Baby Care Scares in the Bathroom Lead to Questioning Cosmetics

I remember the packaging for the Aveeno and Johnson & Johnson products that I bought for my daughter, the packaging clearly said they were natural, soothing, all sorts of good stuff like that and I felt very confident (especially with the Aveeno) that I was getting her quality products because they cost a little bit more and had things like "Natural" written on the package.

In fact, when my daughters skin first broke out with little red bumps all over her skin I didn't even consider that the skin care products were the issue! I was very vigilant about only using these products and instead focused on my diet. I was exclusively nursing her at the time and did my best to not eat fast or processed food while increasing my vitamin intake, use only fragrance free laundry detergent, and that sort of thing. I recall feeling guilty that I was having such a hard time uncovering the cause.

How I Figured It Out
I went to stay at a friends house for a few nights and forgot to bring the baby soap...she had a poopy diaper though and so of course I had to clean her with something. My dear friend had a bottle of organic body wash in her bathtub and while I felt guilty using this on my daughter because it might sting her eyes, I decided to go for it.

Imagine my surprise when she didn't have any more little red bumps on her skin the next day!!

What Next?
After this experience I started paying a lot more attention to the labels on the products I bought. I just about stopped buying anything that was at the store and just pored over articles I found online about the effects of parabens, sulfites, petroleum jelly, and so much more. One thing in particular that really freaked me out was the mysterious 'fragrance' ingredient everywhere...what is it? Soon I learned that it can be just about anything, and anything often involves different kinds of animal products such as tallow which doesn't feel right to me, especially considering the number of people I know who are allergic to 'fragrance' in the products they use.

For me as a mom with multiple sclerosis which is a disease, cause unknown, that affects my brain and spinal cord, I take all of this very very seriously. If you look at my other articles talking about diet, gardening, personal growth and more this goes inline with my efforts to live a life that is as free of pollutants as possible.

I am involved with Arbonne which is a MLM company because of their dedication to higher standards of health and beauty care, I appreciate their vegan commitment as well as their meeting the European standards which place much more emphasis on keeping the products available to their citizens as safe as possible.

Drugstore no more...
I will buy virtually nothing from the drugstore unless it is a prescription, photos, first aid supplies or some kind of non-consumable product like a gift card, journals or pens. I recently bought some nail polish but it smelled so badly that I have done research and discovered there are other options such as Piggy Paint which will keep me from buying any more of that stinky stuff.