 |
It’s no secret that we live in a world where we are surrounded by chemical exposure from environmental pollution. What you may not know, is that not only is reducing your chemical exposure vital to keeping eczema at bay, but also to avoiding other health problems. In fact, more than 5,000 chemicals are commonly used in our household and toiletry products. This could be one reason why the number of people suffering with eczema is increasing. Can you imagine how many chemicals we absorb through our skin everyday? It’s no wonder that our bodies are finding it hard to cope and start reacting to this toxic overload.
It is difficult to have control over outdoor pollution, but you can have some control over your indoor pollution. Within your home there are three main ways in which you can reduce pollution:
- Break the fragrance habit
- Stop using harmful household products
- Stop using toxic toiletries.
Break The Fragrance Habit
We are constantly exposed to various fragrances and smells from natural sources such as flowers, wet grass or cooking. Also, we are surrounded by synthetic fragrances from perfumes, shampoos, bubble baths, cleaning products, facial and body products. As fragrance is the most common trigger for contact eczema, it’s vital that you break the fragrance habit and go fragrance-free. You need to check out products individually because even so called fragrance-free products and natural plant extracts can irritate the skin and cause allergic reactions.
Stop Using Harmful Household Products
Look around your house and you will probably find that you have a variety of potentially harmful household products. These could be anything from air fresheners, toilet cleaners, floor and surface cleaners, washing up liquids, laundry liquid, fabric softeners and furniture polishes. All these products may contain harsh and harmful chemicals that can trigger off a skin problem. The solution is to stop using these products and find an alternative. Here are a few tips that will help:
- Open the window and let in fresh air
- Use pumps instead of aerosols
- Buy house plants which can help to remove unpleasant odours
- Keep your house clean by regularly wiping down surfaces. Hot water and elbow grease are all you need to keep your house clean
- Use ecologically friendly products that contain few harmful chemicals
- Make your own household cleaners using products such as distilled white vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. Cheap and chemical free!
Stop Using Toxic Toiletries
Even toiletries that we use everyday such as soap, bubble bath, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, face cleanser, day cream, night cream, anti-wrinkle cream, shaving cream all contain potentially harmful chemicals. Even for babies we use potentially toxic powders and lotions. Simply put, you need to stop using toxic toiletries and start looking at more natural products. Here are a few tips:
- Use real soaps that are vegetable and glycerine based and fragrance free
- Choose a liquid castile soap such as Dr Bronner. This is a great product that can be used on body, face and hair
- Avoid aerosols
- Instead of expensive facial moisturizers and creams, you can use simple vegetable oils such as apricot and jojoba oil.
- Use products that are 100% free of all synthetic chemicals.
It certainly is alarming to know that you are exposing yourself to thousands and thousands of potentially harmful chemicals every day. It will take a lot of effort to reduce your environmental pollution, but using fragrance-free, non-toxic household products and toiletries will go some way to keeping eczema at bay.
