiene, and even household cleaning item. It is freakin’ awesome. 

BUT…..

I know I know there’s always a ‘but’ right (lol). But this app only has access to “listed ingredients”. You may or may not be aware that there are a LOT of loopholes in the US around not having to list all of the ingredients used. 

Like for example companies can, and often do, claim they have a proprietary recipe. And bam just like that 100’s if not 1,000’s of nasty ingredients, and yes if it is being hidden they must be under the nasty ingredients categories and it does not have to be listed.

There is growing research and evidence that pesticides, BPA, phthalates, and other toxic chemicals are major endocrine disruptors (our autoimmune system is our hormone factory if this factory is being slowed down, or stopped then our body’s other functions quickly follow). 

Our endocrine system is a carefully balanced system of producing and regulating the hormones our system needs to properly function – all of these additives, dyes, artificial fragrances, and other chemicals added to our daily personal care products are blocking these receptors causing them essentially to begin breaking down. 

According to one study the average American woman puts on average 515 synthetic chemicals on their skin every day without even knowing it. 

The problem? (if it’s not obvious…the words chemicals say it all right?) 

Up to 60% of those chemicals absorb into the skin. (source)

What does this translate to in our health? A host of negative health effects ranging from allergic reactions to more severe and chronic illnesses such as breast cancer and even a host of adverse pregnancy outcomes. 

Our endocrine system (aka the hormone factory) is responsible for or affects every single system in our bodies from sleep to our moods and our fertility. 

Ok. If you haven’t already marched into your bathroom and started raiding under your sink in search of these hidden toxins using the Think Dirty App, please. 

Below are some of the worse added chemicals in cosmetics to be on the lookout for. 

Don’t put something this important to your health off for later. Below you will find a great eBook all about skincare and my favorite DIY all-natural non-toxic recipes and bonus you made them so you know everything that is in them!

Conclusion 

Ok, friends that was a LOT of information on how to find those nastey hidden toxins in your everyday products so that you can keep your health and the health of your family your top priority! Don’t forget to grab your free printable eBook that also has some pretty great and budget friendly DIY’s for you! 

Also, browse the RootsCo Skincare store before you go. Not only are you supporting a small US based business, who takes a lot of pride in supporting local businesses myself, but you are helping our planet all while making your everyday so much simpler! Win! Win! Win!

Thank you for your visit today, I do this all for you my friend! Hoping my years of research the long and slow way will rocket full your clean nontoxic journey to better health and longevity! 

Cheers!

K’Lee