Discover the unspoken truths of the skincare industry with Dr. Carver and expert Trina Felber as they dissect the myths and realities that could be undermining your health. This enlightening conversation pulls back the curtain on the hidden toxins in beauty products, the deceptive allure of water-based skincare, and the silent damage caused by ingredients we often overlook. Dr. Carver shares her personal battle with eczema, offering an intimate glimpse into the struggles and triumphs on the road to understanding the skin's complex needs.
Navigating the landscape of skincare labels can feel like decoding a foreign language, but we're here to turn confusion into clarity. Learn the ins and outs of the 'rule of five' and the '1% rule,' arming you with the knowledge to distinguish genuinely beneficial ingredients from the filler. As we uncover the industry's subtle sleight of hand, you'll be equipped to make informed decisions that prioritize the health of your skin and body—because what you put on the outside affects your inside just as profoundly.
Wrapping up, we underscore the power of taking charge of your health, starting with the personal care products that fill our shelves. It's about more than just swapping out one brand for another; it's a commitment to a minimalist, more intentional lifestyle that embraces quality over quantity. Join us for a deep dive into the world of natural skincare, and walk away not only informed but also inspired to make changes that resonate with your skin and your values.
To find Trina's amazing skincare products go to:
www.primallifeorganics.com
Use promo code DRCARVER for 15% off!!
---------------
To learn more about holistic dentistry, check out Dr. Carver's website:
http://carverfamilydentistry.com
To contact Dr. Carver directly, email her at drcarver@carverfamilydentistry.com.
Want to talk with someone at Dr. Carver's office? Call her practice: 413-663-7372
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. Information discussed is not intended for diagnosis, curing, or prevention of any disease and is not intended to replace advice given by a licensed healthcare practitioner. Before using any products mentioned or attempting methods discussed, please speak with a licensed healthcare provider. This podcast disclaims responsibility from any possible adverse reactions associated with products or methods discussed. Opinions from guests are their own, and this podcast does not condone or endorse opinions made by guests. We do not provide guarantees about the guests' qualifications or credibility. This podcast and its guests may have direct or indirect financial interests associated with products mentioned.
Discover the unspoken truths of the skincare industry with Dr. Carver and expert Trina Felber as they dissect the myths and realities that could be undermining your health. This enlightening conversation pulls back the curtain on the hidden toxins in beauty products, the deceptive allure of water-based skincare, and the silent damage caused by ingredients we often overlook. Dr. Carver shares her personal battle with eczema, offering an intimate glimpse into the struggles and triumphs on the road to understanding the skin's complex needs.
Navigating the landscape of skincare labels can feel like decoding a foreign language, but we're here to turn confusion into clarity. Learn the ins and outs of the 'rule of five' and the '1% rule,' arming you with the knowledge to distinguish genuinely beneficial ingredients from the filler. As we uncover the industry's subtle sleight of hand, you'll be equipped to make informed decisions that prioritize the health of your skin and body—because what you put on the outside affects your inside just as profoundly.
Wrapping up, we underscore the power of taking charge of your health, starting with the personal care products that fill our shelves. It's about more than just swapping out one brand for another; it's a commitment to a minimalist, more intentional lifestyle that embraces quality over quantity. Join us for a deep dive into the world of natural skincare, and walk away not only informed but also inspired to make changes that resonate with your skin and your values.
To find Trina's amazing skincare products go to:
www.primallifeorganics.com
Use promo code DRCARVER for 15% off!!
---------------
To learn more about holistic dentistry, check out Dr. Carver's website:
http://carverfamilydentistry.com
To contact Dr. Carver directly, email her at drcarver@carverfamilydentistry.com.
Want to talk with someone at Dr. Carver's office? Call her practice: 413-663-7372
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. Information discussed is not intended for diagnosis, curing, or prevention of any disease and is not intended to replace advice given by a licensed healthcare practitioner. Before using any products mentioned or attempting methods discussed, please speak with a licensed healthcare provider. This podcast disclaims responsibility from any possible adverse reactions associated with products or methods discussed. Opinions from guests are their own, and this podcast does not condone or endorse opinions made by guests. We do not provide guarantees about the guests' qualifications or credibility. This podcast and its guests may have direct or indirect financial interests associated with products mentioned.
