ontheedgeofeverything

I think I could garner a unanimous agreement from women in my generation that using Bath & Body Works products while in elementary and high school was a rite of passage. When I was about 12, Bath & Body Works products, specifically their scented ones, were all the rage among my peers and me, specifically their Japanese Cherry Blossom scent.

I can practically hear you saying ‘oh, me, too!’ upon reading the former sentence.

I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t absolutely obsessed with their lotions, body sprays and candles, and to this day, I still use their aromatherapy lavender pillow spray. It smells heavenly, and I use it just about every night on my pillowcase and sheets before bed.

At least, I did use it just about every night. After reading some rather jarring information pertaining to Bath & Body Works products, I won’t be using it anymore.

Check out the following excerpt from an article via thefiltery.com.

“Ingredients like methylparaben and butylparaben are also commonly used as preservatives in many Bath and Body Works products. Parabens are known endocrine disruptors, which means that, like phthalates, they can mess with the natural hormone function of one’s body. For this reason, they’re associated with a number of negative health outcomes, including cancer and fertility problems.

Bath & Body Works products also contain plenty of ethoxylated ingredients. This includes SLES (mentioned above), as well as ‘PEGs’ and other ingredients with ‘eth’ in the name.

‘Ethoxylation’ refers to the way these chemicals are processed. They’re commonly used in all sorts of makeup and skincare, along with cleaning and beauty products. They function as thickeners, softeners, perfume ‘dispersants,’ penetration enhancers, and more. It’s practically impossible to avoid ethoxylated ingredients 100%, but many conscious consumers may still want to be aware of them.

The main concern with ethoxylated ingredients has to do with potential contamination of two ingredients used to manufacture them: ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane.

Ethylene oxide is an irritant that’s known to cause multiple types of cancer and infertility. And 1,4 dioxane is also a known carcinogen. Since these ingredients aren’t added intentionally, but rather are contaminants, they won’t be found on any ingredient labels.

Not only that, but as ‘penetration enhancers,’ they can also increase the how much of other ingredients your body absorbs, which means they can make other bad ingredients (like phthalates, for example) even worse,” the web page states.

I only pulled a small segment from the website to include in this post, but please read the entirety of the article to educate yourself on the literal garbage Bath & Body Works, and a hell of a lot of other companies, are incorporating in their products. I’m not sure if every single one of their products contains these ingredients, but probably best to avoid the brand overall to be safe.

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