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
Very good post, thank you. I know you have tried to explain a bit here in the comments about using the baking soda in the bath for your hair, and that you don’t want to talk much about safe make-up brands so you don’t leave out some that are good … Maybe you would consider doing a whole post on just this? It would be very helpful for those of us who would like to know more about what you are specifically doing. Wading through the 84+ comments here is VERY time consuming, and most of it is not relevant to everyone. If you were to go through your comment section here and compose a specific blog article to answer these questions, and explain your personal routine in detail, that would be so helpful for many of your readers. Thanks so much!
I haven’t worn make up in 10 years or more…I’ve used baking soda on my hair for perhaps 2 years (for those struggling, I *must* add essential oils to my mix or it doesn’t work for me. My water is hard and my hair tends towards oily. The EO makes this not a problem though. I usually use grapefruit). If I use soap, it is typically Dr. Bronner’s, but I don’t even use that too often. No other commercial personal care products. Soup or stock 3 – 4x a week at least. Rarely packaged foods.
Although it’s entirely anecdotal, I have the least complicated maternity history ever. I’m pregnant with #4 (at 27) and have had no miscarriages, no complications whatsoever. Babies have only gotten healthier as I’ve learned more about a traditional diet and have been more careful about probiotics and less sugar. I totally believe it’s possible to be healthy and have babies well into your 30s and beyond! If you are careful. 🙂
we always check everything on http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com before we buy into the “all natural” false advertising schemes
I’ve been wanting to try 100% Pure so bad!! https://www.100percentpure.com/
And although that comment looks pretty spammy, it isn’t… haha, sorry!
I just had to comment when I saw this….I love 100% Pure makeup. I really want to go makeup-free, but sometimes I don’t feel good without it (I need to drink more water and bone broth and exercise among other things) and I feel the need to wear it to work. So, of all the research I have done and short of making my own makeup, I love 100% Pure. The ingredients they list all seem great to me, but who knows? They could be withholding information. Based on my experience and their ingredient list, I would definitely recommend all of 100% Pure’s bodycare products. Their shampoo and conditioner smell like oatmeal cookies!!!
Dr. Louisa Williams, author of Radical Medicine, has a “best bets” list of personal care products listed on her website. I remember her saying she does multiple types of testing, including energetically, as well as whether the products actually work.
http://www.radicalmedicine.com
@Rebekkah I use a honey soap on my face and VCO on my skin. Boring yes but works fine. I take a few natural products with me when I travel as that is easier to get through the airport. Baking soda and VCO don’t work so well in the travel bag.
Guess that’s why I didn’t have any issues! Have always worn very little make up and now 100% make up free.
I don’t wear makeup. Ever. I’m 43. Pam – You had a baby at 52 that didn’t have downs syndrome? If so, wow.
Just because you have a baby at 52 doesn’t mean the child will have downs syndrome…it just increases the risk.
What brands of makeup do you recommend? Is mineral makeup OK? Brands like Arbonne?
see my comment below
I don’t know if this answers your question, but loose powder mineral makeup is not recommended because of the potential risk of inhaling trace amounts of heavy metals. Airborn particles are one of the big concerns with heavy metals. Unless you can get a guarantee that they do thorough and independent testing, I’d stay away from those products and companies.
Of course, anything you put on your skin gets absorbed through the skin as well. The skin is not an impenetrable barrier as once thought.
See my comment below about Dr. Louisa Williams’ body care recommendations.
Thanks Sarah! A very important aspect of health is the burden we place on our bodies with unnecessary chemical exposures. I am a rep for Miessence and the creator of our skincare and bodycare was the first in the world to create products in which every ingredient is held to the standards of organic food and bears the seals of USDA organic or Australian Certified Organic. This occurred in 2009 and since then she has created quite an array of products. You can view the line of products here: http://organicglow.com/ and can read about the certification levels available for the different product ranges here http://organicglow.com/about/certifications/.
Most of the Miessence products are certified to food grade organic standards except those that have a high mineral, baking soda or beeswax content (which are natural but non-agricultural, thus not certified under the USDA organic program) and then the three products that are just as pure as the food grade except for the fact that they that contain one ingredient that is of natural origin, but has been green chemistry processed with synthetics. This ingredient is “organic” by most other industry standards, but Miessence strives for full disclosure on ingredients and processing and it is not food grade organic. Those three products (2 shampoos, hair conditioner and bodywash) are certified to the most strict organic cosmetic standards and although they are not food grade, they are effective and the most pure I’ve encountered for a traditional “shampoo” and “conditioner”.
I am passionate about empowering consumers with information. If any of your readers would like to read some tips on reading labels I have lots of information on my site in the About section. http://organicglow.com/about/educating-consumers/
Thanks for all you do!!!
Alison