STRATEGIC WELLNESS
Self-Care
for the Self-Aware:
Energized & Empowered Living!
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STRATEGIC WELLNESS
Self-Care
for the Self-Aware: |
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The
"Controversy" Around
Our "Having A Bad Hair Day?" newsletter sparked some questions and comments, which I am absolutely delighted about. My whole intention was to bring attention to this subject, and encourage you to ask questions and consider healthier choices. Given some of the questions I've received, I decided to post some additional information here for those who wish to know more about the detergent Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) et al. If you care about how to easily have more energy, health and happiness, then this information is for you. Enjoy!
The skincare, haircare and cosmetics industries have been quite unregulated in terms of the safety of their ingredients - fortunately this is starting to change, but it still has quite a ways to go. The issue is much bigger than Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), and I "picked on" this particular ingredient to help demonstrate a point. I have done significant research over my many years in the health and wellness industry, and will always continue to do so. If there's one thing I've learned, there tends to be research to back up just about any position ... it takes a certain amount of sophistication combined with intuition and common sense to sift through all the "truths" that are published. A compelling research study by experts will state unequivocally that SLS is safe. Another compelling research study by even more impressive experts will state something different. Who are you supposed to believe? My point of view on almost everything is that we weigh the evidence, search within ourselves, and make choices based on what we believe is right. Personally, I will not use products with SLS in them. However, I hold my fellow humans as able to make their own informed choices ... while holding myself as qualified to state my opinions! There are definitely some unsubstantiated claims floating around the internet regarding SLS. One is the claim that it causes cancer. There is no evidence I've been able to find that convinces me that SLS, in and of itself, is a carcinogen (cancer-causing agent), so I didn't mention this in my article. Another claim is that it causes cataracts. While SLS is certainly an irritant to the skin, eyes and mucous membranes, I personally have not located research that proves to me that SLS causes cataracts in the amounts contained in personal care products. However, a factor that doesn't appear to be understood (and I didn't address it in my article because it was already getting too long) is that SLS along with many other ingredients are often made with carcingenic chemicals or contain carcinogenic byproduct chemicals. These are being absorbed, as well as getting into our wastewater system, or into the air where the chemicals are produced, creating a circle of toxic soup. This deeply concerns me, especially because there are safer and healthier alternatives. What we apply to our skin absorbs through our skin and into our bloodstream ... it's called transdermal penetration. If you didn't know about this, or even doubt that topical products absorb through your skin, I invite you to do the "garlic test". Chop up some garlic very fine, then stand on it in your bare feet. You will taste garlic in your mouth within minutes - just by standing on it in your bare feet! This test demonstrates how substances penetrate through our skin and then travel though our bloodstream. One application of most ingredients means little. But over the years, it's highly significant. When considering your shampoo, conditioner, gel, toothpaste, deodorant, skincare, cosmetics, household cleansers, etc., remember that we use these products every day! We're not talking about measuring a one-time application ... it's the cumulative effects that are the concern. Every day we are being bombarded with hundreds of chemicals. Anything we can do to strengthen the trillions of cells in our bodies (like optimal nutrition and free radical protection) and lower the onslaught of chemicals we're exposed to (like choosing more natural personal care products and household cleansers), the more we support a healthier, happier and more vital life for all. What I'm trying to accomplish is increased awareness that we live in a chemical world that is silently affecting us in a multitude of harmful ways ... and that we have choices. My role (as I see it) is to help illuminate some of what's going on behind the scenes, how it's affecting us, and some of the things you can do about it. If that's what you wish. As much as possible, I conduct research through sources that have no vested interest in the outcome. For example, I know that a toothpaste company who writes a study on the safety of SLS when they use SLS in their top-selling toothpaste may not be the most unbiased source of information on this subject. Any more than a company who sells SLS-free products is necessarily going to provide me with the very best research on why SLS is such a concern. That's why I often refer to the Environmental Working Group. They are a highly reputable and respected "public interest watchdog" out of Washington, DC (www.ewg.org). As they state on their website:
Below are just two quotes I believe are important to illustrate this topic: 1) As quoted by the Environmental Working Group in June 2004: "Exposures add up. The personal care product industry's self-policing safety panel, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, approaches each safety assessment as if consumers are exposed to just one chemical at a time, and as if personal care products are the only source of exposure for each chemical considered. The panel is often wrong on both counts. The results of this survey in combination with other studies show that people are exposed to hundreds of chemicals over the course of a day (CDC 2003, Thornton et al. 2002, EWG 2003), and that people face multiple sources of exposure from multiple consumer products for some of the common industrial chemicals used as cosmetic ingredients. Exposures can add up. The industry's panel does not consider the reality of patterns of human exposures — additive effects of exposures to multiple chemicals linked to common health harms — in declaring chemicals "safe as used" in cosmetics. By considering the human body to be a "clean slate" free of background contamination, free of related chemicals linked to common health harms, and free of exposures from other kinds of consumer products, the industry's panel will every time underestimate the potential for a particular personal care product ingredient to harm human health." 2) As published in the Journal of the American College of Toxicology, Vol. 2, No. 7, pp127-181, 1983: "Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate are irritants in patch testing at concentrations of 2 percent and greater, and that irritation increases with ingredient concentration. In some cosmetic formulations, however, that irritant property is attenuated. The longer these ingredients stay in contact with the skin, the greater the likelihood of irritation, which may or may not be evident to the user. Although Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is not carcinogenic in experimental animals, it has been shown that it causes severe epidermal changes to the area of the skin of mice to which it was applied. This study indicates a need for tumor-enhancing activity assays. Auto radiographic studies of rat skin treated with radio-labeled Sodium Lauryl Sulfate found heavy deposition of the detergent on the skin surface and in the hair follicles; damage to the hair follicle could result from such deposition. Further, it has been reported that 1 percent and 5 percent Sodium Lauryl Sulfate produced significant number of comedones when applied to the pinna of albino rabbits. These two problems - possible hair loss and comedone formation - along with proven irritancy, should be considered in the formulation of cosmetic products. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate appear to pose less potential hazard when in products designed for brief, discontinuous use, following which they are thoroughly rinsed from the surface of the skin."
In Summary ... There are many other ingredients in our personal care products that are of concern, and SLS is merely the tip of the iceberg. Given the type of work I do in the world, I have made a choice to make a difference by increasing awareness. I want to support you in making the most informed choices, and my desire is for all of us to lead the most extraordinary and vital lives possible. That's what I'm here for. Consider me a champion of your outrageous health, happiness & gorgeousness ... naturally! To your
energized and empowered living, Copyright 2006, all rights reserved.
Wellpro
exists to support your extraordinary health and happiness, naturally.
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