Paraben?? What is a Paraben??

As some of you may know my mother recently conquered her battle with breast cancer. During her fight she researched a lot of causes and reasons for breast cancer, one of those being parabens. 99% of breast cancer patients have parabens found in their tumors and tissue.1 The worst part about all of this is that parabens are found in everyday items we use. The top types of parabens are: methylparben, Ethyl paraben, Propyl paraben, Butyl paraben, Isobutyl parben, and E216. These are found in common cosmetics, deoderants, shampoos, conditioners, shaving gel, toothpaste, lotions, sunscreens, makeup, cosmetics, pharmaceutical drugs and some food additives. Studies have shown that when these items are spread onto the skin they can be absorbed into the body and cause serious damage over time. 1 Parabens can attack your body as an estrogen, casing damage to muscle mass, extra fat storage and male breast growth. "The US Environmental Protection Agency has linked methyl parabens in particular metabolic, developmental, hormonal, and neurological disorders also in cancer"1 So even after all these studies knowing these horrible toxins can cause people to not have children, or if they do have children they have asbergers or worse, people are getting cancer and older adults are getting Alzheimer's because, excuse my language, we are putting SHIT in our bodies. why are we letting this happen?? So instead of continually using these horrible products im taking a stand and i hope you will too. 

When I found out all of this horrible info and after watching The Human Experiment (check it out on Netflix) I realized the damage I was causing to my body. I also found out about the app "Think Dirty". It is super simple to use all you do is scan your current beauty products you use and see what toxins are currently in the products you are using, They rate them on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst. I found out that ALL of the items I was using from my hairspray all the way to my toothpaste had some type of paraben, carcinogen even FORMALDEHYDE!! I cant believe I was putting that in my body, granted I was only putting these items on the outside but all types of products you use that have these chemicals in them find their way into your blood stream or body. I just still cant get over that one of the products I used EVERYDAY had formaldehyde in it, which was chap stick! I was putting a chemical on and in my body that is used to keep dead bodies from decomposing!! So pretty much I have been pickling my body with a horrible chemical that also causes cancer.

So now that I found out that I'm ruining my body with all this I trashed it. All of it. I researched and found healthy products that are not only natural but 100% organic. My biggest issue is that I am a hairdresser and so now I know what is in these products I'm using on a day to day basis. So now I have researched professional products and their ingredients. So with this blog I will keep everyone updated on brands and product lines that I have found work and don't work. I am also going to start making some items, such as soap, lotions, chap sticks, and makeup.

So here are my product suggestions for everyday products. For professional products I am struggling a little bit, most products have fragrances that can danger your immune system. These fragrances are still undergoing research to find out the true danger of them. The one that I am using currently is Matrix Total Results Amplify Volume. (you can buy it here) This product is not shown on the Think Dirty app so I am unsure of its rating but Matrix is slowly changing their line to offer paraben free items so I did my research and found out that there are no parabens in this product, yet with the fragrance in it this does cause it to be rated high on levels of "organic". I am still on the search to find a 100% organic shampoo. Once I find it I will post it here. I am currently not using a conditioner, for personal reasons being that my hair has been too flat lately. Also once I find one I will let you know also. So now onto styling products, I am currently using Big and Sexy Full Bloom styling spray (buy it here)and Nixon Hairspray, I have yet to do more research but I know that Big and Sexy now pairs with Breast Cancer Foundation and has made paraben free products. According to Nixon's ingredient label there are no parabens in them. Other chemicals yes but you have to start somewhere, I am constantly doing research to find more about these and get to a life of being 100% organic.  Now I have found at least 95%-100% organic soap and I am so excited about it. The brand is Shea Moisture I found mine HERE, The best part about it is that it has 100% natural ingredients, plus is smells like banana!! This brand has everything from lotion to shaving cream. Check them out!

 I also found out that a brand that my grandparents have actually been using for years is ORGANIC! Burt's Bees people! I am loving this stuff! I got some chap stick and it has a tint to it also and smells like pomegranate! Burt's Bees also has shampoo, lotion, toner and shaving cream. The only issue is check the label, some of their products are good and some are bad. check out their website here. Alba Bontanicals also is a great brand, they have a Hawaiian line that smells great and is also organic, I got some makeup wipes to also come home to find a DIY makeup wipe recipe. Once I test those out I will share the instructions. TJ Maxx hooked me up the other day with organic products! I found a brand called PlantLife that makes some KILLER soap I got coconut lime and lemongrass! (check it out below) Now if you are a country lover like me you will love the body wash I found! A La Maison make it and its HoneySuckle scent!!! Its a french made product that smells awesome! You can purchase it at Meijer, their website and Whole Foods. Toms Of Maine is recon mended from my mother. I found out they make toothpaste, mouthwash, and deodorant. Now that brings me to this issue.
Natural deodorant...let me be straight forward with you. It makes you smell, or as the words of my boyfriend, makes you STANK. He told me that about 2 hours of being at work he could smell his BO and I had the same issue. When i researched this, its actually very common. Mainly because the horrible aluminum in regular deodorant is what is used to keep your pre-puberty stank away. I did read you can do a natural detox to get those chemicals out and it can help rid the stank. I bought Brandon and myself Green Beaver. This is a Canadian brand but I found it at TJ Maxx. I am going to set it back and continue to use my Old Spice deodorant which isn't the greatest but i cant be at work smelling like a 13 year old boy. So for now the journey continues! I did make some natural bronzer, I got some small mason jars, the list of ingredients is easy. Also this is the picture of what is looks like on the skin, I made the medium powder and I did not add Zinc but added extra arrowroot.

Also I got some natural aromatherapy oils. PLEASE don't try and sell me essential oils. The oils I got are for stress and headache, and seeing that my sinuses hate me lately the headache one did WONDERS.

I hope you guys do your research, download the Think Dirty app and see what crap you are putting in your body. I need to get your feedback. I don't want to see people I care about putting cancer causing chemicals in their body. I also understand a lot of things can give you cancer but why not start with something easy then work your way to other things. I am so happy to be on this journey and to see the results from it!! So today I will be making my own soap and lotion. I will keep everyone updated!

See you on the clean side ladies and gentlemen!!



Research Findings

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/02/toxic-parabens-on-breast-cancer-patients.aspx