Skin Deep

Should we be concerned about soaps and cosmetics?
Absolutely. Our skin is a living organ and absorbs what we put on it, specially substances that are oily or lipophilic (def. capable of combining or dissolving in lipids or fats) like lotions, creams, some soaps and cleansers because these easily pass through our lipid cell membranes.

Many products out there do contain ingredients that are known to be harmful to health or carcinogenic. How can this happen? Because the cosmetic industry is largely unregulated. They do not have to go through a safety check from the FDA. Even if they did have to go through FDA, I would still be careful: we already know rigorous screening from the FDA has allowed many drugs with harmful side effects to go to market.

What brands should we avoid?
Check out the website www.ewg.org, an environmental advocacy group. This website names names. They have listings by type of products like toothpastes, skin care, hair care, make-up etc. Generally, the "organic" brands tend to be safer, but I was pleasantly surprised how some cheaper brands available in neighborhood stores actually stack up pretty well compared to more expensive brands.

It will take work to find the brands that will have the right balance between safety and the cleaning or enhancing effect we want from the products. But it's worth it.