Chemicals in everyday personal care products

bazfitness

Not sure which section to post this in as it's health related - so guess personal care products could be loosely associated with nutrition as it's nourishing yourself even if not with food. Anyway...

I've been getting quite bad post shaving rash of late. I was advised by an 'expert' to avoid shaving foam with Sodium laureth sulfate (aka sodium lauryl sulfate, ether sulfate, sls). Turns out this was not only in my shaving foam, but in my toothpaste, my shampoo, Eurax (an anti-itching cream). You won't be surprised that there's mixed information on this via Google but I've read enough that I'm at least concerned http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/13/sodium-lauryl-sulfate.aspx

After reading up a bit more seems like there's an abundance of at best questionable substances in personal care products that we use without question everyday. There's an informative site http://www.goodguide.com/ for Americans, unfortunately for us Europeans I can't locate an equivalent site and it seems our product ranges differ greatly even when made by the same parent companies

Has anybody else had negative experiences with Sodium laureth sulfate or any other chemical commonly used in everyday products and any sites that you know that might be helpful for people this side of the pond!

Also any recommendations for personal care products that are safe without being ridiculously expensive?

sannsk

I try to avoid parabens and other chemicals in my personal care products, and finding them is really not so hard. For example, Nivea has a line called 'Pure & Natural' using mainly organic substances. http://www.nivea.co.uk/products/face-care/pure-and-natural

I also use a lot of products from te Yes To brand. Yes to Carrots, Yes to Tomatoes and Yes To Cumcumbers is a brand using organic fruit and veggies, and is free of parabens, petroleum, SLS (Sodium laureth sulfate ) and other yukkie stuff.
http://www.yestocarrots.com/our-story.html

Maybe you can try some of these, or other brands that don't use SLS, and see if your skin reacts better to it.

yarwell

Not the same but cover the same ground :-

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home/cosmeticstoiletriesspecialreport/toxics.aspx

Apart from simple water all "products" are going to be or contain "chemicals" that's how they do the job they claim to do - detergents, lubricants, etc etc. Basic soap is probably harmless enough.

UpBeatMaria

Aloha! I avoid chemicals in all my personal products. This blog has some great ideas for natural personal care products: www.crunchybetty.com!!! I personally cleanse my face with essential oils and a nutmeg milk scrub (all from the blog I mentioned). As far as finding healthier personal products, Whole Foods has a great selection. If you are concerned about the price, you can always try out a product at Whole Foods, note its name and then search for it on online. I hope this helped

calamityshell

I completely agree and was introduced to this range which seems to be great so far.
http://www.eveofstagnes.co.uk/#
And my skin is no longer blotchy and dry.

bazfitness

Thanks for the replies so far folks. Was travelling yesterday so didn't manage to reply until now.

As far as finding healthier personal products, Whole Foods has a great selection. If you are concerned about the price, you can always try out a product at Whole Foods, note its name and then search for it on online. I hope this helped

I see there are whole foods stores in London, UK so I will try to visit one as I'm nearby at the moment. I am a bit concerned with the price, not exactly awash with cash at the moment but I will defo try some of the products one time anyway!

bazfitness

I visited a whole foods store in Piccadilly a few days ago. It's a very popular store. Anyway I bought a range of sls and paraben free products - mostly men's stuff by Bulldog, price wasn't bad either - only marginally more than regular stuff. So far they seem to be working out ok.

bazfitness

@upbeatMaria and others thanks so much for telling me about Whole Foods store. My shaving rash has completely stopped since using these products and my skin looks so much better. I obviously have an intolerance to some or all of these commonly used chemicals in the 'normal products. I'm back in Ireland now which doesn't have a Whole Foods store AFAIK but have found SLS and parabens free products at a small health product shop as well as at Holland & Barrett, a well known health & supplement chain in both UK & Ireland, so these type of products are easily accessible. From what I've seen SLS and parabens are in just about every 'normal' personal care product. FWIW I couldn't find alternative products in Boots. I wonder would using these help people with acne problems as well!