British people are using more cosmetics than ever before – in fact, the average British woman now spends £70,000 on her appearance in a lifetime, and men are quickly closing the gap. We’re now using dozens of products a week, so it is perhaps unsurprising that we rarely stop to think about those products and what they could be doing to our health.
There has been a question hanging over antiperspirant use for many years now – can it damage our wellbeing, and does it damage the environment? With the average person using 254 cans of deodorant in their lifetime, there’s a dire need for real answers. Antiperspirant use has been linked to breast cancer, accused of changing the makeup of our body’s natural bacteria and proven to contain noxious gases which contribute to global warming. Yet still we continue to use it. Why?
How Toxic is Your Deodorant?
Toxins in deodorants have been linked to health issues ranging from minor to very serious, with the link between breast cancer and antiperspirant use proving the most worrying.
The link between antiperspirant use and breast cancer is complicated, and it is difficult to definitively prove that antiperspirant use is a deciding factor in increasing incidences of breast cancer.
Aluminium, which is known to have a geotoxic profile [2], is the compound responsible for blocking the eccrine (odor-causing) sweat glands in many deodorants and antiperspirants. Along with parabens (which are also present in many antiperspirants, and have estrogen-like qualities which may cause breast cells to grow and divide), aluminium is being investigated as the possible culprit behind the breast cancer/deodorant link.
Even if aluminium’s link with breast cancer is yet to be definitively proven, the compound has other toxic properties, and has been shown to be a neurotoxin which can alter the function of the blood-brain barrier [3]. It’s also been shown to kill the microbes which occur naturally on our skin, which scientists theorise could affect everything from how our bodies handle disease to how our genes evolve.
Is There an Alternative?
These health concerns have been well-publicised, but aren’t enough to dissuade most people from using deodorant. After all, the immediate concern of being labelled smelly or unhygienic often outweighs the fear of the long-term consequences of deodorant use. But what many people don’t realise is how ineffective deodorant is, anyway.
Did you know that the FDA only requires that a product reduces sweat by 20% in order to be labelled with ‘all day protection’? Or that an “extra strength” antiperspirant need only reduce wetness by 30%? The sad fact is, that despite potentially jeopardizing our health, deodorant doesn’t even live up to its own claims.
MiraDry: A Longer Lasting Solution
Enter MiraDry – a long lasting, non-chemical solution to excessive underarm sweating. FDA-approved and non-surgical, MiraDry works by eliminating the underarm sweat glands, using electromagnetic energy. The treatment takes about an hour, and you’ll notice a reduction in sweating immediately. Your underarm sweating will be reduced by at least 82%, with none of the risks of surgery, and once eliminated, the sweat glands do not grow back. MiraDry targets both eccrine and apocrine glands, to stop wetness and odour.
It’s a common misconception that we need these sweat glands, or that removing them will increase sweating elsewhere. However, the function of sweating is to cool our bodies down – and just 2% of our sweat glands are located in the armpits, meaning they are responsible for a very small proportion of our temperature regulation. Nor will your body compensate by sweating more in other places.
So if you’re ready to bin your deodorant and opt for an armpit-friendly, non-surgical solution that can last a lifetime, get in touch with Revere to arrange a complimentary consultation – and kiss those parabens goodbye!
[1] https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/bcr2424