Did you know that your skin is your body’s largest and fastest-growing organ? I suppose I learned this in high school biology, but that was a long time ago, and I don’t think I ever stopped to really think about what that meant until a few years ago, once I became a mom.
The realization that what I was putting on my skin – and more importantly on my baby’s skin – matter, came one night as I was reading about the ingredients chemicals found in many hand sanitizers, some of which we were using. Now don’t get me wrong; I am all about keeping my kids’ hands as clean and germ-free as possible, but once I learned about the risks associated with triclosan, I had to stop using anti-bacterial products containing this hormone-altering ingredient, and switch to something that would not promote damage to my children’s bodies, nor my own.
I was further convinced when I learned that the FDA “does not have evidence that triclosan in antibacterial soaps and body washes provides any benefit over washing with regular soap and water.” Not to mention, the American Medical Association’s recommendation that “triclosan not be used in the home, as it may encourage bacterial resistance to antibiotics.” Done, it was simple. We were no longer using any hand sanitizer, anti-bacterial soap, or body wash that contained these harmful chemicals. Soap and water it was.
From this simple discovery, many more questions arose. If our skin is our body’s largest organ, and because of its porous nature absorbs what we put on it, what damage are we doing by using the myriad baby products in our home? Baby lotion? Baby shampoo? Ointments? Diaper creams? Sunscreens? The list goes on and on, and it quickly brought me to make changes for our family. Some of the products I had carefully and thoughtfully chosen had – via very effective advertising and carefully worded labels – misled me to believe that I was using the safest and healthiest products I could put on my children.
But I was wrong, and I found myself on a mission to do what I could to protect my family’s health. This is when I discovered the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and its awesome consumer guides. Perhaps because it was summer and I had been ensuring that my son’s skin was as protected from the sun as possible by applying some of the sunscreens found on on this list, perhaps it was because the words “body’s largest organ” kept on flashing in my head as I was coating his body in sunscreen, I became determined to find non-toxic ways to protect my family from the sun. I was immediately drawn to the EWG’s sunscreen guide and its really cool cosmetic database Skin Deep.
The Skin Deep database is easy to use: simply type in the name of the product you’re looking for and review its ratings. The database contains information and online safety assessments for 70,349 products, so you’re likely to find what you’re looking for.
And so I began using Skin Deep to research sunscreens that fell into the “low hazard” category. I’m a fan of Badger sunscreens, but there are many others which are also safe and effective sun protectors.
Speaking of the importance of protecting ourselves from the sun, a couple of summers ago we started dressing our kids in the fun SwimZip rash guards which are as protective as they are cute! These rash guards, along with wide-brimmed hats, are just another way we try to keep their skin protected from the sun whether we’re outside playing in the yard or splashing around at the beach.
Because making our home as non-toxic as possible is important to us, and because we know there’s so much out of our control when it comes to living green, we’ve done our best to eliminate other offenders from our daily use. There’s still a lot of progress to be made, but we feel good knowing that what we use on our kids’ skin is making a dent in the fight against toxic chemicals found in personal care products.
