To call safe personal care products chemical free might be a bit misleading, as chemicals are nothing more than arrangements of atoms and molecules; in fact, a chemical known as
dihydrogen oxide is necessary for life to exist at all; likewise, chemicals such as
sodium chloride are needed in order to regulate many cellular functions. Of course, you may or may not have recognized those as being simple water and salt respectively; the point here is that safe cosmetics and chemical-free shampoos are not necessarily free of chemicals. They are however free of the
harmfull and
toxic chemicals that are used in the processing of most common commercial personal care products. When such products are labeled as safe personal care products, it means they have been minimally processed, and the use of synthetic dyes and perfumes has been eliminated.
Different Kinds of Safe Personal Care Products
Although the manufacture and marketing of organic, minimally-processed safe personal care products is a fairly recent phenomenon, it is a growing one. Such safe and natural products currently available include:
- Cchemical free cosmetics
- Chemical-free shampoo
- Other natural skin care products
According to the Food and Drug Administration, most common commercially mass produced personal care products contain well over
ten thousand different chemical ingredients - only about 1,100 that have been classified as safe.
One-third of these chemicals have been identified as
carcinogenic.
When you choose chemical free shampoo, you're likely to find dihydrogen oxide (H2O) listed as an ingredient - but you won't see ingredients such as
Bezyl alcohol, sodium benzoate, ammonium sulfate or the mysterious substance with the nearly unpronounceable name of methylchoroisothiazolinone. In fact, a good rule of thumb is that when looking at the ingredients, if it sounds as if it came from a test tube and you can't figure out what it is, stay away from it.
Chemical-free cosmetics are also free of artificial, synthetically-produced dyes (such as D&C Red No. 6 or FD&C Blue No. 1) or perfumes (which may contain propylene glycol, a primary ingredient in automotive anti-freeze). Instead, these safe cosmetics are made from harmless, natural minerals such as ochre, kohl and vegetable-based dyes - wholesome substances that have been used by humans since Neolithic times.
Make The Switch Now
If you've never enjoyed the benefits of using safe personal care products before, there's no time like the present to make the switch. Using safe cosmetics, chemical free shampoos and other natural skin products will not only make you look better, you'll feel better as well - and the use of safe personal care products will do the environment tremendous good as well.
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