What’s Wrong With Mainstream Deodorant + Why You Should Care
In 2012, studies started making their way to the mainstream media, and they had some unsettling findings. They reported that some of the ingredients in your deodorant could be doing harm. Just a few years on, and just about everyone has heard about the possible link between conventional deodorant/antiperspirant and breast cancer. But is it true?
DO DEODORANTS AND antiperspirants cause cancer?
Are you kind of confused about whether conventional deodorant/antiperspirant is safe to use? I don’t blame you. There is certainly a lot of contradictory information out there. While no studies have shown a direct causal link between the two yet, the safe limits of exposure to certain ingredients in your products are being challenged. The worst offender is aluminium.
Women and young girls are exposed to more harmful chemicals on a daily basis than any other group of people. The long-term effect of low, daily exposure to these ingredients is still being studied, but more and more research is showing how dangerous they may be.
This is what we know
#1.
Many off-the-shelf deodorants and antiperspirants contain controversial chemicals that stay on your skin after you shower. Aluminium, triclosan, phthalates, parabens, propylene glycol and formaldehyde (to name a few) are absorbed into your bloodstream and, although you may not be able to detect them, they cling to your skin for another to 24 hours.
#2.
Some of these chemicals are known endocrine disruptors (often referred to as oestrogen-mimickers or xenoestrogens), and others, like aluminium, accumulate in your body over the course of your life.
#3.
Lifetime over-exposure to oestrogen is an established risk factor for breast cancer in both men and women. Children and teenagers are even more susceptible to xenoestrogens than adults.
#4.
Aluminium is absorbed when applied to the skin. Studies show that six, yes SIX, times more aluminium is absorbed into the bloodstream after shaving. This is because we get teeny, tiny micro-cuts from the razor blade.
#5.
Aluminium accumulates in your kidneys, brain, lungs, liver and thyroid.
#6.
Lifetime over-exposure to aluminium has also been linked to neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
#7.
Recently, aluminium has been measured in human breast tissue, breast cysts and nipple fluid. In nipple fluids, levels of aluminium were higher in women with breast cancer than those without.
#8.
Breast Cancer UK supports a ban on the use of aluminium compounds in under-arm products. Their report concluded that, based on current knowledge, aluminium in deodorant is NOT SAFE.
Is it true that deodorants and antiperspirants cause breast cancer? For now, you’ll have to decide for yourself. But with everything you are unknowingly exposed to on a daily basis – in the environment, at work, your food and water, the air you breathe – why risk it? Secret’s Out!
Melissa x
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References:
1. BCUK Fact Sheet | Aluminium-based antiperspirant salts
2. HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT FOR ALUMINIUM, ALUMINIUM OXIDE, AND ALUMINIUM HYDROXIDE
3. JOURNAL OF APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, ENDOCRINE DISRUPTERS AND HUMAN HEALTH
As always, we are here to provide information and resources. Awake Organics is not affiliated with any of the third parties mentioned in this post. The content in this post is not sponsored, and is not intended as medical advice. Please read our General Health & Wellbeing Disclaimer for details.
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