Have you ever had the urge to wash your hair with embalming fluid? Yeah, me neither.
Yet, I put it all over my body for years. Not actual embalming fluid, but formaldehyde in one form or another, which is one of the main ingredients in embalming fluid and also happens to be an ingredient in many body soaps and cosmetics. It’s not like my shampoo or lipstick said Formaldehyde on the label, but instead it paraded under a number of other unrecognizable names. It’s hiding in everything from nail polish to baby shampoo. Yes, BABY shampoo. Yikes!
According to www.Johnsonandtoxin.com, Johnson & Johnson has finally been convinced to remove two known carcinogens, formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, from around 100 of their baby care products.
{Image Via http://www.johnsonandtoxin.com}
Unfortunately, label reading isn’t really good enough, even if you do know what to look for. The cosmetics industry is one of the least regulated industries and companies aren’t even required to disclose all ingredients. Pretty crazy, right? Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen (that’s not new new’s, read this letter from OSHA in 1987) and can cause a number of reactions, from skin rashes to asthma attacks.
I have a cheat sheet below for aliases that formaldehyde frequently uses and some that are formaldehyde releasers, but I encourage you to seek out products from clean companies that you can trust. That way you know they will disclose ALL ingredients!
methylene glycol
quaternium-15
dimethyl-dimethyl (DMDM) hydantoin
diazolidinyl Urea
imidiazolidinel Urea
butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bromopol)
sodium hydroxymethylglycinate
Is formaldehyde hiding in any of your products?
Hiding from toxic products!
Remodeling or have a newer home? Here’s some info on formaldehyde use in home products and construction.
Here’s more reading for the extra nerdy 🙂
