How can Americans feel secure about their health in a country that doesn’t value it?
How did we come to a place where mercury is sold in skincare creams? Utter disregard for consumer wellbeing is the norm in American consumer culture. It took until the year 2020 for toxic chemicals in personal care to be banned, and then, only in the state of California. We need to come together to protect our families and friends from using harmful products that are linked to cancer. Check out the chart below, published in NCBI in June 2018. It is shocking to see and understand just how dangerous our wellness products can be.
Sunburst chart indicating product type and associated cancer. Nonredacted cancer reports were divided into five large categories of product types: talc powders, topical moisturizers, hair products, miscellaneous, topical cleansers, and tanning products.
These product classes are represented in the inner circle with blue, green, red, orange, purple, and light blue, respectively. The miscellaneous category included oral hygiene products, nail polish, and lip products.
The outer circle depicts specific cancer types associated with each product class, with the size of each wedge being proportional to the number of reports. Of the 218 nonredacted cancer reports, 153 were associated with talc powders. The majority of cancer reports associated with talc were of ovarian cancer (n = 144). Other commonly associated classes included topical moisturizers (n = 23), hair products (n = 16), and miscellaneous (n = 12). Redacted reports included the reported adverse event; however, the associated product names were not released. Four thousand two hundred ten reports were associated with redacted product names, composing 95% of reported cancer cases, with the majority representing ovarian cancer reports.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6649728/)
We can clearly see that we are being sold sickness. So, how do we change it? It’s too convenient to pop to the store and grab something cheap and easy to use. However, given that one of American’s top health concerns is the ability to financially solvent during a serious illness, the threat of cancer via our personal care products should be widely disseminated information. We do not deserve a future that includes cancer because the wellness industry wants to make themselves money.
I started Kali Rose after having my daughter and experiencing one of the hardest seasons of my life - the postpartum hormonal rollercoaster. I thought and felt deeply about everything in a way that I never have before. I categorically do not want my daughter to be using harmful chemicals as she grows into a young woman. The tenderness I felt towards her at 3 days old is the same tenderness I feel today. I also feel that way towards all of you - and believe you deserve joy, safety, and efficacious wellness products that improve your quality of life.
The aim of this particular post is not to encourage you to feel fearful or overwhelmed. I want to share this information with you so that you can be fully empowered to make different choices and understand the reasons why those choices are critical for your wellbeing. Start with baby steps. Our next blog post will detail some simple recipes for home-made care products that are accessible, easy, and safe to use for the whole family.
"Anytime in my life when I have managed to go from a vision to a reality, the vision has not been a plan but a practice.
In other words, what matters is not having a vision, but rather making a habit of returning to and revising the vision. For the big things in my life, I'm always coming back to them week after week—sometimes day after day. As new information arrives, the vision gets updated. The dream becomes more crystallized over time. It's a habit of thinking about where you want to go with an ever-increasing degree of clarity.
You do not need a vision, you need the practice of envisioning."
- James Clear