Our third Sharing Secrets online newsletter issue addresses particular cosmetic ingredients which in our opinion are not beneficial to the body.

Mineral oil is a petroleum product which has a highly stable quality to help bind together cosmetic ingredients, and therefore it is commonly used as a base or stabilizing ingredient in lotions, makeup and many of the other products which we use on our skin. It is a cheap and readily available additive, which we believe is not so harmless as its name implies!

You may already know that mineral oil has been used for generations as a powerful and effective laxative when taken internally. This is how it functions as a laxative: after entering the intestines, it draws the moisture out of the intestinal walls and uses these body liquids as a lubricant to move waste out of the body. Although effective, this is usually not a pleasant laxative method, and gentler herbal laxatives have fortunately taken its place in popularity.

If mineral oil's action is to draw out fluid from the intestinal walls, what will it draw out of the cells on the surface of your skin? The precious moisture and water, of course. Take a look at the labels of the most popular brand names of skin lotions and you will find mineral oil listed on nearly all of them, even those which claim to be "natural," and are made by companies we have trusted all our lives!

How can the big cosmetic companies get away with this? It's easy. It would cost hundreds of thousands in research dollars to prove that mineral oil may deplete surface skin cells of moisture. The traditional cosmetic companies don't want you to know all about their ingredients, so they're keeping quiet ... after all, everyone keeps buying their products, so the products must be safe, right?

Did you know that the biggest selling brands of "baby oil" contain just mineral oil and fragrance? Can you believe that we put this stuff on our babies? Would you rub Quaker State Engine Oil onto your precious baby's behind?

Although the natural products manufacturers cannot make the claim that mineral oil is harmful, they still do not use it in their products. When you read the labels of lotions found in natural products stores, you will not (and should not) see mineral oil listed as an ingredient.

Now that you may have discovered that your favorite cosmetics and lotions contain mineral oil, you may be wondering why these lotions seem to have an adequate emollient effect on your skin. Yes, these products may coat the skin smoothly and evenly, and they do seem to protect from chapping, and they do seem to soothe dry skin. Don't be fooled! The mineral oil may cause your skin to get progressively drier, and you will have to keep applying these products more frequently. So you might begin to accept that your skin is just getting drier, and that it needs more lotion that it used to. But what is happening may be that the ingredients in your favorite skin care products are slowly doing you more harm than good.

In the meantime, your body may be continually trying to re-hydrate your skin cells, but you are using mineral oil-based products on your skin and drinking diuretics such as coffee, which also draws water out of the skin cells from an internal level. So why are you getting all those little crinkles and wrinkles? Could it be from getting sunburned every summer when you were a child? We think not.

The lotions and cosmetics found in natural products stores use natural or vegetable-derived emollients such as avocado oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, beeswax, jojoba oil, glycerin, safflower oil, sesame oil, shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, aloe vera, cocoa butter, and a host of others. If most of these ingredients sound good enough to eat, that's because they are mostly food-based, which means that if it's good for your insides, it's good for your outside, too.

Our skin is our body's largest organ, and it is a living, breathing, porous, sensitive, reactive organ which needs good care. What you put on your skin will be absorbed into your body, to varying but profound degrees.

There is also an important connection between our skin and our liver, which is why those who have impaired liver function often suffer from psoriasis and other related skin ailments. So we implore you, do not use products on your skin which contain questionable ingredients, and do not use perfumes, colognes, products which contain alcohol, or those with heavy, artificially-derived fragrances. (In a future newsletter issue we will address the reasons why you should not use alcohols on your skin.)

If you look around you, you will find natural products which satisfy every cosmetic and skin care need you could possibly have, and without harmful ingredients. For instance, instead of using an alcohol-based aftershave, you can choose from witch hazel-based products which may also contain excellent herbs for the skin, such as calendula and aloe vera.

As always, we encourage you to do your own research, read labels, ask questions, and make informed decisions about your health.

Another alarming recent discovery about harmful products used on babies (see baby oil, above) has to do with talcum powder. The most familiar brands of baby powder products still consist mostly of talcum. However, several years ago, it was found that the fine dust from talcum powder can cause respiratory problems in some infants, so cornstarch powders were introduced as an option.

Unfortunately, breathing cornstarch powder may have a similarly detrimental effect on respiration. But this is just the tip of the baby powder iceberg.

