My Chemical Burden...

Body Butter Coconut Cream.

What a simple yet inviting name.

I pick-up the cylinder shaped container and give it a good look.

Classy black lid. Simple font. No extra packaging.

On the back it says:

"Fresh coconut milk and roasted almonds blended with Hawaiian honey, vanilla mousse and precious musks."

Yummy.  Sounds good enough to eat (minus the musk).

But wait there's more:

"Rejuvenates with natural shea butter in vitamin rich moisture, protects against moisture loss with natural beeswax."

Wow. This little bottle is not only going to make me new again, it's going to keep me safe from loosing precious moisture.

I open the container. I need to inspect the goopy white goodness inside. I am hit with the smell of a tropical dream. It smells like paradise. I can see myself right now on a beach with sand between my toes and a pina colada in my hand! Who needs an expensive sun vacation when you can just slap this beauty butter on your skin?

With that final thought, I marched to the cashier and purchased the little bottle of bliss. And I have been purchasing it -over and over again - for the past four years.

But that's not the only product I buy. 

Face Cream.
Eye Cream.
Hand Cream.
Body Cream.
Elbow Cream.
Knee Cream.
Anything and Everything Cream.

I love creams.

You know how some women love to buy shoes. Well, that's how I feel about creams. But it doesn't stop there. I love different shampoos, conditioners and styling products. I love body oils and scrubs. Give me masques and exfoilators. Toss in some toners and serums. Give me lip balm and cuticle salve. I'll take it all.

I AM A SELF-CONFESSED BEAUTY PRODUCT JUNKIE.

It's true. I've known for a long time. You see products can be instant pleasure. It's not like shopping for clothes. Clothes you have to try on. You have to go into those god-awful change rooms with the crappy light and horror-hall mirrors. You know the ones. The ones where you can't concentrate on the clothes because you look green and as round as a plum? I tend to run from those change rooms. They make me feel totally unattractive and force me to turn to ice-cream for comfort. Buying cream has never made me feel bad! Or so I thought.

A while back, I happened to catch an interview on CBC News Network. The interview was with Gillian Deacon. She is a broadcaster, author and environmental advocate.  I actually only heard about a minute or so of the interview as I was on the run. But I caught her saying something along the lines of this:

"The average woman uses a dozen personal care products every day....And due to that a woman's chemical burden is great.... It's beauty that really is to die for."

At the time my reaction was:

"Huh, interesting.Oh, look at the time, gotta get into editing."

Later, I caught myself thinking about two words Deacon said: CHEMICAL BURDEN.

Those two words kept dancing around my head for a couple days.

So much so, I decided to google it.

Oh google. You are both a blessing and a royal pain in the arse.

This is what I found:

Chemical burden refers to toxic chemicals that often get into the human body. We may inhale them, swallow them in contaminated food or water, or in some cases, absorb them through skin. The term "body burden" refers to the total amount of these chemicals that are present in the human body at a given point in time." These chemicals are often stored in our fat cells for years if not our entire lives. Every person alive today, whether living in industrial centers or remote areas, carries a chemical body burden of over 300 chemicals, most of which did not exist before World War II. The health effects of some of these chemicals are documented, but many others have undergone little or no testing. How these chemicals might interact with each other to affect human health is rarely tested and poorly understood.

My response to what I found:

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......" 

In response to that hmmmmmmm:

I started researching some of the products I was slathering on my skin.

What I discovered totally freaked me out. 

Yes, I always knew deep-down that there are nasty chemicals in products. I am not a total ignoramis! But to be honest, I did not really let myself go there. I guess I thought: 

"Hey, we eat local organic food. We buy green cleaners. I bloody-well walk everywhere. I must be doing ok?"

Remember that delightful body butter I was talking about. Well, I recently took a good look at the ingredient list. I only recognized two ingredients out of about fifty. A little more digging and I found that my tropical dream was more like a toxic nightmare. Turns out the risks assocated with some of the ingredients are:

 - Neurotoxicity

-  Allergies

- Irritation

 - Endocrine disruption

 - Organ system toxicity

 - Biochemical or cellular level changes

 -  Developmental/reproductive toxicity,

 - Cancer

- Persistence and bioaccumulation

What the hell?

So my friends, that little container of body butter prompted me to have a product ponder. I need to take a hard look at all my products. Perhaps, I even have to ween myself off many of them. Most of my products boast long ingredient lists. Ingredients I don't recognize. Ingredients Mr.Google tells me are pretty toxic. 

I pledge to take a good hard look at the things I put on my body.

I pledge to give myself a year to swap my beloved chemically-laced products with ones that are easier on the 'ol body and the environment.

I pledge to share my findings with you.

It's not going to be easy. But I am going to give it a try. In the coming months, I will try to document my progress here in this blog. I will even test so-called "friendlier" products and give you my take on how well they work. 

Now don't go thinking that I am going to start pouring pacholi all over myself. Or that I am going to stop shaving my legs. Or that you will soon see me sporting dreadlocks.  No, that's not for me.

This is just one girl's pursuit to be kinder to her body while still indulging in her love of goopy, smelly, feel-good creams. Wish me luck!