You Are What You Touch?

Pop quiz!

What weighs up to 8 pounds, measures an average of 22 square feet and is the body’s largest organ?

Answer: The epidermis (AKA your skin).

Ahhh, your skin. Protecting you from the elements and pathogens, keeping you from evaporating away and falling apart, and regulating your body’s temperature – these are just a few of its fabulous functions. But with the growing interest in natural and organic products, the skin has become a subject of great debate.

You might have heard a startling statistic that your skin absorbs 60% of everything you put on it. You might have also heard that many of the personal care and cleaning products on the market contain dangerous chemicals – many of which are carcinogens and toxins. And if you think about all the products you put on your skin – soap, shampoo, conditioner, perfume, deodorant, lotion, topical ointments, make-up, after-shave, shaving cream, etc. – you might start to wonder, “What exactly is my skin absorbing?”

Skin is sometimes thought of as an impermeable barrier. However, we know from things like the use of transdermal patches (nicotine patch, birth control patch, etc.) and the fact that we turn into a raisin after sitting in the tub too long, that our skin is not impenetrable.

At the same time, it’s evident our skin doesn’t absorb everything. So, what about that statistic? Is it true that our skin is absorbing 60% of what we put on it, including dangerous chemicals?  

The answer? It depends.

The science of how and to what extent the skin absorbs and expels substances is complicated. So, let’s try to uncomplicate things a bit.

In addition to being a barrier, our skin is a two-way membrane, which allows substances to enter and exit the body. Some things are able to get in, some things are not. And to make the discussion more interesting, some substances, which can’t pass through the membrane on their own, are able to with the aid of a carrier.

The skin is an extremely complex organ and the factors to consider regarding whether something can be absorbed by the skin are countless. What is the molecular structure of the substance? Is it water or oil based? What is the condition of the skin? How hairy is the skin? And if something is absorbed by the skin, what happens to it?

As you can see, to make a blanket statement that our skin absorbs 60% of what we put on it is far too simplistic a statement. The statistic should be: Our skin can absorb 0%-100% of what we put on it.

So, how are you to know what’s getting absorbed by your skin and how much? Considering the complex factors, I think it’s safe to say there’s simply no way to know. Additionally, as we look at this debate of chemicals being absorbed by the skin, we can’t overlook the fact that the skin is not the only way dangerous chemicals enter our bodies. For example, inhalation of chemicals into the lungs is one of the quickest ways for them to get into our bloodstream. Furthermore, what is the affect on the environment of these chemicals washing down the drain, ending up in the landfill or even being produced?

There are a lot of unanswered questions and that can be frustrating. In the end, the only thing we can really do is educate ourselves and seek wisdom about what to use on our body and in our household. The fact that there are dangerous chemicals used in many products and the fact that there are multiple ways for those chemicals to come in contact with and enter our bodies is enough for me to choose to find alternatives that pose less of a risk to me and my family.

So, how do you know which ingredients to avoid? And does the fact that a product says it’s “all natural” or “organic” mean it’s safe?

Stay tuned for a post that addresses these questions!

My Elephant

Perhaps you can relate to this:

Scenario 1: You decide you want to make some changes in your life. You get a “This-Is-So-Exciting-I’m-Going-To-Be-So-Awesome” high and think about thing after thing that you are going to do differently. You dive in with enthusiasm. You immediately begin conquering it all and within two weeks, your enthusiasm fizzles and you’re back at square one.

Or maybe this one…

Scenario 2: You realize you need to make changes in your life STAT. You start seeing all the negative aspects of your lifestyle and conviction settles in. This list begins to mount. Your head starts to hurt. You suddenly feel overwhelmed and have no idea where to start because there are just too many changes to make. And so, your brain implodes and you return to your regularly scheduled program.
 

Sound familiar? I experience both situations quite frequently - especially when it comes to implementing a simpler, more natural lifestyle. I often have such wonderful aspirations that never come to fruition because I fall into one of the above scenarios.

Sometimes it feels like too much effort. Sometimes I feel like we’re financially not prepared. Sometimes it feels too difficult to learn. I’m pretty good at not coming up with excuses.

Then I ran across a concept on a blog. Its a little movement called One Small Change. The idea is pretty simple: Commit to making one environmentally friendly change each month. For that month you focus on whatever you picked. It can be a big change or a little change – just commit to making a change.

I immediately had a light bulb moment. I realized I needed to stop trying to figure out how I could do it all.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

I needed to pick one or two changes at a time, master those and then move onto the next. The concept of One Small Change turned my elephant of a list into a challenge I could tackle one bite at a time.

Here’s how I’m eating my elephant:

Brainstorm

Grab a pen and some paper. Spend 5 or 10 minutes writing down the things you want to change. This gets those ideas out of your head and helps ease that feeling of having too much stuff rattling around in there.

Prioritize

Now we need to narrow things down. Look over your list and think about your priorities at this time in your life. Circle three items that fit your priorities and are most important to you. It can be difficult to decide, but force yourself to narrow it down. It doesn’t mean you aren’t going to accomplish the other items on your list. You’re just going to focus on these three first.

Select

Of those three things, pick one and only one. You may be like me and are tempted to think “Well, I can handle these three no problem.” Remember Scenario 1? Resist the temptation. Let’s focus on mastering just one right now.

Take Action!

Now that you have picked which change you are going to make, start taking the steps to make it happen. Give yourself at least two weeks before taking on another challenge; a month might even be better. It can be hard not to jump to the next thing, but make sure this one sticks.

Keep your list handy so that whenever you have another idea, you write it down and have it waiting in queue when it comes time to pick the next change to tackle.

My current change? Learning to recycle. What's yours?

Just Do It!

Well, if you’re going to start a blog, you should probably have an amazing intro. And in my case, coming up with said amazing intro will have me sitting in front of my computer, typing out and erasing sentence after sentence, hoping for some stroke of genius to hit. This stroke of genius will produce the best blog introduction EVER.

That would be really nice. 

But in all reality, if this blog is going to be a reflection of our life and the attitude in which we try to live it, I’m just going to have to get over having that amazing intro and just write SOMETHING. As cliché as it sounds, Nike had a good point when they came up with their slogan: Just Do It.

Nothing is going to happen, unless I take action. This goes for writing blog intros and life.

We all have that wish to make positive changes. But making changes in your life can be a struggle, especially when those changes don’t mesh with what is mainstream or our current lifestyle. It can feel overwhelming or like too much effort.

But change requires taking responsibility and action. And if it’s not through our efforts, it is harder to maintain that change or fully appreciate it. As Booker T. Washington says, “Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”

And this is where our journey began. It is a journey toward taking responsibility and action to lead a simpler, more natural lifestyle – a lifestyle that is conducive to being good stewards of our bodies and our world.

This blog is a glimpse into that journey. It is a platform to share our experience and to learn from others. We don’t claim to be perfect or experts. We’re just ordinary people, working to do the best we can. And maybe you’re like us, at a crossroads between wanting to make changes and finding it difficult to start. If that’s the case, join us as we take on the challenge and just do it!