Talcum powder is made up of microscopic crystals which easily penetrate the skin, and when used on the reproductive area of female infants, an eventual disruption may occur in the normal cell structures; which in some individuals can lead to the development of cancerous tissues at some later point in life.

If this seems farfetched to you, consider that medical science really doesn't know the causes of ovarian or uterine cancer. Nor is it known what causes fibroid tumors, or endometriosis. Medical science does not yet even offer us non-invasive, viable treatments to these insidious diseases of the female reproductive system.

If you wish to powder your baby, or you enjoy powdering yourself to freshen up, may we suggest using another type of powder? Country Comfort makes a baby powder which contains Kaolin clay and calendula herb, among other good ingredients. You should be able to find it at your nearest natural foods store, or they may be able to order it for you. Weleda is another brand which puts a lot of thought and care into their baby care products, and is also available at stores where natural products are sold.

Now take out your favorite shampoo and hair conditioner, and read the label. Does it contain Quaternium? Quaternium is a cheap, commonly-used preservative which sometimes has a number as a suffix, such as Quaternium-15. This preservative comes from formaldehyde, and many people believe that it is absorbed through the skin and into the body, where the liver tries to eliminate it but for the most part it cannot, so it settles there in the liver and may impair its function as the toxin accumulates over time.

Why are we so concerned with the health of your liver? Because it is your body's sentinel; catching and filtering out wastes which are taken in from our food, our skin and the air that we breathe. The liver has more than 500 functions in the body, and if it ceases to do its work, the body will cease to function also. Our liver is damaged by factors such as stress, lack of nutrition, alcohol abuse, tobacco smoke, environmental toxins, steroid use, a high-fat diet, and even the chlorine in our water.

If you look at the labels on products found in natural foods stores, you may see the alternative grapefruit seed extract used as a preservative. Grapefruit seed extract is a remarkable liquid extract which is used to eliminate dust mites in the wash (30 drops into hot water wash), to purify drinking water which contains incompatible bacterium (as in Mexico's water), and as a preservative in natural cosmetics such as lotions and hair care products. Grapefruit seed extract is also the active ingredient in our favorite brand of natural underarm deodorant; Alvera. This ingredient is not only an excellent preservative, but is the most effective for stopping bacteria which cause perspiration odor.

If you are having trouble finding a hair shampoo and conditioner which does not contain the preservative quaternium, Natural Bodycare is a brand whose labeled ingredients are most impressive to us. It just feels so much better to use hair products which contain ingredients such as aloe vera, comfrey, nettle, henna, rosemary, juniper, chaparral, jojoba oil, vitamins C, E, & D, and grapefruit seed extract. This brand may be hard for you to find, so if you want to try it you may have to phone around at all the natural stores in your area. It is also expensive; you can expect to pay up to $14 for a 16 ounce bottle. But everyone who tries it just loves it. It lathers up very well in extremely hard water, too. If you cannot find it anywhere in your area, we can refer you to EarthWare, the store in Hawaii where it can be purchased by mail order with reasonable shipping costs.

Aluminum Chlorhydrate was originally thought of as a chemical miracle, and because of its incredible effectiveness to stop perspiration on the skin, it is found over 95% of the deodorants sold from drugstore shelves.

However, pathologists report that the brain tissue of Alzheimer-afflicted persons is found to contain higher amounts of aluminum than found in the brains of those who did not have Alzheimer's. So the controversy begins here...how did the aluminum get there? Did these folks use their aluminum cookware too often? Or was it the aluminum molecules which were absorbed through their skin by using antiperspirant deodorants over a period of many years? No one is saying for sure.

We once heard a joke that the advantage to having Alzheimer's Disease is "having new friends, every day." But this affliction is no joke, and it still has medical science baffled. So we suggest using an underarm deodorant which does not stop perspiration, but contains a natural antibacterial ingredient to control odor. (Read about Alvera, above.)

Some people now believe that women who have been using antiperspirant deodorants for many years are more susceptible to breast cancer occurrences, especially in what is known as the "upper quadrant" of the breast area, near the armpit. But this theory is also medically unproven.

Remember when we tell you these shocking theories that there was a time when smoking cigarettes was not thought of as being harmful to our health!

We should all endeavor to make the best decisions for our health, based on the information which is available to us. Without good health, our choices in life are limited, as are our opportunities to share our unique qualities to help make our world a better place for all.

This concludes the February 1998 issue of our online natural health newsletter, Sharing Secrets. Thank you for your kind attention, and stay well!

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