What the heck is Glyoxal? I recently asked this question after having a body scan done. It's essentially like having a "fingerprint" of the body and its imbalances. Glyoxal showed up as one of my "Top 10 Toxin Stressors". What I found out was very interesting to me...
Turns out Glyoxal is a preservative commonly used in cosmetics and nail polish. It's a Formaldehyde Releaser. It's a FRAGRANCE INGREDIENT. It scores a whopping 10 in the EWG database. (1 being safest and 10 being most toxic.)
One of the first things I teach people when learning to switch to safer products is to avoid products with "fragrance" as an ingredient because dozens of toxic chemicals can legally be hidden behind that one word. Did you know that 80% of personal care products have never been tested for human safety?
Here's what the Environmental Working Group has to say about Glyoxal...
'Glyoxal is an antimicrobial preservative that works by forming formaldehyde in cosmetic products. In the U.S. approximately 20% of cosmetics and personal care products contain a formaldehyde-releaser and the frequency of contact allergy to these ingredients is much higher among Americans compared to studies in Europe.'
Well, this makes complete sense to me since partnering with Beautycounter, a company on a mission to educate, advocate, and get safer products into the hands of everyone. 1400 potentially harmful ingredients have been banned in the European Union. In the United States that number is only 30. People have no idea that their products they use every single day are making them sick. The fact that my body scan showed Glyoxal as a top toxic stressor to my body shows me that I've had way too much exposure to it.
Over the past year I've switched all of my skincare and make up over to Beautycounter. I'm now throwing ALL of my toxic nail polish out and only using safer nail polish from now on.
Will making a change make a difference? Yes.
With our skin being our largest organ, when we apply products to our bodies, those ingredients go directly into our bloodstream within 26 seconds. Day after day and year after year, those toxins can add to our chemical body burden and over time can manifest in dis-ease. So how fast can we clean up those toxins? REALLY FAST! Check out this short video that proves just HOW fast toxic chemicals can enter....and leave the body:
So what can you do to help reduce you and your family's chemical body burden?
- Become familiar with EWG.org and get the EWG Healthy Living App and start scanning your personal care products.
- As you run out of things, start switching them out to safer options.
- Swap out the worst offenders first (highest on the toxicity scale).
- Stop buying products with the word "fragrance" as an ingredient.
- Share this important information with others.
What are the safer brands I've switched to?
- Beautycounter skincare, body care, and makeup
- Côte Nail Polish
- Zoya Nail Polish
- Schmidt's Deodorant
- Schmidt's Deodorant for sensitive skin (no baking soda)
- Seventh Generation Detergent and Cleaning Products
- Wool Dryer Balls
- Fluoride Free Toothpaste
- Tooth Whitening
Start you teens off right! One of the first things young girls like to experiment with is NAIL POLISH. When we know better we do better! Here's a promising article showing how teens toxin levels plummeted after switching to safer products: http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2016/03/potentially-toxic-chemicals-plummet-teens-after-switching-safer-cosmetics
Who's with me? Are you going to start making changes? Are you going to start taking YOUR OWN nail polish to the salon with you too?