The Truth About Anti-Perspirant (do we really need use it?)

Every day we slap a load of chemicals on our skin…

…but do we ever think about it like that – or do we just want to look clean and smell nice?

I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve never really given it that much thought. When it comes to my health, I thought more about what I put in my mouth rather than what I put on my skin.

But having just read a short article about the new Lynx (Axe if you’re in the States or mainland Europe) antiperspirant in Wired I started thinking a lot more seriously about the potentially harmful effects of some of the products I use on a daily basis.

Which is funny really, ‘cos the article had nothing to do with that.

But what it did highlight to me was that this anti-perspirant contained a fair old whack of aluminium that dissolves into the skin, causing underarm pores to swell shut. That sounds wrong to me. Also in the same product is PPG-14BE, which is an antistatic agent which is more often used as an insecticide.

Now, this could all be totally harmless.

I’m just sayin’ what I’m seein’! But it seems a bit wrong doesn’t it?

So I’ve started trying to learn a bit more about this and being the helpful fella that I am, I decided it might be worth blogging my findings.

The very first article I have found on this subject (unsurprisingly from the excellent BBC) certainly highlights some potential problems. They highlight a study which showed that some of the chemicals, particularly parabens were found to be accumulating in the tissues of the subjects.

The issue with parabens seems to be related to their potential to cause cancer. But then the same article has equally compelling arguments against this claim.

NaturalNews.com (another cracking site) discusses the link between methylisothiazolinone (found in loads of personal care and homecare products) causeing nerve damage.

Next up I found a forum discussion which made the quite important point that there could be more important things to worry about – such as the polluted air we breathe all day every day! Fair play, that could be a good point.

Another site (Aubrey Organics) suggests that
the aluminium content could be of concern in terms of a link between aluminium exposure and Alzheimer’s.

They reference a number of academic research articles and come to a similar conclusion that I am coming to – that there seems to be some evidence against using aluminium rich antiperspirants and suchlike – but that this evidence is not yet conclusive. Personally, I am going to look into this some more, while investigating the ease of switching to a less chemical-intense life!

Something quick and easy to do that is obviously a good choice is to steer clear of aerosoles. The potential for breathing in aerosole products is pretty high meaning that fine, toxic particles can find their way straight to our lungs and respiratory tract.

Does anyone here, reading this, use chemical free body care products?

I think I’m going to try and cut out the potentially harmful products that are in my life – but I think it’s going to be tricky! There is enough evidence there to convince me that I should give it a try while I do some more researching. But what do you think? Are there more important things to worry about?