Cosmetics and Skin Care . . . Ever Wonder About The Ingredients?

I remember as a little girl watching my mom when she was getting ready to go out for the evening. I would stand in the doorway of the bathroom studying the way she put mascara on her eyelashes and swept blush across her cheeks just before she would dab on lipstick in crimson. Ever since I can recall she dyed her hair. And to this day at 61 years old she does not have a gray hair on her head.

I wasn't allowed to wear any makeup until I was 15. But for some reason when I was about 13 my mom let me get eyeshadow just to play around with meaning I couldn't leave the house with it on. The colors were baby blue and a light shade of green. Hey...it was the eighties! And then when turned that magic age I invested in my first eyeliner pencil. Nautical blue by Maybelline. I washed my face with ivory soap and used babymagic lotion for a moisturizer. As you can see not much thought went into my skincare routine. When I was in my twenties I started caring more about my face and tried a bunch of different products. What I wasn't doing was giving a thought to any of the ingredients.

After cancer I tried to clean up my act. I changed my diet, drank tons of water, and even tried juicing. I also started hearing about toxic stuff in skincare that could be absorbed into the skin. It is the largest organ we have. Words like parabens and sulfates were becoming things I feared. I became obsessive over it. And that obsession came from fear of recurrence. So as I was in the shower lathering up with my pearberry scented shower gel I started to wonder if it could harm me. This fear began to extend to everything I was using from lipstick to shampoo.

As I miss the days when I gave no thought to the chemicals in my lipstick or face wash I can't help but wonder if there are any others out there like me. I know that part of it is from my cancer history. What I am having a hard time with now is finding balance. The balance between enjoying the little things in life to obsessing over what I put on my skin. Shopping for makeup and skincare is no longer fun for me. I am tired of reading labels and running from chemicals.

Having said all that there is a website where you can check the toxicity of your skincare products. Head over to cosmeticsdatabase.com Just don't obsess over it like I do!

Have you given any thought to what is in your skincare products? Do you fear that your skincare or makeup could make you sick? How do you handle those feelings? What are you using on your skin these days?