I spoke with one of my new customers at the farmer’s market today about salt bars. She said she had tried one before and it raised her blood pressure. I wondered about that… Really makes you realize how much your skin absorbs – and why it’s so great to use handmade soaps and lotions! \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n
I found a great article about this at EcoVoice.com. Here are some excerpts:<\/p>\n
Our skin, the largest eliminatory organ in the body and our first line of immunity, is permeable to all chemicals. Medical research shows that significant amounts of cosmetic ingredients, including carcinogenic substances, penetrate the skin and end up in the blood stream. Many chemicals in cosmetics don’t cause obvious signs of toxicity on the skin but slowly poison us thorough repeated use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This makes perfect sense too:<\/p>\n
Today, the administration of drugs and medicines is often through transdermal skin patches. This has been shown to be up to 95% more effective than oral medication. However, cosmetic manufacturers are not supposed to claim that the skin absorbs their products. If they did the products would be labelled a drug and governed by much stricter regulations. <\/p>\n
This is both good and bad for us. Good because it means our skin can be fed, nourished and treated from the outside with some wonderful substances.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Yes! Like fresh goat’s milk soaps, Jojoba-Shea lotions without petroleum products…<\/p>\n
Bad because it means we can absorb commonly used cosmetic ingredients that would never be allowed to be taken orally as a food or drug, through our skin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n