By Katie Stobbart (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 3, 2013
Theoretically, it’s summer. As the season slowly emerges from its stormy spring cocoon, we get to enjoy longer, hotter days and more outdoor activities. Unfortunately, both heat and activity can create an outcome many find unpleasant: sweat. Sweat usually smells, and to combat this most of us have been educated about using antiperspirant.
But lately I’ve been trying to think critically about what I’m eating and what I’m putting in and on my body. I participated in a survey with the David Suzuki Foundation about the ingredients in my cosmetics, I did some investigating on hopefully reputable websites and I began to actually read the list of ingredients on the products I use. But I didn’t even think about my deodorant until an acquaintance mentioned she was making her own. Then I started to investigate.
What I found first were a lot of internet articles about how aluminum in deodorant may cause breast cancer. A study of aluminum content in the breast tissue of 17 cancer patients was conducted in 2007, but the small number of participants and limited research focus provides little to no conclusive evidence to support the claim.
Aluminum-based compounds are the main ingredient in most antiperspirants; essentially, they are what keep sweat from getting to the skin’s surface. Seems pretty basic: antiperspirants, after all, are to keep you from perspiring.
However, there is a reason we sweat. When we’re exercising or spending time in the heat, sweating is the body’s way of cooling itself down. So what bothers me about antiperspirant is that it keeps the body from performing a perfectly normal and necessary function.
I peeled back the label on my own antiperspirant (Secret’s unscented “Natural mineral”) to have a look at the ingredients, and I remembered the David Suzuki Foundation had a document about what it calls the “Dirty Dozen” chemicals in cosmetics, which was published in 2010.
Cyclopentasiloxane, or D5, has been identified as a concern for its propensity to build up in the environment, but also for adverse health effects on the reproductive system, bile production, and immune system, and could negatively impact the nervous system.
Petrolatum (a petroleum product) can be contaminated with possible carcinogens.
Parfum or fragrance (present even in unscented products) is usually a cocktail of multiple unlisted chemicals. According to the studies cited in the “Dirty Dozen,” ingredients in fragrances “are irritants and can trigger allergies, migraines, and asthma symptoms.”
All of these, including Aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex GLY (which is on Health Canada’s “Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist”) are in most antiperspirants. Most of the ingredients in my deodorant are words I can barely pronounce, and I have no idea what they are.
So I’m trying out a truly natural deodorant. The ingredients are: organic arrowroot powder, coconut oil, organic raw Shea butter, non-aluminum baking soda, and lavender essential oil. So far, it seems to be working just as well, without keeping my body from cooling itself down.
This is not to coerce anyone to buy a specific product. But I think it’s important to investigate and think critically about the things we use or consume, especially on a daily basis. Not only do many cosmetic ingredients pollute the environment, they also could be polluting your body.
Ultimately it is up to consumers to decide what risks they are willing to take, and for me the peace of mind alone is worth the switch.
