I don't know if you have noticed, but the trend of the pharmaceutical companies offering prescriptions in a patch or gel form has increased due to the truth of what you put on the skin enters the body.

To date there are over ten thousand chemicals used as ingredients in skin care products that we use everyday. The National Institute of Occupational Safety that 900 of the 10,000 chemicals were unsafe and not all of the ingredients are tested as of yet. Out of the 900 unsafe chemicals found European countries have banned 400 of them but many of these can still be found on our grocery and drug store shelves.

Here is a list of the dirty dozen chemicals found in our daily use products.

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Petrolatum (Vasaline)

Propylparaben

Ethylparaben

Methylparaben

Mineral Oil

Coal Tar

Cocamide DEA/Lauramide DEA

Talc

Toluene

Triethanolamine

Formaldehyde

Isobutylparaben.

All these ingredients and more that are not listed here, as reported on searchforthecause.org, have been linked to potentially causing toxic breakdown that can lead to skin cancer and have the potential to cause breast cancer.

While there are skin care products that claim there products are "all natural" or "anti-aging" they may still contain ingredients that are harmful and promote breakdown of the skin. Just because it says it is all natural does not mean that it has no preservatives. There are natural preservatives also but many of these still breakdown the skin and cause the skin to actually age 3 times faster.

You would think that behind all the hype of these products they would promote healthy, vibrant skin but did you know that;

Arbonne- Nutrimen C Reality Day Cream

Avon- Anew Ultimate Sin Transforming Cream

Origins- Look Alive Vitality Moisture Cream

Clarins- Moisture Quenching Hydra-Balance

Clinique- Repairware Intensive Night Lotion

Neutrogena Pore Refining Daily Moisturizer

all contain at least 2 of the dirty dozen items that you DO NOT want in your skin care with three of them contain five or more parabens.

Men may think they are exempt from this problem because most do not use skin care as in lotions but if you are using aftershave and shaving cream, read the ingredients on the back and compare to the list of the dirty dozen.

When choosing a skin care or skin care system you should look to see if it is; preservative free, anti-aging, fragrance free, colorant free, allergy tested, suits all skin types, non-comedogenic (will not clog the pores), No animal testing done, Opthamologist tested (for eye creams), and will give you visible and real results.

Be aware of what you are using on your skin. Over the past fifty years there have been over 81,000 chemicals introduced to our air, water, and items we use everyday and only a percentage of them have been tested for toxicity.

Be a label reader!