I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
What’s in Your Baby’s Shampoo?
Some people like to laugh at us “crunchies”. They poke fun at us for being “weird hippies” when we do things like avoid the mainstream chemical filled baby items. Glass bottles instead of plastic, cloth diapers instead of plastic, an avoidance of cheap plastic toys made in China toys for wooden and cloth ones. I know I get the look when I pull out a small wash cloth and get it wet with plain water rather than a plastic tub of chemical soaked baby wipes. But that’s OK. You know why? Because I’m not worried if my cotton cloth and tap water could give my kids cancer.
Probable Carcinogens Found in Baby Toiletries:
More than half the baby shampoo, lotion and other infant care products analyzed by a health advocacy group were found to contain trace amounts of two chemicals that are believed to cause cancer, the organization said yesterday.
Some of the biggest names on the market, including Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo and Baby Magic lotion, tested positive for 1,4-dioxane or formaldehyde, or both, the nonprofit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reported.
The chemicals, which the Environmental Protection Agency has characterized as probable carcinogens, are not intentionally added to the products and are not listed among ingredients on labels. Instead, they appear to be byproducts of the manufacturing process. Formaldehyde is created when other chemicals in the product break down over time, while 1,4-dioxane is formed when foaming agents are combined with ethylene oxide or similar petrochemicals.
So go on, make fun of us. Call us names, turn your nose up at us, ask us why we’re so different and weird. Feel superior to us for your ability to unquestioningly buy what your TV tells you to buy. I’ll keep on being the freak you make fun of. I went to a public high school, being made fun of for not being a clone of everyone else isn’t anything new. *wink*
And, for what it’s worth, I’m also an incredibly frugal freak. Those same cotton cloths have lasted me five years now with no signs of wear and tear. Low cost and non-carcinogenic, being out of the mainstream does have it’s perks.
Lately I’ve been seeing Huggies Wipes being marketed as a cure-all for messy babies: including hands and face. And while I don’t put Huggies wipes on my babe’s bum, I definitely wouldn’t put it on her hands or face. Yay cloth.
Thank you for posting this article on baby shampoo. I think it’s insane the amount of impure and toxic ingredients that are being added to almost everything we need to eat and stay clean! My biggest pet peeve currently are the dyes that are added to everything. Many foods, shampoos, body lotions, soaps, deodorant….. the list goes on and on. These dyes aren’t even necessary and some have been pulled in the past for causing cancer so why isn’t anyone regulating this better!
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*nods* Indeed.