So I definitely want to repeat a key point I make in the video: it is extremely important to be picky about your lip balm ingredients. Why? You use lip balm on your lips, which just happen to be located next to your mouth. This makes it easy for anything in your lip balm to get inside of you. That isn't necessarily a scary thought, until you start learning more about common ingredients in conventional lip balms. There's a lot of nasty stuff in there. Here are the six that worry me the most.
The Six Most Dangerous Lip Balm Ingredients
- Parabens - Cheap preservatives that you'll find in a lot of lip balms. They're known to interfere with hormone function, which in turn can lead to an increased risk of breast cancer. And if that weren't enough, parabens can also interfere with reproductive function.
- BHT - A little pet name for butylated hydroxytoluene (say that five times fast). Whatever you call it, this is an endocrine disruptor that's linked to developmental and reproductive issues. Oh, and it's also a possible carcinogen. Great.
- Synthetic Colors & Dyes - I'm looking at you, FD&C Blue 1, Yellow 5, and Red 33. Keep an eye out for any lip balm ingredients that follows this pattern. These colorants are made from coal tar and can deposit toxins on your skin.
- Chemical Sunscreen - These guys go by a number of different names, including oxybenzone, octinoxate, avobenzone, and octisalate. Whatever you call them, they wreak havoc with your body's hormone system by mimicking estrogen.
- Artificial Fragrances and Flavors - The FDA has this fun little loophole where you can include almost any ingredient under the name "fragrance." If you see that word on a list of ingredients, there's no knowing what it actually contains.
- Petroleum Jelly & Mineral Oil - If you have these petroleum derived ingredients in your chapstick, you're basically taking all those other nasty ingredients and keeping them trapped near your skin.
Is your stomach turning yet? I know mine is. Thankfully, organic natural lip balm ingredients actually help your lips instead of harming them. They also protect against the elements, help soothe chapping and dryness, and taste really, really great while doing it. What's not to love?
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