Are Your Body Care Products Killing Your Skin?

Every day, millions of people are using products on their bodies. Products to cleanse, products to moisturize, and products to make the body smell good are being used more today than any other time in history.

Both men and women have a constant barrage of marketing aimed at them concerning products to use on their bodies. Within the last decade, mens body care products have become the norm, rather than the exception.

Today, at least with younger men, you will be hard pressed to find someone who is not using some type of product designed especially for use on mens bodies. These products are well known for their masculine fragrance.

So, what do you know about these products? Products for both men and women have their biggest selling point through fragrance. How many times have you been in to purchase shampoo and found yourself (or seen another customer) opening lids and smelling the product?

Of course, the scent has absolutely nothing to do with how well the product actually cleanses the hair. The scent is a major marketing ploy; one that works very well. That scent is artificial and if you begin asking people around you, you will find that many of them are allergic to these artificial fragrances. Sometimes, they cannot even be around someone who has fragrance like these on their body.

One of the things that you need to be able to do is read your labels. This is not to imply that you do not know how to read; you need to be able to understand how the ingredient labeling process is done and what the ingredients mean to you.

Ingredients are listed in the order of volume used in the formula for the product. This means that the first ingredient is the biggest amount of the product. In many products, you will find that this first ingredient is water; if you read your shampoo label and see that water is first, you know that the shampoo is more water than anything else. This process of listing ingredients is common to all of your body care products.

Aside from understanding how the listing works in reference to the amount of each ingredient, you should know about certain ingredients. Remember that not all ingredients are actually good for your skin, even though the product has been marketed for use on the skin. Your body will appreciate you for paying more attention to what your purchase for your body care products.

If possible, you should buy certified organic products. These products do not carry hidden dangers from man made chemicals. If it is not possible for you, you will want to take care to buy body care products that are free of certain ingredients. These ingredients include:

Mineral Oil: this ingredient actually catches environmental debris and mixes with it, clogging pores and causing blackheads, whiteheads, and irritation. Because of the trapping tendency of mineral oil, toxins are attached to your skin which can result in faster signs of aging.

Wax: this substance should be used sparingly. It is almost impossible to avoid using a total skin care system that is completely wax free, but you should know that wax can clog pores. As with mineral oil, this clogging results in blackheads and whiteheads. Unlike mineral oil, wax does not tend to attract environmental debris and trap it in pores. Wax is often found in body care products that are creamy.

Lanolin: the biggest problem with lanolin is that it can be an allergen. If you are experiencing irritated skin, this may be the reason.

Acetone: this toxic substance strips the skin of essential natural oils. Wrinkles result faster through this excessive dryness.

Alcohol: this may be listed as ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, or SD alcohol 40. Like acetone, alcohol strips the skin of its essential natural oils. Again, the excessive dryness causes wrinkles to appear earlier than they would otherwise.

Artificial coloring: often, the base use to create artificial colorants is actually toxic.

Petrolatum or other derivatives of petroleum: your skin is not able to absorb these ingredients, and they act as attractants to environmental debris. Blackheads, irritation and white heads frequently occur with regular use of these products.

Keeping a careful eye on labels will help you avoid many of the skin irritations that are quite common today. You will also prevent premature aging because you are not using ingredients that accelerate your skins genetically planned aging process by trapping toxins on your skin and in your pores or by over drying your skin.