Saturday, July 4, 2009

Taste the old El Paso

A while back, I followed a link Ann and Linda posted to a site that rated the toxicity of personal-care products. You might consider following that link; it's pretty eye opening.

I, being a delicate flower (and on account of my many allergies), am bothered by most fragrances. As such, years ago I gave up on most fragranced products. I use mostly all-natural personal care products, some with botanical oils that give it a smell, perhaps, but none with synthetic fragrances, which, incidentally are not regulated by the FDA and regularly contain known carcinogens. Just saying.

I say mostly because I still used Arrid XX Dry roll-on, and I've never found a fragrance-free version of it. I started using it about 15 years ago when I found that I sweat through every other deodorant I used in short order. A couple hours in and I would smell start smelling like Campbell's chicken noodle soup from a can; by the end of the day it would be full-on taco seasoning packet. It was rough.

Thing is, I'm skeered of the toxicity of the deodorant/anti-perspirants and I'm trying not to die. So I found a non-toxic, fragrance-free Kiss My Face product and have been using that for a few months. It's been great! It's not an anti-perspirant, but it is a deodorant. I generally shower every other day and I found that by the second day, a shower was definitely in order armpit-wise, but it was nothing anyone who wasn't me looking for a bad smell would notice.

And then, last week I was working out in the garden for a while and really working up a sweat and caught a big whiff of something. Whoa! And now since it's been warmer out, I've been cooking up a few Ortega meals under my arms. Yikes!

I've decided I'm going to strike a toxicity balance, I think, by going out and buying another Arrid for use during summertime months only, and recommencing use of the Kiss My Face product in the fall.

I believe the lawyerly types call this mitigating risk. I think this is okay.

Labels: , , ,

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mitigating risk--hilarious! (Did this come from our favorite lawerly type?)

Am glad to see you've been out gardening, which suggests you and your back are now on speaking terms.

Wonderful news!

July 5, 2009 at 6:04 PM  
Blogger Jennifer Myszkowski said...

Actually the gardening from this story was the thing that done me in. Luckily, I am mostly back in the saddle with some residual soreness. I can sit in a chair now, though, which is a huge step in the right direction. Thursday morning, I was crying in bed and asking Scott if it would ever be over, and Thursday afternoon is when I finally started feeling better. It's a miracle!

Some of my favorite people mitigate risks.

July 5, 2009 at 10:43 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home