While my husband was away on another golf man-cation last week-end, I used the opportunity to take a little peek at what he has stashed in his medicine cabinet. Actually, I was looking for some dental floss, but shelves of forbidden fruit lured me inside.
No matter how often I replenish his essentials with a selection of healthy products, an assortment of contraband Crest toothpaste, Edge shaving gel and Old Spice deodorant magically reappear. Funny how he’s blind to any other inventory needs around the house, but can certainly keep his trusted toxic toiletries on hand.
“Sweetie, do we have any AAA batteries for my remote?” Music to my ears.
I digress. Anyway, as I tossed a few items into my collection bag for the next hazardous waste drop-off, I happened to pick up his shaving gel for a closer look. Looks like he was pinching a few pennies last month to pay for some extra greens fees since the product I confiscated was a Walgreens private label – for sensitive skin with aloe. Does it get any more fabulous than that?
As I dug into the ingredient list (because I just can’t help myself….), I was not surprised to see a series of petrochemicals that I did not want in contact with his freshly shaved skin. I typed a few of them into the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database, including triethanolamine, isobutane and PEG 14M. Not a shocker that all three were rated between 4-6 on their hazard scale.
Health concerns for each chemical varied, but for example, PEG 14M was deemed “not safe for use on injured or damaged skin.” And that warning came from the industry’s own Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel (i.e., the hired guns).
Let’s pause for a moment and remember that when men shave, their skin becomes all the more vulnerable to penetration by chemicals. Duh. The same goes for women, by the way. I spent about 20 minutes in the drug store just last week, trying to find one re-fillable razor that did not have some kind of soothing goop attached to the blade.
But what really shocked me as I perused this label was finding the word, propane. Propane! I’m okay with a man who interacts with propane, as long as it is to grill my veggie burger,
Seriously, how is it okay for my husband – or any man – to spray propane on his face? FDA, what are you thinking?
And while I’m on the topic of men’s products, I have to tell you about what happened when I swapped out my husband’s shampoo and hair gel last year. Basically he had been waking up every morning for months with several strands of hair on his pillow. We chalked it up to aging and didn’t spend a lot of time mourning the loss.
But then I tried a few gentle organic shampoos and a gel by Max Green Alchemy and I kid you not, his hair stopped falling out. I don’t know whether to attribute the improvement to kinder hair care or to one other major change in his daily routine – no more Diet Coke. Either way, those two small shifts in his lifestyle have had an incredibly positive outcome.
So the message today is, don’t forget about your man. Never heard that one before, I’m sure. But he may need a little help in the non-toxic department, especially if he likes to smell real pretty for his lady when he heads out on the town.
If it makes you feel any better, you can be entirely certain that my husband will be very annoyed when he finds that I ransacked his drawers again - and then spent a Saturday night writing about it!
Hopefully he eventually understands that I only do it because I care. Maybe this will teach him not to leave me unchaperoned in the future.
I can hear Tammy Wynette, now:
Sometimes it's hard to be a woman
Giving all your love to just one man
You'll have bad times
And he'll have good times
Doin things that you don't understand
But if you love him
You'll forgive him
Even though he's hard to understand
And if you love him
Oh, be proud of him
Cause after all he's just a man
Stand by your man
Give him two arms to cling to
And something warm to come to
when nights are cold and lonely
Stand by your man
And tell the world you love him
Keep giving all the love you can
Stand by your man
Stand by your man
And show the world you love him
Keep giving all the love you can
Stand by your man
Even if it means confiscating everything you can.......
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