What You Put on Your Skin Impacts Your Hormones

Did you know the products you're using can actually be disrupting your hormones? That's because they contain chemicals that can cause thyroid disorders, hormonal imbalance, infertility, and even cancer.

Just because a product says "organic" or "all natural," doesn't mean it's safe to put onto your skin. Remember that your skin is your largest organ. Whatever you put on your skin is going to be absorbed directly into your bloodstream. This means that your products you use daily, such as cleaning products, skincare, hair products, and more may be negatively impacting your internal health.

Your endocrine system is a collection of glands that produce hormones and regulate your reproduction, growth, metabolism, mood, and much more. Endocrine disruptors act like hormones in your body, disrupting your body’s natural production of hormones. Not only does it affect your hormones, but they may cause cancer and reproductive toxicity.

It's crucial to make sure you're actually putting nontoxic products on your body. To check if your products contain harmful ingredients, you can scan and search products using the "Think Dirty" app or EWG "Healthy Living" app! You can even see the exact ingredients that might be causing you harm.

Here are 5 ingredients in your products that might be impacting your hormones:

1. Quats (quaternary ammonium compounds): linked to eczema, asthma, and even reproductive issues
2. Triclosan: this can impact your thyroid hormone levels, therefore impacting other important bodily functions
3. Parabens: linked to cancer due to activating estrogen
4. Phthalates: a study showed that prenatal exposure of phthalates negatively affects male reproductive development
5. Bisphenol A (BPA): one study found a correlation between BPA and breast cancer

I know it's hard to switch every single thing you're using to nontoxic. Instead, try making small changes. Maybe this week switch out your deodorant. Next week switch out your shampoo and conditioner. It's going to take time but these small changes are going to make a HUGE impact on your health.

We have to do the best we can when it comes to our health, and swapping out for products that contain better ingredients is a simple way we can optimize our health. Just a reminder that breast cancer is the most dominant cancer among women today, and that swapping out products impacting your estrogen levels can be a huge way to impact our health.

Lastly, please don’t stress out if you cannot switch out every single product you are using. We won’t be perfect and we will always be exposed to some toxins. We have to do the best we can, but switching out something you use on your skin daily CAN optimize your health in the future.

References:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5970023/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26363202/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16079079/
4. https://www.futurity.org/quats-inhibit-mitochondria-1532142/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4260154/

Thank you for reading!