Toxic homeConscious home by Rob Brown MD

Author:Rob Brown MD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: home toxicity, healthy living, natural living, harmful technology, alternative health, Nutrition
Publisher: Rob Brown MD
Published: 2018-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS

The personal care product industry produces a huge, diverse array of products ranging from hair and skin care products to colognes, deodorants, etc. With few exceptions, such as dental products, most personal care products are designed to cleanse, beautify, or otherwise tend to the skin, hair, and nails.

The skin is considered the largest organ of the body. Although it doesn’t look like an organ as a liver or a pancreas does, it has several vital functions. First and foremost, the skin is a protector, providing us with a shield from physical, chemical, and biological entities that could otherwise harm us. The skin also allows our bodies to either expel or conserve water and regulate both our internal temperature and the internal concentration of salts by constricting or dilating tiny blood vessels. Our skin, when exposed to sunlight, helps our body to produce vitamin D, a vitamin critical for a healthy immune system as well as for the production of healthy bones, cartilage, and connective tissue. Nerves in the skin process and transmit information to the brain, providing us with a sense of touch and allowing us to interact physically with the world beyond the senses of sight, smell, and hearing.

Before discussing personal care products, it is important to first understand that the skin isn’t just a simple covering over your “insides,” but is composed of three layers: the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue.

The surface of the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin, is lined with keratin and dried-up cells. There are many different cell types in the epidermis, including hair, nails, and the sweat glands. The epidermis is a dynamic structure—cells constantly move toward the skin surface, where they die and slough off, and are replaced by new cells. In this way, shallow cuts and scrapes can heal.

Pilo-sebaceous units in the skin produce hair and sweat. Hair protects us from the rain, wind, and sun and also helps to dissipate sebum, our sweat gland product, from the skin surface. All hair follicles have the same structure. The spacing and distribution of hair is determined by one’s genetic expression. Because of societal emphasis on one’s image, the marketplace is flooded with products that make your hair look “better,” which could mean a different color, thicker, softer, straighter, curlier, more manageable, or shinier.

Fingernails provide us with protection. They provide us with an enhanced sense of touch and help us feel and hold on to small objects. Fingernails grow two to three times faster than toenails; the average fingernail grows approximately 3 1/2 mm a month.1 Covering the nail with polish and other ornaments is a huge industry.

Beneath the epidermis sits the dermis, a layer composed primarily of cells that produce a large protein called collagen. Cells in the dermis are constantly producing and breaking down collagen in order to provide the skin its structure and substance. Collagen allows skin to resist deformation and tearing. Many products have capitalized on the idea that collagen makes your skin younger-looking and more resilient.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.