You probably don’t even realize that there has been a whole lot of activity going on in the comments section of one of my previous posts entitled “How Much Does the Skin Absorb?” It was written nearly a year ago as I was pondering one of my customer’s comments about the correlation between using a salt bar (soap) and increased blood pressure. Several people have given their opinions, as well as citing some very interesting studies on the matter. Did you know, for example, that some cosmetic companies are using nanotechnology to create delivery systems that will penetrate deeper into the skin’s layers? And they don’t have to disclose that they are using them.

Here’s another interesting study:

Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families – phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks – in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption. These tests feature first-ever exposure data for parabens in teens, and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives, with 2 parabens, methylparaben and propylparaben, detected in every single girl tested.

Another resource talks about our “chemical body burden” – chemical residues that can be detected in blood, urine, and breast milk. Bill Moyers of PBS had his blood and urine analyzed as part of a study sponsored by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and they found 84 distinct chemicals. Some were from common use, others have been banned for over 25 years!

One of the main culprits is sunscreen. A new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveals that 97% of Americans are contaminated with a widely-used sunscreen ingredient called oxybenzone that has been linked to allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage. A companion study published just one day earlier revealed that this chemical is linked to low birth weight in baby girls whose mothers are exposed during pregnancy. Sure enough, I checked all my bottles of sunscreen, and this is one of the active ingredients in every one of them!

The heated part of the discussion came from trying to figure out how some “natural skin care advocates” have come to the conclusion that absolutely everything we put on our skin penetrates to our bloodstream. This obviously cannot be true. Oh, Oh Organic has an excellent blog post that logically refutes the idea that our skin absorbs even 60 to 80% of what we put on it. For example:

Think about it – if your skin absorbed 60 to 80% of what you put on it, wouldn’t you start to look a little puffy? I keep having visions of the Michelin Man when we get out of the shower . . . if we absorb all this stuff – where does it go? What happens in the shower, do we absorb all that water? Where is the logic in these statements?

My stance on the subject remains pretty much the same as it always has. Yes, certain chemicals do penetrate our skin and end up in our bloodstream. Several studies have documented this. I’m not entirely convinced that using a salt bar soap will increase your blood pressure, however. But in my mind, if you have the opportunity to use more natural products, why wouldn’t you?

Resources cited:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/nanoparticles.cfm
http://www.ewg.org/book/export/html/26953
http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/problem/bodyburden.html
http://www.ewg.org/node/26212
http://www.ohohorganic.com/blog/2008/07/does-our-skin-absorb-personal-care.html

skin absorb, chemicals in blood