Leaving the mask behind

Recently my doctor said that I am chemically sensitive. This was no great news flash to me since I’ve been very aware of my chemical sensitivities over the years. In the past year I have plunged into buying organic food and scouring labels for hidden ingredients that are counter to my quest for good health. The doc did have a new twist on this quest. He suggested that my cosmetics might be a source of chemicals that has left me with chronic illness. Wow …

I’ve been thinking about a whole new change to my cosmetics for a long time. I’ve been aware that there are chemicals that mimic estrogens in cosmetics. And for my body estrogen is the enemy. But once I started looking at the chemicals in my cosmetics … yuck no way do I want daily exposure to this stuff! So then I started the quest to find replacements. I thought that would be relatively easy in this day and age with so many progressive consumers seeking better more healthy alternatives in every venue of life. So off to the local Co-op I go and I return with some wonderful alternatives. But …

I brought home eleven new skin care and cosmetic products. I rechecked the ingredients through my online sources and decided that one of them was beyond my comfort level of scary ingredients so that one would be going back. The rest looked pretty good. So I decided to try the rest all at once. I proceeded to have itching and burning reactions. So after a long process of trial and error I figured out the four items I’m sensitive to, and the rest are working fairly well. This new quest turns out to be not so easy! I now have huge gaps in my face prep line up! What’s a girl to do without foundation to hide all the blemishes and uneven skin tones?

I have been using make up since I was a teenager. I was taught (by cosmetics companies of course) that you always put foundation on to protect your skin from free radicals and dirt that might cause blemishes and premature ageing. What they didn’t teach me is that the foundation has chemicals in it that are known to cause cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and a host of other things. I feel like I’ve been duped by cosmetics manufacturers into unnecessarily exposing myself to toxic chemicals under the guise of good skin care for over twenty-five years!

I find that I’m caught between this need, this drive to eradicate all things harmful from my environment and this compulsion to live in the culture as I always have, with my mask on! Can I do it? Can I put the mask aside, the foundation, the lipstick, eye shadow, blush, eyeliner, lipliner, and mascara as a step toward embracing healthy living? I’m starting small. I’m leaving off the foundation. I’ve found more healthful alternatives of the others.

Since I've been talking about my quest to erradicate the hidden chemicals in my life people have been asking about how to get more info. So here's a couple links to try if you're ready to take the plunge:

Skin deep cosmetic safety reviews http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/

Consumer Health Organization of Canada http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=19990303213610