Hello everybody, Welcome to another episode of the Root of the Matter. I am your host, Dr Rachel Carver, and today we welcome back Trina Felber from Primal Life Organics. As we promised before, we are going to dive into skin care. So we talked about last time how so many of the toxins that we are putting in our body are in our beauty care products and not just the oral care products Women think about in our daily routine. We're maybe putting 100 chemicals on our skin before we 8 o'clock in the morning. So, and the skin is the largest organ in the body, it absorbs so much and we don't realize it because, unless we had a skin reaction from some kind of product we use, we can't appreciate that some of those seemingly healthy, even some of the organic natural products, maybe have some products that aren't so good for us. So welcome back, Trina. Thank you so much. And then we were talking offline. We could have gone on for hours and hours.
Speaker 2:I know we're like soul sisters here I know, dr Carver. I'm so excited to talk this. I'm passionate about dental health, just like you, but I love talking about the skin because I feel like when, especially men and women, as we get older, we want our face to look good that's what people recognize you as, that's your logo, everything so you want your skin to stay young looking, and so I'm excited because I've hacked this. I know how to make that happen, and so I'm super excited to go over this with you.
Speaker 1:Awesome. So I want to talk about a few different things. I certainly want to go over teenagers and acne. I know I have got two teenage daughters and they've got 1,000 products on their desks that are supposed to be desks that are now have turned into vanities and trying to teach them what older daughters said oh, I'm using all the right stuff, why is my skin? I said, first of all, where does a lot of skin stuff come from? And she said to me the gut. I said oh, I was like wow, she's listening.
Speaker 2:Ok, mom, she's listening, yay.
Speaker 1:But at 15, she's I'm not going to stop eating fried chicken and my candy and whatnot. So OK, so we got. A lot of teenagers may be like that. So second best thing, if we're not going to necessarily start at the gut, what are the products we want our teenage children, boys and girls, to use, not only to help with acne but keep the skin hydrated? Right, we're in winter right now, so some of us, when we get that dry skin, that also helps. It makes us break out and all sorts of things. So tell us a little bit about what we should be using on our skin.
Speaker 2:Oh, 15. To be 15 years old again and have acne sometimes. I know a lot of women or men sitting out there going I'm 40 and I have acne. I had 40. I had acne when I was 40. So I know the dread that comes along with acne. I see it in my daughter's eyes, just like you said, with your daughter At the age of 15, my daughter, you know my twin boys and they struggle with a little bit of acne here and there.
Speaker 2:Acne, like you said, a lot is control. Acne comes from the gut, but skin issues are assigned from the gut that there's imbalance inside the body and it could be hormonal as well, especially for young women and adult women. Obviously there's hormone. Your hormones come into play as well with acne, but your face shouldn't be broken out all the time. You really should have moments of relief.
Speaker 2:Obviously changing your diet and eliminating some of the trigger foods, including sugar. I think a lot of it is. If you get rid of sugar and gluten, you're probably going to notice your skin changes quite a bit. But some of it has to do with the products that we're actually putting on our skin and the ingredients in those products actually irritate the skin, dry the skin out or actually can cause acne itself. Actually, some of the products made for acne can cause acne. So once you know that kind of thing and understand how the skin works, you're able to at least combat the topicals.
Speaker 2:And most acne products are drying to the skin, because that's what most companies believe, is that you have to dry it out in order to kill the bacteria and in order to get rid of the acne breakout itself. What I've found is that's completely not true, in fact, that drying of the skin actually triggers your skin internally to say hey, I'm getting dry in here. We need to auto protect or self protect, because your body is a self protecting whole organism and let's create, let's make more oil. So for all those kids out there and adults that are like my skin is so oily. I keep drying it out with drying products, but it's getting drier and drier. I can't. Or it's getting oilier and oilier.
Speaker 2:It's most likely related to the fact that your skin is like whoa we have to keep ourselves hydrated or keep it oily. The oil on your skin is actually protective. It's actually supposed to be there. It's called sebum. So your sebum is protective. It allows the healthy bacteria to thrive on your skin and that healthy bacteria helps prevent the bacteria that causes acne. So if you're stripping off your sebum layer with the harsh products, that ingredients that are in face washes and some of the regular products, then you've lost your first line of defense against those little bacteria that causes acne and other types of skin irritations as well.
Speaker 1:So by allowing your-. I'm just gonna interrupt for one second. And that's exactly what happens in the mouth too, these harsh toothpaste and mouth rinses. You're killing the good and then it provides the environment for the bad to overgrow. Same thing, people. Whether we're talking about the point of the podcast is, everything is related skin, oral, gut. It's the same theory that we've got to create health and that's how you keep the disease away. So sorry to interrupt, but I just had to-.
