Don’t put anything on your skin, that you wouldn’t put in your mouth
Health wisdom
Does that sound like an extreme statement?
It isn’t really. Your skin is actually your largest organ, and it’s pretty permeable. Most people realise that when they sweat there are substances (salt, toxins etc) leaving the body, but it’s important to remember that the skin is actually two-way membrane.
There are many drugs which are adminstered ‘transdermally’ (through the skin) – from steroids to Ritalin to opiates to antidepressants to contraceptives to nicotine. These normally use ‘patches’ with either a reservoir of the substance or the drug being contained in the adhesive.
So it looks like a bunch of stuff is managing to pass through that skin barrier, doesn’t it?
On the positive side, epsom salt foot baths, for example, are relaxing because your body absorbs the magnesium content through your the skin on your feet, which then is used throughout your body. I use a magnesium spray which works similarly.
Also, a crude way to determine iodine deficiency is to apply some liquid iodine (e.g. lugol’s iodine) to the skin and time how long it takes for the body to absorb the red liquid.
With all this now in mind, would you drink sun cream?
A bunch of these ingredients are not even FDA approved. Remember that aspartame – which was found to cause brain-tumours in rats – is approved. So that gives you some idea of how bad these things are. I’m not even going to bother doing a breakdown of which ingredients are bad or good – it’s like doing a breakdown of what to should avoid on the McDonalds menu. Just put a t-shirt and hat on.
What about your moisturiser lotion? Or your make up? Cosmetics are one of the main ways women are exposed to heavy metals – those shiny colours do look great though.
