I don’t know about you guys, but with the turn of the new decade we’re even more committed than ever to look after our bodies. We understand that there are elements in our everyday life that are not necessarily in our control like pollution, what’s in our tap water and the quality of our food, but there are definitely a handful of things we can control, like what we wash our face with and the products we’re putting in our hair.
Studies in the U.S have shown shocking results when determining the chemical load found in peoples bloodstream. After studying around 10,000 people, the most surprising and worrying statistic was that around 287 chemicals were found in the umbilical cord blood of a newborn, which just goes to show the level of toxins us adults are absorbing and passing down to our children.
Whilst all of these toxins won’t be from your everyday skincare and beauty products, a large amount will be and we at Nuqi skin believe every little helps in trying to prevent that.
When it comes to toxins in beauty products, it’s never a one size fits all. Some folk can have immediate allergic reactions, and others have them after a long period of time. But one thing is for sure, those harmful toxins that are applied to your skin will find their way into your body one way or another.
Chemicals on your skin
Most products will contain between 15 and 50 ingredients. The average woman will use between 9 and 15 products a day, so when you average that up (including the use of perfume), that’s just over 500 individual chemicals a day! That’s why we strongly believe in clean products and their benefits.
The amount of chemicals absorbed through our skin can vary depending on where on the body it is, the temperature of your skin, if your skin is damaged, the size of the chemical particles and the chemical concentration, so it’s not black and white.
How they get there
We covered the most harmful ingredients in our ‘what is clean beauty’ post, but how are they getting into our bodies? Our skin is the largest organ in our body and we have around two million ‘holes’ across it, so needless to say anything covering those holes could potentially be seeping right into our bloodstream.
Whilst are bodies are incredible and can withstand a lot of things that life throws at it, there are nanoparticles found in lotions and sunscreens that are designed to penetrate the three walls that make up our skin.
Other than through your skin, chemicals can also enter your bloodstream from being inhaled and also eaten by using products like lipgloss and lipstick.
At Nuqi skin, we definitely don’t believe in all or nothing, and whilst we know information like this to a newbie can be overwhelming, we would suggest taking baby steps:
- Think about how many times a day you use your products; do you really need to apply that lip gloss every 10 minutes?
- Products that sit on your skin for the longest time – moisturisers and sunscreens, think about making the switch with these
- A baby’s skin is more sensitive and thinner than ours, so think twice before applying products with toxins on your little ones
- Your scalp absorbs toxins a lot easier than some other parts of your body, so take a look at what’s in your shampoo and conditioner
Sabrina and Lucy xx
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