Speaker 2:No, I love that because that's exactly what I say. That's why we're soul sisters, because I usually say the exact same thing. Your mouth is the same type of ecosystem. It's just different bacteria. Same type of thing happening. It's just a different ecosystem or a different bacteria thriving.
Speaker 2:So when you're stripping off that oil or the bacteria can't thrive. That helps prevent those problems. Now you're putting things on your skin and drying it out even more. Your skin inside is oh, make more sebum, and you end up with this vicious cycle of not being able to get rid of your acne or your oily, congested skin. The other problem is the drying agents dry the acne out and then you're left with super dry patches of skin, which is some people are like I'd rather have that than the breakout. But then that's not pretty. Either, like once that happens, you're like, oh gosh, my makeup looks caked on or it's flaking off all day and it's just not comfortable. And you don't have to suffer with that.
Speaker 2:What I've ultimately discovered because I live through it all and I actually did two rounds of Accutane, one in my 20s and one in my 30s. I did topicals, I did antibiotics, you name it. I've done it to my skin. I never got rid of my acne until I switched my products to an oil-based product. Oil-based products are different than water-based products because water-based products actually dehydrate the skin. Doesn't matter what else is in them. It really doesn't matter if there's some oils in them or whatever.
Speaker 2:Most water-based products and when you look at the ingredient list, it'll say water first and then a list of a bunch of other stuff. When it says water first, it's truly about 70 to 90% water, so you're pretty much putting water on your skin. Water dehydrates on your skin. It dehydrates. It doesn't have any nutritional value. In fact, it actually is typically top water in these products. And so for anyone out there who has converted to a natural, healthy, organic type of diet and you think you're not getting birth control pills, you're not exposed to antibiotics, heart medication, anti-depressants these are all the drug waste that ends up in tap water and you do absorb that stuff through your skin. So think of these things as hormone disruptors, cancer-causing ingredients All of those things are in products that contain tap water or water, and that's what most companies use is tap water. So that's a huge problem in itself, especially when it comes to acne. So it's gonna be drying the skin out and actually making your acne worse in the long run, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Totally, I didn't even think about that, but it was funny because I was looking with. I've suffered from eczema, as most of my listeners know, and all of the eczema creams, even the creamier ones water, and like I never even really didn't think about that whole tap water because I'm so against tap water, I use only distilled. But yeah, forget about that. All this stuff is about water.
Speaker 2:And here's the other problem with water in skincare is that because it's actually evaporating off your skin, it is disrupting that sebum layer.
Speaker 2:It's actually making that sebum layer ineffective and when it's pulling dehydrating, it's pulling moisture out of your skin. So ultimately, especially for us men and women who are I'm in my 50s and getting older and you wanna look younger and you wanna stay looking young here we are trying to figure out how to prevent wrinkles when we're putting water-based products on our skin and your skin becomes dehydrated. And guess what happens when your skin is dehydrated? It goes from looking like a plum to looking like a prune. So you're trying to prevent wrinkles with things that are dehydrating your skin, causing your skin to shrivel. Now all of your wrinkles are becoming more prominent, and I always tell people one of the fastest ways to look probably five to 10 years younger is to switch to an oil-based skincare program. You're going to super hydrate your skin. It's gonna plump it up. Not only is it gonna actually make it come back to life, but your wrinkles, your fine lines, are going to start to disappear and probably for a lot of you, actually disappear.
Speaker 1:I know, when I, for years ago, I started using an Ocinata olive oil product that I found and I never have a single blackhead anymore, those little annoying things, and I try to convince my kids and they're like, oh, it feels oily. I said, have you not learned in science yet? Like dissolves, like. And I've been told by when I've had facials oh, my gosh, your skin is looking great, which to me is such a huge compliment because I grew up with tons of acne and I, just like you, I was on acupatain, I did all the antibiotics, all the stuff. It's like you explained. And so to hear somebody say my skin looks good now in my mid 40s, I'm like, really, this is so good and I love your products and they are just and it feels so good that I got the hand repair one for my eczema and just, oh just, it doesn't feel so good. So tell us about the ingredients that are that we don't want.
