Edible Cosmetic...Maybe

I just completed my first batch of homemade face cream and an attempted lotion. Maybe they are not quite edible, but they are made of natural ingredients. Along with my obsession with knowing what foods are going into my body, I am starting to become more aware of what is entering my body through my skin. Cosmetic products have a ton of chemical ingredients and just like ingesting pesticides, our bodies are exposed to toxins through the cosmetics that we put on our body. Now I am still using shampoos, conditioners and some lotions... but I am trying to look at the ingredients and avoid the ones that seem to be the worst for you. The two big ones right now are parabens and phthalates. Both of these chemicals might have some risk of causing reproductive harm... not something I want to put on my body not to mention my daughter's body. I also try to avoid sodium laurel sulfates as I have heard that this often causes severe irritation. I have also started looking up my cosmetics on the Cosmetic Database that is created by the Environmental Working Group. You can find a particular lotion, shampoo or any other cosmetic and if it is in their database it will rate the toxicity of the product. When I first did this with the cosmetics in my household I was astonished to learn that many of them were highly toxic on their scale. Even products that were from more natural companies. My favorite companies right now are:

• California Baby
• Jason Organics
• Dr Bronner's Soaps (for shampoo or body wash)
• Tom's of Maine for toothpaste - but if you look on the database you will see that some toothpastes are better than others

Anyway, it is overwhelming to think about all the things that might cause harm in our highly chemical world right now. So I often have to remind myself to just do what I can as I move towards using more natural products. Anyway I came across a book called Organic Body Care Recipes and it tells you how to make vairous lotions, body butters, creams and even shampoos and conditioners. I made the "To Sleep Perchance to Dream" Balm and it seems to have worked out well. This one just involved melting different oils and butters together and mixing with essential oil. I also attempted the "Aloe and Calendula" Cream. It didn't work out that well...but I think it was because I had to blend it in the blender and I made only a half batch instead of a whole batch and there wasn't enough for the blender to blend.

Anyway... we will see how I sleep and dream tonight with my homemade balm.