ELEMENTS FROM THE EARTH

ELEMENTS FROM THE EARTH

In my lifetime, I have always felt that using natural products, taking vitamins and reading ingredients has been very important for our overall health. Reading ingredients helps you know what is in your products, even food.
So what I write here, hopefully, will help you understand certain things about the products I sell. I have done lots of research on various ingredients in products and do list some information on my Face book page.
When you think “natural ingredients,” not everything you read is considered natural, even in the health food industry. That is why it is so important to read labels.
Did you know that colors that are everywhere in our products oftentimes are not natural? Some of them are made from chemicals. Fortunately, some companies are learning this and taking certain chemicals out of their products. Knowing this, would you want to keep using products that have chemicals? There are lesser of the two evils out there.
Fragrance oils are synthetically produced in a lab. They can be petroleum based. Certain chemicals in products can cause allergies, headaches and might even trigger asthma, by smell or through the skin.
I am a nail technician by trade and I can list every type of chemical that occurs in the Nail Industry and what could happen long term. But we would be writing a book. Everyday consumers just don’t know or read about it. There is always a lesser of two evils.
For me personally, as well as for my products, I prefer to use Pure Essential Oils and colorants that are from Botanicals from the Earth. I’m not saying that you can’t be allergic to Pure Essential Oils, because anyone can be sensitive to anything out there. Just take note what is listed in ingredients of products you are using. They are made from plants, and if you have an allergy to a certain plant, then that scent won’t work for you.
Botanical Colors is what I use in my soaps. which means colors that are made from the Earth. Such as annatto seed powder, which can turn a soap a pretty orange, or chlorella powder, which can turn soap green. Natural tea can turn soap a light brown, even a light burgundy color. This is what I prefer to use.
We see commercials everywhere that use tons of colors to attract the consumer, particularly in food. Red dyes are one of them and it’s in food everywhere. Some people are highly allergic to this one. We really don’t need dyes in our products; it really doesn’t have any value for us that would be good! Heavy metals can be found in certain iron oxides. A company I wrote to told me that “Mica is a natural element found in the Earth and it is white in color.” The unnatural comes from the colors they add to it. Pigments are also naturally occurring minerals from the Earth. But today most pigments are made synthetically instead of mined. They may carry heavy metals in it. But there are companies out there that screen there metal content which are FDA approved.
So for me, knowing what I know, I choose to use plants from the Earth that are safe. Botanicals. I may not have the brightest colored soaps out there or candles but to me that is more important. The less toxins or chemicals absorbed into the body the better.
Soaps that are in big chained stores contain detergents and a lot of times are stripped of glycerin, which helps retain moisture on your skin. Pick up a bar of soap you may have hanging around and look up your ingredients and do your research. You will be surprised what you find!
So I hope what I have written here may help you be more aware of certain chemicals in products. What I hand-make, I take pride in making. I want it to be as good to our bodies as possible!!!
Thank you,

Kathy
www.aangels.etsy.com