An Ayurvedic saying is, “If you cannot eat it. You don’t want to put it on your skin.” This old saying rings a true bell when looking at the modern threats the cosmetic industry poses to both men and women’s health.
In Ayurveda food is your medicine! What happens when your medicine has chemicals and poison? Carcinogenic pesticides in non-organic foods are extremely harmful to your body, which is why it is important to eat organic local food from places like your local farmers market. These chemicals can lead to Cancer if one’s immunity is compromised or the gut health is not optimal for a healthy immunity. This information has become more and more popular with people. In Ayurveda your body is like a sponge. What you put in it, it absorbs physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, your body is incredibly smart and you digestion has a filtering systems that helps to eliminate toxins.
What about your skin though? We generally think of skin as a barrier to the outside world as the largest organ. Your skin absorbs most of what it comes into contact with. Skin is the largest organ that can receive potential toxins in everyday life.
Why is this important to Ayurveda?
Carcinogens (“a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue”) in cosmetics and personal hygiene products are a greater risk to your health and are more likely to cause cancer than food contaminated with carcinogenic pesticides (non-organic foods or industrial products). When these chemicals are taken orally your intestines absorb them, carry them intravenously to your liver. The liver is an incredible organ that can detoxify most of the carcinogens and other chemicals through enzymes before they can get into the rest of your body. In contrast, when chemicals and carcinogens in makeup or personal care products are absorbed through the skin, they enter your blood and other organs without the detoxify help of the liver. There is evidence that your skin absorbs these chemicals 100x more than through your intestinal tract.
In Ayurveda undigested food, emotions, and thoughts are stored in our fat cells as a form of “Ama”. When we use these products they are highly toxic, they get stored and circulated in our body. We are already bombarded with toxic chemicals in our environment, why should we get exposed to more by ingesting through the skin? Ayurveda’s goal is to limit the amount of ama in the body and the mind through seasonal detoxification.
To us, here at Santa Cruz Ayurveda, our main goal is to have consumers that are aware, attuned, and listening to their bodies. The cosmetic and personal-care product industry is one of the most unregulated industries for types of avoidable carcinogen exposures. We want people to have a say in their health. A part of listening to your body is becoming aware of the industry and chemicals behind the everyday products.
From lotions, deodorant, perfumes, lipsticks, to aftershave, our everyday products hold hundreds of chemicals and heavy metals that can be harmful to you. In the marketplace we are constantly being flirted by the so-called look and feel good products, which are loaded with synthetic chemicals often linked to cancer, infertility, and birth defects.
Ayurveda proposes that if you wouldn’t ingest it, then don’t put it on your body. The point here is to make consumers aware to optimize their health to the best of their abilities. We try and use products, just like processed foods, with as minimal ingredients as possible. There are an incredible amount of concerning chemicals.
In our upcoming workshop we will be talking about the importance of D.I.Y. (Do it Yourself) as a framework to taking control over your health. We are sick of people not knowing what’s going in their bodies and having effects for generations to come. In this workshop on February 18, 2017 from 10-1pm held at the Westside New Leaf. We will be making 3 ingredient facial oils, body oils, and an all natural deodorant. Our effort is to give people the power to educate and heal. Not only will this workshop include an incredible Ayurvedic meal, but you’ll also get made facial oils and deodorant. We will be discussing what goes into many cosmetics, how we can combat this, the importance of D.I.Y, and natural carrier and essential oils that can be attuned to YOU.