In our everyday life we are exposed to around 85,000 different chemicals.  These chemicals are everywhere, food, drink, laundry and cleaning products and of course our personal care products including soaps, shampoo, conditioner and lotions.

According to Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) many of these everyday chemicals have not been tested.  And the general way of testing is on adult males in industrial settings.  One of the big problems is women tend to use the majority of personal care products and even with changing role models and life styles women still are the big users of laundry and cleaning products.

According to a study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, women use around nine personal care products each day and depending on what type of product they use this can mean their skin is exposed to around 100 different chemicals.  Even though we are all for equality, there are some difference between men and women and exposure to chemicals.  First, lots of chemicals get stored in fat and women have more fat tissues than men.  Also, women have babies and breastfeed which can impact our little ones health.

Women also get a period each and every month.  Products designed for this time of month are often loaded with chemicals to give the scent of fresh and clean. Companies don’t have to disclose ingredients in these products.  Women’s Voices for the Earth has a “Detox the Box” campaign and because of their hard work, two companies Procter and Gamble and Kimberly Clark and starting to put ingredients on their personal care product boxes.   Here is a cute link to a Detox the Box spoof video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N08X_MmALGg  

It's not that all chemicals are bad- it's more that an awareness of chemicals is a good thing.  You can't avoid chemicals but you can choose to reduce your chemical intake.  The first step is to become a label reader.  Labels, in my opinion are designed to be complicated.  Long words and small print.   Another option is to purchase from small or indie businesses.  The salsa, bread or soap maker can tell you what’s in their product and often works hard to source ethical and wholesome ingredients.  

For more info visit