Our parents taught us not to talk to strangers and to look both ways before crossing the street — what we should really fear are our deodorants, moisturizers, shampoos and conditioners. Many of the ingredients in our personal care products are toxic components that can cause lasting and harmful side effects, such as infertility, birth defects and many types of cancer. Despite the known harmful effects of various chemicals utilized by the cosmetic industry, many are still in use in Canadian personal care products today. Oftentimes there are no written warnings that go beyond the obligatory “contact a medical professional if consumed” disclaimer. Sometimes there is no listing of any ingredients at all.

Silky hair, smooth skin, fragrant underarms; these are all appealing characteristics of health and beauty, but the products we are using to put our best, smoothest feet forward may eventually stop us dead in our tracks.

As a young cancer survivor, it was enough to cause a minor panic attack when I first started taking a closer look at what was under my bathroom sink. I was inclined to pull the wool over my eyes, but the idea that there are toxic ingredients in almost everything I use on a daily basis brought on anxiety that was hard to ignore. I needed to make sure that I wasn’t just jumping on the next big over-paranoid conspiracy bandwagon, so I grabbed a bottle of moisturizer and began researching every ingredient. Naturally, taking to Google did not ease my fears, but it did help me get educated. In my search results I discovered Environmental Defence’s “Just Beautiful campaign.”

Just Beautiful is an initiative aimed at banning known-to-be-harmful ingredients from Canadian personal care products, and fighting for mandatory disclosure of all the ingredients in products sold. The Just Beautiful website provides several resources for making informed purchase decisions, including a printable guide to buying safe products and a glossary of toxic ingredients.

For those who like to engage in online politics, there is also a petition that supports Environmental Defence’s fight to rid Canadian products of known toxins. I cross-checked the ingredients in my bottle of moisturizer cream with the glossary of toxic ingredients and was shocked by my findings — it contained 32 ingredients, six of which were known toxins.

What exactly constitutes a “known toxin?” In the case of my moisturizer, petrolatum (AKA petroleum jelly) — a common ingredient that I, like many, have always assumed to be safe — was listed as a threat. For years, parents everywhere have been rubbing petroleum jelly on diaper rashes, but it’s time to hide your babies because petrolatum may be contaminated with chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs. PAHs are linked to cancer, and can cause skin irritation, which is typically opposite the effect that most people desire from a moisturizer. Yikes.

So the verdict is in: I am going to pull my head out of the sand faster than you can say “paraben” and go buy some “natural” products. Of course, this poses a challenge of its own and can require a sort of hyper-vigilant consumerism.

It’s a big and scary world we live in, so let’s scratch getting ready to leave the house off the list of things to fear and start buying safer products. Now is the time to take action: save the polar bears; occupy for economic justice; and read the label on your shampoo!