Speaker 2:That we don't want in skincare that are common. So first off, yeah, so first off, I would say water. There's an easy way to remember this, because I can go through a list of like phthalates and parabens, and they all have 100,000 names that they can go by. So, honestly, when I teach people how to read a skincare label, I teach them this one main point If you omit just one ingredient in your skincare products, there's probably a 99% chance you've omitted every other bad ingredient there is. And that one ingredient you want to guess what it is. Any guess that was water. Yes, it's water.
Speaker 2:Omit the water from your skincare. Dehydrate your skincare, not your skin, because not just for the reasons that I mentioned earlier about how it's disrupting your sebum, it's dehydrating your skin and it has all those pollutants in it. But here's the other thing with water when a company creates a product that has water in it, water is a medium for growth for bacteria, so in order to prevent bacterial growth, they have to put really strong chemical preservatives in it. The other thing they're also putting emulsifiers in it to blend oil and water. So your skin wants oil. That's actually the active ingredient in skincare. But when they water it down. So much. Oil and water don't mix, so they have to use an emulsifier, and most emulsifiers on the market are chemically based, so they're possibly going to cause cancer, they can cause neurotoxicity, they cause hormone disruption, allergies, all sorts of things. The other problem is not only is there preservatives and emulsifiers, but they have to put other ingredients that bulk the product up and once you add all that in, you end up with a product that really the healthy stuff that's in there is like less than 1% of the product and it negates the healthy ingredients. When you have all these unhealthy ingredients in the product, I tell people, if you own the water, you can look at. There's a handful of skincare companies like myself that are out there doing it right. We're using oil based products.
Speaker 2:And okay, let me first go back to oil based products. I know there's plenty of people I myself included, and probably you too. Dr Carver at one point said there's no way I want to put oil on my skin. I know I had extremely oily skin and I was like there is no way I want to put oil on my skin. I had a face full of acne and it was so oily that I could wash my face and blot it. Five minutes later and my tissue had oil on it. So I totally get it. But what I need you to understand, like Dr Carver said, is like it likes the track, like you have to use what your body wants or it's going to be doing the opposite of what you want. Your body needs oil.
Speaker 2:Oil can be absorbed through your skin. Lipid soluble things pass through the membranes of your skin. Those are like the nutrients. Think about the nutrients. Now, if you're using something that's chemical based, the same is true. The oil based ingredients in the product are going to carry the chemicals through into your body. These water based products also contain absorption enhancers, which basically means, instead of taking maybe 20 minutes to get through your barrier, they'll do it in a minute. It increases the absorption rate of those things through your skin and it's taking everything, including all those chemicals.
Speaker 2:And then here's the other problem. This is why your skin is your second gut when you absorb things, and this is just. I think we talked about the gum tissue and how the high blood supply is where chemicals and toxins and different types of things that you don't want in your body can get into the bloodstream and then travel throughout the body, everywhere. That's the link between gum disease and every organ system in the body. Same thing with your skin. When your skin absorbs these chemicals or nutrients, one or the other it absorbs into the bloodstream. The vascular bloodstream then travels to the lungs to be reoxygenated and then to the heart. The heart, of course, pumps the blood everywhere in the body, which is why skincare products can be found throughout the body.
Speaker 2:You can men and women alike will harbor that. Chemicals in skincare and, ultimately, your fat tissue is what will hold onto it. It creates an equilibrium. Your body is always trying to be in balance, so when something has a higher concentration in your bloodstream, some of it will be pulled out through your kidneys and your liver. However, because not all of the blood goes there, your body is trying to make sure there's an equilibrium, so some of them will go into your fat tissue.
Speaker 2:This is one of the reasons when people try to lose weight and they go on a fad diet or something and they lose five to 10 pounds right away. You feel great for three days and then all of a sudden you feel like crap. It's partly because you are pretty much overdosing yourself on. The fat that you're burning has chemicals in it, toxins, skincare toxins and other food toxins and things like that. So you're overdosing yourself on some of these toxins in your body is trying to get rid of it. So, making sure that you're switching to something that doesn't have all those ingredients and your skin will actually love it and absorb it and then ultimately be able to sustain cell turnover, cell growth and also detoxification inside the skin and then ultimately you're going to notice a huge change in the tone of your skin, the color of your skin and everything. It's really funny when people switch to an oil base.
