And Furthermore…More About Plastic Pollution
Another major source of plastic waste is, of course, bottles for stuff like shampoo and dish soap.
I have another beef against most shampoos, besides the bottles, which will be the focus of this particular little rant.
Our skin is our largest organ. It is, on average, 14 to 18 square feet in size. It is a permeable, living, breathing organism. This porosity means it both excretes bodily waste products through perspiration, and it also absorbs what it comes into contact with.
We all know to wear gloves and protective gear when we handle dangerous chemicals.
Ironically, most commercial shampoos contain toxic chemicals. During our daily personal care routine, most of us have exposed ourselves to more than 200 chemicals. Recent research on these synthetic concoctions suggests that they may be messing with our hormone signals.
Even so-called “natural” products use the same dangerous ingredients, as there are no regulations about what is “natural” so the term is basically meaningless.
In fact, I have on my desk right now an old shampoo bottle. It has the word “Nature” in the name, suggesting organic and safe. It also includes the name of the mysterious and tropical “Awapuhi.” Sounds like I will become blessed with the tresses of a Tahitian Goddess if I use this stuff, doesn’t it? Genius in marketing!
And it further declares that it “was not tested on animals.” That also sounds responsible and caring, eh?
The list of ingredients on the back panel, however, reveals the real and sorry story.
Water is the first ingredient named. And then we get to the nitty gritty. Sodium Laureth Sulfate is an ingredient you will find in nearly every product that produces suds. Soaps and shampoos containing sodium laureth sulfate can lead to direct damage to the hair follicle, skin damage, permanent eye damage in children and even liver toxicity.
DEA is the next ingredient listed. DEA and its cousin MEA are hormone disrupting chemicals that are known to form cancer causing nitrates and nitrosamines in our bodies.
FD & C pigments are made from coal tar and can cause skin irritation. Fragrances can themselves contain up to 4,000 separate ingredients, most of which are synthetic. Exposure to fragrances can affect the central nervous system.
And on it goes…So what to do about it?
Several years ago I began using bars of natural shampoo. I get the ones I use from mehandi.com, but there are many other sources. There is no bottle to discard, they are wrapped in paper. One bar lasts me 2 or 3 months and costs $12.50.
And, best of all you could practically eat the stuff as it contains no noxious crap. The bar I have in front of me right now from Mehandi contains distilled water and oils of coconut, sunflower, castor bean and juniper berry. And that’s all. It doesn’t froth up a lot, but it works great and has a natural lovely aroma.
Stephanie Kelley
