Ain't that the pits

I'm a bit slow sometimes. Most of the time I'm super-fast and intelligent (clearly! *cough*), but I blame occasional downfalls on excellent marketing by brands set to take over the world one little lie at a time. For example, deodorant. Do you know how many different types there are and what they do to your skin? Either did I. Until I looked into it a little while ago, I hadn't the foggiest. My curiosity spiked when the idea that you could develop cancer from overuse of antiperspirants went around. The brands clearly deny it because they like making money from as many harmful products as possible... and research hasn't found strong enough evidence (there's enough for me) that would thwart these nasties from sitting pretty on supermarket shelves. So here's my take on the whole thing...

* Antiperspirants. Nasty. We sweat to regulate body temp and clear toxins out of our system, it's a process our body needs to do and has down pat. So why spray something on your skin that stops the sweating altogether? WHY? And guess what genius ingredient they use to prevent sweating? Aluminium. It doesn't just sit on your skin, but gets into your blood stream and changes the physiology of your body. It may even raise the risk of Alzheimer's Disease by 60%. Do. Not. Want.

* Deodorants. Better, but be careful. These try to neutralize the smell by killing the bacteria. Watch for aluminium and parabens - a common preserving ingredient found in beauty products that gets into your system and disrupts the hormonal balance (for starters) by mimicking oestrogen. Parabens have also been found in human breast cancer tumours. Ick.

* Crystal. Sound a bit crazy? This is the best you can get, in my book. It's made up of a smooth chunk of crystallized mineral salts that kill bacteria on the surface of the skin (and so goes the BO), while letting you sweat. You'll get used to it, and feel better for it.

For those wanting to know how to spot a paraben, here's a list of them:
- Methylparaben (E218)
- Ethylparaben (E214)
- Propylparaben (E216)
- Butylparaben
- Benzyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Methyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Ethyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Propyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Butyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Parahydroxybenzoate