Speaker 2:When I've had customers tell me that and it's interesting men and women have told me this they go, they switch. They're now washing with one of my face washes and using the oil based moisturizers or serums that I have. And they'll say and it's so funny when it's a woman and she's like I was the one. One of them was an employee of mine and I'll never forget it. She was in her 30s. She was like I went and got my oil changed yesterday and this guy that's never met me before he's the mechanic over the guy changing my oil. He couldn't stop looking at me and he goes your skin looks so good. And she was like strangers are telling people how good your skin looks. I get told that all the time but it's true. It's because I'm feeding it pretty much. I'm feeding it food the way you're supposed to feed your body.
Speaker 1:It's unbelievable, and a couple of points I want to circle back to, but the whole idea of especially us women. We get to a certain age, we carry this extra weight and we can't ever get it off. The key isn't necessarily just the diet right and just like Trina. This is a really good point. That is where toxins are stored. So we want to lose weight. We have to think about detoxing and removing all of these, because there are so many toxins that are in the air that we can't avoid. So having this awareness of the products that we do see, we can see the ingredients, choosing the right ingredients, that is going to make a big difference. We don't want to keep putting on the weight. We want to be healthier and we have over 80,000 plus chemicals in our environment today and, like I said, so many of them we can't avoid. So those that we can, we need to be aware of that and one of the simplest things is just switching up, and it doesn't mean you have to spend a gazillion dollars. Trina's products are very affordable. They're amazing.
Speaker 1:One other thing I want to ask. So you talked about like the emulsifiers. Can you give us an example? Oh, game also fire in regular products.
Speaker 2:I don't know exactly what they're all called Everything when you look at a skincare label. That's why I always tell people, if you make the switch to a water-free, you're not gonna even have to worry about looking at the ingredients. Because here I do a little class. Do you want me to do my mini little class for you on how to read a skincare label? Okay, let me do my. Yeah, let me do my mini little class, because this is what I usually teach people. It's not necessarily about knowing everything because you can't.
Speaker 2:As a consumer, we're overwhelmed. We see everything. We're trying to at least navigate food, and sometimes that becomes challenging enough. But what I usually tell people is there's five simple, easy tricks to reading a skincare label and if you can get this down, it'll take you less than honestly. It usually takes people less than five seconds after they take my little course to know whether something is worth your time, your money and your health, because ultimately it's all about your time, money and health. And to your point about my products being affordable my products, because they're not watered down, last about three to four times the amount of time a watered down product lasts. So you might buy one of my products for twice the amount of money that you would pay for something else, but it's gonna last three to four times longer than that product, because you wouldn't believe how little you need when you're getting rid of the water. So first rule is the rule of five, the rule of five.
Speaker 2:So with the rule of five, you wanna look at the first five ingredients on that recipe or that ingredient list First off. If the first ingredient is water, you could probably ditch it right there. Most people are like that was the best rule I ever heard. If it's got water in it, I'm ditching it. Now, of course, there's some things you're not gonna be able to avoid water in, like shampoos and things like that. But when I'm talking about water, I'm talking about products that are actually gonna sit on your body and that are meant to actually hydrate your body. So I'm talking face moisturizers, face serums, body moisturizers, things like that. You wanna make sure it's not water. People ask me can it be purified water? Sure, do you still wanna be dehydrated? Sure, it can be purified. At least you're not getting the crap, but you're still gonna wrinkle. So get rid of the water. You're just gonna do yourself a favor. But the rule of five is look at the first five ingredients. You should recognize them. They should be plants. You should look at that and go that's olive oil, coconut oil, pomegranate yep, that's a food. You should be able to check those boxes. Those are all foods. Okay, that's the first rule. There was no water super easy. The minute you water, you put it down. That took less than a second.
Speaker 2:The second rule is the 1% rule, and with the 1% rule there's this what they say in the skincare industry is that if the product contains less than 1% of that ingredient, or if that ingredient actually makes up less than 1% this is a better way of saying it of that recipe, then it doesn't have to fall in any order. So the order listing of the ingredients is always the most prevalent, which is why water is always listed first or second. Sometimes it's second, but most of the time it's first because it's the most prevalent. All the way down to the least prevalent until you get to that 1% line as a company, you don't have to. If it's less than 1%, you don't have to put it in any order. It could be 0.001% that you've got this really cool pomegranate oil that you know people are gonna want. It's like one of those ingredients women are looking for because they know how hydrating it is. You can put that up at the very top of that 1% line and sometimes there's so many ingredients that 1% line falls in the middle of the ingredient list and as a consumer you might look at it and go, look, it's got, here's the pomegranate. It's in the middle of the list. It's gotta have a lot of pomegranate, when really there's like a drop of pomegranate, like tiny drop of pomegranate, in there.
