Synthetic Oestrogen and Hormonal Imbalance

A few weeks ago I came across an article doing the rounds about the high levels of synthetic oestrogen prevalent everywhere, but in particular in beauty products. I can’t find the original article, so here’s another enlightening one that goes into great detail, another one here on parabens, and another here as background, but the original article got me thinking. Most of us know about this stuff to an extent (with many very knowledgeable about it) but the challenge seems to be that we know about it but have a tendency to ignore it too, because hey, we can’t see it so why worry about it? Well it's obvious we do need to worry about it and as I’ve decided to start paying more attention to everything as part of my “Fuck it, Enough” crusade, beauty products is now in focus.

Up ‘til now, I haven’t been putting my head in the sand, I just spend most of my time making sure no crap goes in our bodies – so there’s no processed food in our house  - and also focusing on what goes around our bodies – so reducing the chemicals as well. Now it’s time to get a lot more serious about what goes on my body.

When I saw the original article, for the first time I really READ it and thought mmmmm, is this my challenge? Ever since I had the boys (it appears to be aligned with that timing and pregnancy does change you) my body has changed and my hormones definitely aren’t balanced. As an example, I’m 43 years old and get pimples like a bloody teenager – can I tell you how much I HATE that? My skin isn’t too wrinkly though – so a side-benefit. Anyways, I’ve been doing all sorts of stuff to try and sort it out BUT perhaps it’s the actual creams I’ve been putting on my body? I mean, I’m a top-to-toe moisturiser every day, and well, that means I’m putting excessive synthetic oestrogen on the largest organ of my body – my skin?

So what to do? Well according to the first link above – in regards to beauty products, choose phthalate free and paraben free body-care products. Done – gunna get focused on that. But then my friend Sandra told me to check out this link to the cosmetics industry dirty dozen – so will print that list out and keep it in my wallet. I also found this article and then this one and a really comprehensive alphabetical list of what’s in beauty products and what all the terms mean here, and another one here… I must say it’s great there’s so much information available about this today.

But of all the links, check out this database, where you can enter the products you already have and they’ll give you an assessment of how good or bad they are. Nivea body lotion is now off my shopping list, but Origins remains – good.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom, as an article came out this week discussing the rise of the toxin-free cosmetics industry here, so that’s good news for all of us who want to make more informed decisions and actually have access to products that aren’t harming us, or sending us into a hormonal frenzy!

With all that said, the research coming out today and the groundswell against the beauty industry is really starting to piss me off. I mean us gals (and boys) throw A LOT of money at these companies and therefore, on a subconscious level, I think we expect to trust the companies we are buying products from. I mean the beauty industry cares about its customer’s right and they’d never deliver anything that harms us surely? No never… Yeah right. Most of the chemicals in beauty products have NEVER been tested for impact on humans or they have (on rats) and show an increased likelihood of brain tumours, etc, etc.. When you start to look into it, it’s actually very shocking.

The problem is, like most people, I haven’t got a lot of time to stuff around, going to boutique suppliers for this sort of stuff. When I need it, I need to be able to buy it there and then, anywhere in the world. There is also an added dimension to this point – cost. And it’s not just beauty products. If you cleaned out your entire life to avoid all mass-manufactured products and only bought organic food, grass fed meat, free range dairy, organic cleaning products, toxin-free beauty products, etc, etc, etc… - especially in a place like Singapore where everything is imported – it can start to look astronomical. So if we could just trust the suppliers of products that go in, on and around our body to do the right thing and deliver products that enhance our lives rather than lessen them, well we wouldn’t be having this conversation would we?

The good news is pre-packaged food got a shellacking this week with the horse-meat/lasagna scandal - which is good news for the local butchers! And of course, how many people still consume aspartame? Check out how it came to be in our food chain - scary stuff. I’ve already shared my views on MSG, soy and much more, but I hate living in a time where we can’t trust the food manufacturers, we can’t trust the FDA, and we can’t trust the beauty industry. Can we trust anyone?

In the meantime, if anyone can recommend a full body moisturiser that is good for one’s skin I’d sure appreciate it. Although my friend Sandra suggested using coconut oil. Might see where I can buy that here…

Yours, without the bollocks

Andrea