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Bath Foam
Taking a foam bath is more than a routine that your body requires daily. It's a wholesome and convenient alternative to going to a Resort Hotel Day Spa.
Uses:
- The Foaming Bath helps you maintain your sense of balance and well being.
- It cleanses ever so gently in order to preserve the integrity and natural chemistry of your skin.
Disadvantages:
- Bath foam triggers headaches
- These days, most of us don't use soap in the shower or bath. Instead, we lather up with bath foams, shower gels, facial washes and scrubs, all of which rely on complex detergents - often the same ones used in heavy industry - to wash away simple dirt.
- Bubble baths, which are highly fragranced, have the greatest potential to cause skin irritation, allergic skin reactions and headaches. In the U.S., they carry a health warning alerting users to the possibility of skin irritation and urinary tract infections.
- Your bubble bath is likely to contain potentially irritating detergents like sodium laureth sulphate and cocami-dopropyl betaine (the latter is also a penetration enhancer, allowing other chemicals to be more easily absorbed); preservatives such as tetrasodium EDTA, a potential irritant; and methylchloroisothiazolinone (both potential mutagens - substances that speed up gene mutation0
Healthier options:
- Avoid bubble baths altogether and limit your use of shower gels
- Stick to plain old soap instead. Vegetable oil and glycerine soaps are best. They foam beautifully and are made from enriching oils such as coconut, hemp and olive. They are usually unfragranced or scented with essential oils
- Check the label. Cheap or expensive, modern shampoos are usually a mixture of the same handful of detergents. The choice of detergents used is usually as much to do with the final look of the product as it is with its effectiveness.
- Unfortunately, rather like bubble bath, some of the common ingredients in shampoos can break down into formaldehyde during storage.
- When formaldehyde-forming agents mix with some of the other emulsifying ingredients commonly found in shampoos, such as diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamine (TEA) and monoethanolamine (MEA), they can form carcinogenic n-nitrosodi-ethanolamine, or NDELA. This is particularly problematic in shampoos because we use them so frequently and in such great quantities.
- All shampoos need to contain some detergent, but look for one with the fewest ingredients to limit your exposure. Use less - half the amount of shampoo you'd usually use.
- Always tip your head well back when rinsing to avoid getting shampoo into your eyes. There are a wide variety of shaving creams and foams for men and women. They look nice, feel nice and smell nice. But they can contain some not-so-nice ingredients.