Speaker 2:So sometimes the easiest way to find the 1% line I tell people like it, especially if you've got organic ingredients they're always gonna put the organic ingredients at the top of that 1% line. They want them as high up as they can get them with as little amount as they need to put in there. So they'll put a tiny amount in there of the organic oils and things like that essential oils, and they'll shove those at the top of the 1% line and then all the other stuff. That's really not so good. They put it way at the bottom. So you go oh, that's the last two ingredients, no big deal, while that actually is higher than the organic stuff. So the 1% line for me sometimes is pretty easy to find. I just start looking for either oils or organic and when you start looking at seeing those, you're like, oh, that's probably the 1% line. So that's a little trick Organic versus conventional.
Speaker 2:This is where it gets a little icky, and I used to love companies like the EWG and there's a couple other companies out there that are now doing like ratings of skincare, and as much as I still want to be supportive of what they think they're doing, they're actually not doing very well in my opinion. I've actually tried to contact them, to work with them, to actually make their job and what they're reporting actually accurate, and they won't speak to me because they know I'm right. But when you look at these like the EWG first off, now the EWG is allowing like what they're basically doing is charging companies like mine. I don't put my products on the EWG. When I did, they were all zeros, which means there's no toxins in them. Now they're charging an arm and a leg for companies to put their products on there, and what I've noticed is, even when the product has chemicals in it, what they're doing is approving them, not for every product, but there's a little note that says this product, this ingredient is approved for this product with this company, but it's not approved for other products of other companies. When my jaw hit the ground when I saw that, I thought, wow, and the consumer doesn't understand that and doesn't know that. I saw that and I tried to blow that whistle.
Speaker 2:But so one of the things that EWG doesn't look for is they don't care about water. They're not gonna care if it's got tap water in a product or not. They don't consider water, even in really an ingredient they monitor. So if it's got tap water in it, they don't care that it's got birth control pills in it. They don't care that it's got anything in it that's gonna cause harm. So that's completely out of their rating. You can still get a zero rating for being non-toxic and healthy and still have a water. That are a product that's 90% tap water.
Speaker 1:That reminds me of that story that the Better Business Bureau is the same way. When I first went into business, they said here, you need this, give us $500. And I said, okay, I'm a new business, yes, I wanna have a rating, spent $500 and they gave me a rating of an A minus. And I was like why do I have an A minus? I haven't. They're like because you haven't been business long enough. I was like what? But meanwhile you have all these companies that could have 100 complaints and they have an A plus just because they've been around. I was like this is crap, this doesn't make sense to you, but I'm paying to have this. And I said forget it, I'm not doing this, it's all crap.
Speaker 2:I think there's actually a good rating out there. It's called oh, what's it called? It's got a carrot, it's like carrot. It's almost called carrot. Maybe it's got a carrot on it and it's actually. No brands are allowed to. I think we can submit products, but we don't do any rating on it. They actually look at the ingredients and do the rating and they tell you the percentage. Whatever the rating is, I can't remember it's really. It's actually a. It's a good one. I've actually noticed that their ratings are better. They're not the best, like they're not. I think they're still taken to consider. They don't take into consider water, but it is better than the other rating systems that I found.
Speaker 2:But the other thing that the EWG and some of them don't take into consideration is organic versus non-organic ingredients. So if you're someone who's looking for, you're eating organic foods. You're trying to take care of yourself. Unfortunately, there is a difference between organic and non-organic ingredients and skincare. Otherwise, why would we care about how the label is labeled and why would the consumer actually care about organic versus non organic? Organic means it was grown without Irbicides, pesticides, any of those types of poisons that can still get in or be in the product once it's broken down into whatever it is any oil, essential oil or whatever extract of that plant. And when you're looking at an ingredient list, of course this is. The other trick is that companies will throw in one or two organic ingredients, usually towards the bottom, because they're not gonna put a lot in there. They're gonna put the little asterisk that says certified organic, so that your brain will see, oh, certified organic. It's good, because as a consumer who reads those tiny little letters and we make them so tiny so you can't read them because we don't want you to know what's in but when you see that certified organic you're, you feel, okay, this is good. What you don't know is that you should be counting, first of all, did it pass number one, is it almost all plants? And if it's almost all plants, okay, great. Now how many of those plants are organic and how many are not? Because if only one or two are organic and the majority of them are not, then it's probably better than the water down skincare, but you're still not getting the best, especially when you're paying that type of money. You're, you're still gonna be paying good money for that.
