How Toxic Makeup Steals Fertility

How to safely wear makeup with studies revealing that toxic chemicals in conventional brands threaten reproductive health and can even bring about early menopause.

With women choosing to start their families at later ages, new research which indicates that the simple use of makeup and other cosmetics could bring on menopause anywhere from 2.3 to perhaps as much as 15 years early is a grave cause for concern. 

The analysis, conducted by a team of scientists led by Dr. Natalia Grindler of Washington University in St. Louis, involved examination of the level of phthalates in the urine of 5,700 women.

Phthalates are a common group of chemicals that have widespread use in makeup and other personal care items such as shampoo, body lotions. cleansers, perfume, nail polish, liquid soap, and hair spray.

Phthalates are used in many other types of products too including children’s toys (even those for mouthing and teething!), food packaging, paint, wax, print ink, and the list goes on and on.  

From a manufacturer’s point of view, phthalates are desirable as they greatly increase a product’s flexibility, transparency, and/or durability.

According to Dr. Grindler, women studied who had the highest levels of phthalates in their blood were found to start menopause a full 2.3 years before the other women.  

Dr. Grindler said in her remarks at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine’s conference in San Diego, California that some women may be going through the change as early as their mid-thirties as a result of chemical overexposure much of it likely from bad makeup.

Early menopause has a lot of impact on your health. We absolutely think these chemicals have the potential to affect ovarian function and human reproduction.

“There’s a lot that we don’t know at this point, our research is still preliminary, but it’s enough to suggest it is having a detrimental impact in the long term.

Menopause in your mid-thirties?  

This is a huge problem for women who put off starting a family in order to pursue a career.

I myself didn’t have my first child until I was 34 so this particular study really hit a nerve with me.

Four Ways to Avoid the Bad Makeup Trap

There is no doubt that it is well-nigh impossible for women to avoid phthalates altogether as they are ubiquitous in our toxic soup modern environment.  

There are definitely ways to minimize exposure, however, and dietary strategies can be employed to maximize the body’s ability to handle phthalates and other toxins exposure.

Stop Using Conventional Makeup and Personal Care Products

Stopping the use of conventional makeup and using only toxin-free makeup made with natural ingredients is a huge step as the skin absorbs chemicals into the blood quite readily.  

According to the industry magazine In-Cosmetics, the average woman who uses bad makeup and other personal care products absorb over 4 lbs of chemicals each and every year!

Don’t forget hair care products too!

The chemicals in these products easily migrate onto skin or even your pillowcase. One easy way to style hair without toxins is learning how to make natural hair gel.

Eat Fresh & Minimize Anything in a Package

Eating fresh food and minimizing the use of packaged food would help enormously.

This is because phthalates are widely used in the packaging of processed foods.

This includes those cardboard containers at the Whole Food Hot Bar.

Eat Liberal Amounts of Bone Broth

Plenty of homemade bone broths in the diet on a regular basis is a dietary strategy that can help tremendously with any phthalate exposure that does occur despite a woman’s best efforts.  

Bone broth is extremely high in the amino acid glycine via natural gelatin which is essential for the liver to adequately perform its detoxification duties.  

In fact, the liver is greatly hampered if there isn’t enough glycine in the diet so it makes sense to consume liberal amounts of bone broth which includes glycine in a form that is very easily absorbed.

Dr. Reuben Ottenberg suggested in the Journal of the American Medical Association as early as 1935 that patients with jaundice or other liver problems be administered 5-10 grams of gelatin per day as food or via a gelatin supplement.

If this is something you would like to use, this brand and this brand are third-party independently tested, and residue-free.

Using gelatin in the diet supplies additional glycine in order to encourage normalized hepatic function.

Take a Daily Dose of High Vitamin Cod Liver Oil

According to Frederick W. Plapp, Jr., PhD, true Vitamin A (retinol, not beta carotene) is necessary for normal functioning of the immune system.

It is also necessary for the protein synthesis processes involved in reproduction.

Environmental chemicals such as phthalates interfere with vitamin A pathways.

Hence, good protection is a daily dose of high vitamin cod liver oil containing sufficient levels of natural Vitamin A.

This is a crucial whole food supplement to provide the extra reserves needed for the body to function properly – particularly on a reproductive level.

Note that most brands from the health food store usually contain synthetic Vitamin A or inadequate levels of natural Vitamin A.

Our family uses Dropi high vitamin virgin cod liver oil (since 2015).

What I Taught My Daughter

Is it necessary to go barefaced forever if one wishes to avoid these toxic chemicals and preserve reproductive health?

Fortunately, the answer to that is no.

I’ve taught my daughter to check the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database for any makeup or personal care brand she is considering.

Simply type in the name of the product and its safety is graded on a scale of 1-10. In addition, the database provides any study data on questionable ingredients.

Alternatively, you can type in a product category and brands will appear with the safest listed first.

To see the products I use, please refer to the personal care section of my shopping guide.

Note that besides makeup, underarm deodorant is possibly the most toxic of all personal care items. Only safe products should ever be used given the proximity to the breast and lymph glands.

References

(1) Bad Makeup “triggers early menopause”

(2) Early Menopause: Study Says Common Item Can be a Trigger

(3) Non-monotonic dose effects of in utero exposure to di(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)

(4) Perilous Pathways: Environmental Chemicals and Environmental Illness, A Major Role for Vitamin A

(5) Women absorb up to 5lbs of damaging chemicals a year thanks to beauty products