@Janis: Tobacco doesn’t kill. It’s the smoke that kills.

You made some good points and are taking a logical approach that makes sense for you.

I like to comment on your 3rd point above. Many of the personal care ingredients under misinformation attack have been used, tried and tested for generations. Industry is being asked again and again to confirm the safety of ingredients that have been safely used for decades, e.g. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. Also, there are no cleansers as old as humanity, not even soap. Soap is not natural, it’s the result of the saponification of oils and fats with Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide.

Cleansing the body of germs and soil and dirt reduces our exposure to pathogens. We live longer and healthier in part due to improved hygiene. And the mildness and safeness of cleansing ingredients is not a result of their origin. Soap is a good example, it is highly irritating to skin and eyes.

Where chemicals come from (natural sources or synthetic sources) does not make them more or less safe. It is the structure, use and exposure of chemicals that dictates their safety.

Humans are no more or less “adapted” to cleansing with soap or aloe than they are to SLS or betaines. We haven’t been “cleansing” ourselves long enough overall to adapt to anything.

Adapting to eating something does not mean we are adapted to wearing it or putting it in our eyes. Exposure is a big part of adaptation (and toxicity for that matter).

And although I would eat vinegar (acetic acid). I wouldn’t wash my hair with it. It would be damaging by itself over time, but I’d use it in a fully formulated product. Same is true for synthetic ingredients.

The “natural” food item out of your garden is a mixture of chemicals that would sound pretty scary if we listed them by their chemical names.

I like the “adaptation” angle you propose but I’m wondering if you feel safer using “natural” products because their ingredients sound familiar.

Synthetic is not necessarily unsafe – it’s just not something you can grow in your garden.

And watchout for some of those food items – they can cause permanent eye damage. Remember, your stomach handles those food chemicals with a digestive cocktail that is as corrosive as Hydrochloric Acid. All your eyes have are salt water tears.