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Fun fact, shaving creams contain phtalates and parabens. These chemicals (they re monomers really and break down in the blood) are what is referred to as microplastics in the public discourses. Both have been proven to be extremely estrogenic, ubiquitous and non-biodegradable.
It's so bad for you, it has been proven to change gender expression in young children during play if these children had elevated concentrations of them in their blood:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375990822_Long-term_exposure_to_exogenous_phthalate_masculinity_and_femininity_trait_and_gender_identity_in_children_a_Chinese_3-year_longitudinal_cohort_study
besides shaving cream, what other sources of these chemicals should we watch out for?
Teflon (t-fal and all other non stick pans, a good replacement is simply a seasoned carbon steel pan)
Use glass tuperwares instead of plastic.
Silicone cooking utensils only preferably, metal is of course okay, stay away from any other plastic other than silicone in the kitchen). Silicone is non-porous, cannot foster bacteria and burns at 400C rather than melt. I advise good quality silicone since curing is the predictor of durability and is what impacts price in silicone manifacturing.
Try to not smoke cigarettes specifically, cigars and pipes are fine even vaping. The reason is cigarette paper is sprayed with BFR (a flame retardant) so as to reduce the risks of cigarettes causing house fires if someone falls asleep with a lit one in their hands. PhilipMorris will kill you quicker with additives than tar from tobacco.
Avoid fast foods, as well as grease or water repelling clothing (even Gore-tex and others). They re PFAS coated, mcdonald's food for example is wrapped in packaging that does not stain despite the food being very greasy because PFAS coatings are heavily used in the ready-made food industry.
Try to avoid frozen meals or already prepared food you did not cook yourself (that sadly includes trader joe, I consulted for them once and they are not better than everyone else when it comes to forever chemical uses, Costco on the other hand is very careful manifacturing-wise and that is where i shop) since the packaging uses a lot of polyethylene and styrene which as an engineer myself I wonder how on earth we allow them in the food industry.
Canned food since the steel of cans is coated with a thin layer of epoxy on the inside ( this includes canned drinks and canned alcohols ), cosmetics, parabens for fabrics (dry cleaned clothes, enterprise carpet cleaning services, and artificial textiles such as polyesther in clothing, try to stick to natural cotton).
Finally the most important; all fragrances, cosmetics and UV blocking chemicals (sunscreen is horrible for your hormones). Fragrances in particular are terrible for the environment and for you as well. Non perfumed soap and detergents have a big impact on the environment. Finally, if you have kids, do not let them put non-silicon toys in their mouth, and avoid recycled paper products (toilet paper made of recycled paper for example).
Thanks for the detailed response. I didn’t realize that canned food was a concern.
Does this include sunscreen?
You re welcome bro, I m sure it ll help a few folks in terms of stuff no one shows you at school, I just became careful with time due to working in factories and learning about surface additives and polymers over time.
And yeah, sunscreen is up there with disposable paper cups for coffee for instance or disposable utensils (the bamboo/wood ones are just as bad as the plastic ones here).
Food wise, I say eat what you can afford but if you can shop somewhere, head to costco (their business model works well in this case to provide you with high quality goods and high production standards, and buy whole foods, nothing that you could not cook yourself at home. It can be tiring if you treat these microplastics like the plague since you ll become obsessive (I definitely get like that at times) but as long as you make proper choices, a trip to a fast food or a frozen pizza every once in a while won't kill you.
That's really too bad about sunscreen because I'm pale as they come so I feel like I need to pick between getting sunburnt or ingesting microplastics.
I feel ya, my family is african from western sahara personally so I ve never put on sunscreen nor gotten sunburnt, In my opinion the best you can do is expose yourself for durations under 3 to 4 hours, wear a hat with a round lid (cowboy for example) and wear long sleeve light clothing. Depends on where you live, but you should really have problems only when you get close to the equator during the summer. In my opinion, as much as it sucksm the alternative would be to use a cosmetic that might make you sterile through time, give you gynecomastia, lower your sperm count, raise diabetes and high blood pressure risks or worst case, cause neurodevelopmental disorders in future children you may procreate (adhd and autism spectrum disorders are known to have a link to it).
Small brochure on the subject that may interest you: https://www.endocrine.org/-/media/endocrine/files/advocacy/edc-report2024finalcompressed.pdf
That’s why I don’t let my children shave.
Also for those concerned, you can easily find shaving cream that doesn’t contain those like you do with your shampoo’s, etc.
I found good old glycerin (soap) to be the best possible shaving cream, i just emulsify it with a brush and shave,
You need to look for some real tallow soaps. those make lathers that are superb. But glycerin is cheaper so is more common.