Sodium Larual Sulfate. "What is it? Ive never herd of it" you say. Well, you should recognise it. It is a main ingredient in most every cleaning supply you use everyday.
Every cleaning supply? Yes.
Toothpaste, Shampoo, Body wash, Hand soap, Laundry Detergent, Dishwashing soap, Carpet cleaners, etc.
although it's name slightly varies, if your product has one of the words in "sodium laural sulfate" its the same ingredient.
What is it? Well, it's a foaming agent.
In different cultures, we each have a different deffinition of "clean feeling". To some, its the smell of lavendar, others, a feeling of mud. Well, to Americans it's a foam clean.
So everything that is a cleaning agent has to foam for us to feel like its been cleaned.
The problem with SLS is that, if not completely washed away, it causes skin irritation because the chemical burns. If used for a long period of time, it causes dryness.
So I discovered this by accident. I have always had dry areas around my mouth and got cold sores often. I even always had dry mouth that peeled at the sides and I would literraly have strips and flakes of skin from the inside of my mouth peel off as I would brush my teeth and all throught the day- like after you drink scalding hot coco but everywhere. I never shared my chapsticks, lipsticks, food, etc. I always kissed my neices on the cheeks, and I had them long before I even kissed a boy. Why was this always happening? I was super self concious and embarrassed- especially through high school. I finally just accepted it. Then, one day at the age of 23, I was getting my teeth cleaned by my sister whom was going through dental higine school. She noticed my cold sores and my peeking inner-mouth and made a joke about kissing my husband. I told her it was something I had always delt with. She asked if I noticed if it worsened after I brushed my teeth and I told her I had. I then went on how I would barely brush my teeth sometimes because it would hurt so bad afterwards.
"Well, your problem is your toothpaste"
What? But I had been using the same brand of toothpaste practically my entire life. How could it be the problem? I thought.
Because of the chemical SLS littlerally eating away at my skin. My fix was easy- switch to Toms of Main without SLS. My godness! The first time I brushed with Toms was like instant releif from an entire life of pain.
But then I started to notice something. It was like for the first time I really felt how utterly painfully dry the rest of my body was. Was there SLS in other things? I checked my soap- yup. I checked my shampoo- yup. Everything had it! It was like walking into my house to find it robbed and stripped of everything. I was devastated to find that I had to replace everything with SLS free (or less of it) products.
I was off to find new things! After my successful run I noticed other things as well. My lifelong struggle with dandruff- cured! My bleeding hands- well that was significantly cured (I still have to wash my hands after all). My newest change was our laundry detergent- Oh was it a wonderful change!
Oh the joy I felt! I was so happy for now I knew some wonderful knowledge to share with everyone I knew!
My brothers were especially grateful because they have a genetic skin disease where they have scaley dry skin constantly.
So, try to make your lives less irritating and replace the products you think you love for some that will make your life much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment