Personal Hygiene For Your Health.

Growing up we have always heard the importance of washing our hands. Personal hygiene is important. We all want to smell good and look good! However recently it has been discovered that some of the personal hygiene products we use have a negative effect on our body. Studies have shown that a chemical called triclosan, which is found in hand soap, shaving cream deodorant and other hygiene products actually weakens the body’s muscles.

Triclosan deposits on the hands after a wash with anti-bacterial soup.
This toxin is absorbed through the skin into your body.

So what is triclosan? In short triclosan is a pesticide and it is not only in our hygiene products. It can be found in the clothes we wear, bedding, toys, and even garbage bags. But how can something so toxic be is some many things, we ask? Well it is rather unfortunate but the Toxic Substances Control Act is basically a voluntary testing method. So the responsibility is left on the people who make the products and the chemical industries.

The products we use that we heavily rely on are damaging our bodies. Studies have shown that triclosan damages the heart, weakens the skeleton and muscle function. The pesticide disrupts the communication of two proteins that are important to our muscle function. It’s pretty scary to think that there are traces of triclosan in our blood stream, urine, and human breast milk. Is this really worth using these products?

So what do we do now, what’s our health worth? How can we avoid it? Well to start, we can stop the use of anti-bacterial soap. Studies have shown that although these soaps can help kill bacteria, they also create super bacteria’s that result in bacteria’s our body cannot handle or fight off. Thus making our immune systems weak. The best way to go is look for non-toxic personal hygiene products. They are available at our local stores we just take to take that extra step. I have provided some links below with lists of great products, even stuff you can make in your home.  Look good, feel good, and smell good; make the change and protect yourself, because the stuff you may make you look good 

on the outside but hurting you from within.

For a list of non-toxic personal hygiene products check out these links:

http://eclecticarksageadvice.blogspot.com/2011/05/nontoxic-personal-hygiene-recipes.html

http://0801.nccdn.net/1_5/268/258/021/BestBetsList_v2.4.pdf

For more information about the negative effects of triclosan check out these links:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/soap-ingredient-triclosan-linked-muscle-weakness/story?id=16996695#.UCr8QhpkseA

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/08/triclosan-a-chemical-used-in-antibacterial-soaps-is-found-to-impair-muscle-function/?utm_source=smithsoniansciandnat&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=201208-science 

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/08/chemical-widely-used-in-antibacterial-hand-soap-damages-heart-skeleton-muscle-function/

http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20080903_anti-bacterial/index.html