Speaker 2:So organic verses are Conventional, making sure that the plant based ingredients, at least the ones at the way top, are certified organic. Typically when you're buying organic, the ingredients at the very bottom are usually essential oils, because you don't need much like an essential oils, like a drop Is all you need because it's so potent. But knowing, getting used to reading a label and I know for my company, I think there's probably 99.5% of the ingredients that we use are certified organic. The other half percent are either wildcrafted, which is still great, that's still grown without the pollutants and chemicals. It's just not Grown in an environment that's actually being monitored. It's out in the wild, so anything can happen out there. So it's considered wildcrafted but it's still really good. But then we do have one or two ingredients that are not organic just because we can't get them and they're such good ingredients we can't source them, or sourcing them is so expensive that it's just it's a problem. So all of my products are probably most of my products are 100% organic, unless there's one of those other two ingredients in there, than they would be more like 99.5 or something like that.
Speaker 2:So that's the third rule. The fourth rule is my, which you guys already know, the number one ingredient to avoid. I should put that one number one, because if you get to your ingredient list and says water and it's something meant to hydrate your skin, you're better ditching it right there. And the fifth ingredient? The fifth one is trade secrets. This has to do with fragrance. So if you see the word fragrance, it's the F word. It's the F word that we have.
Speaker 2:The F word in oral care, as you will know, that's the fluoride, and now we have the F word in skincare is fragrance. And so fragrance is basically what a company does is they want it to smell like something beautiful. So they go to this, that of 3500 chemicals. All of those chemicals cause these are known to cause cancer hormone disruptors, their irritants, neuro to all of that, all the bad stuff that you can think of. That's in these fragrance. They pick and make their scent out of these chemicals and then they don't have to disclose to you what those chemicals are because it's a trade secret. So if you see the F word on your product, that is a 100% no for me.
Speaker 1:If my daughter the other term is perfume. You'll see that too the same thing.
Speaker 2:The other word for that you're exactly right is perfume. Some companies and I don't agree with this terminology, but they are natural products companies and they're saying they're putting fragrance and then they'll put plant based next to it. I would never do that because the connotation of fragrance comes from chemicals, it's a chemical base and and it is technically a trade secret. I don't know if they're doing that so they don't have to disclose what those plant based ingredients are. I don't like that. I personally don't buy products that say that. Not that I'm buying anybody else's skin care, but if my daughter brings me something she's interested in, or a nanny or a friend, I personally am like I wouldn't use that because I don't know what that means. But that's up to you. And if it says plant based, are you trusting them? Are you not? I don't know, maybe go do a little more research. I feel like if there's transparency in a brand, you're gonna know every, especially in this day and age when so many people are allergic to so many things. In this day and age, transparency is huge and I am very transparent with my products. I disclose every single ingredient that we put in every single product, no matter how minute? And so that's the main thing is the fragrance, the trade secrets. Here's the other thing.
Speaker 2:You might say, I'm good, I only buy uncented products, like my deodorants. Uncented everything's uncented. I can't stand the smell. Here's what you might not know chemical stink. They actually smell really bad. So for most uncented products they have to put fragrance in to neutralize that odor and make it not smell bad, or you wouldn't buy it.
Speaker 2:So if you think you're buying better products because they're uncented, I would look for the F word and then ditch it in the trash, because really if you want uncented, you're gonna want something made by a company like my deodorant. I have a deodorant that we basically call coconut Because it's made with coconut oil and it honestly doesn't even smell like coconut by the time you're done with it. I get it has a faint coconut scent, but it doesn't have any essential oils in it and it's very natural. I but my, one of my two powders is called natural. It's a natural, has no flavor in it whatsoever. We're very transparent about that. But that is something most people don't realize is the uncented doesn't mean you're not getting all those chemicals, it just means it doesn't stink like them anymore.
Speaker 1:This is so important because you see so many. I'm always on the lookout because I've got two teenage daughters and they are on Tik Tok and they want to see the latest fed and the latest this and that I have trained them. You'll see so many things say no parabens, no sulfates, but I have never found a product that said no phthalates. That's what fragrance has these phthalates that are known cancer-causing things. Every, even all, of the so-called best organic, natural brands fragrances. I'll be looking at a product and I'm like, yeah, pretty good, it's always like that last ingredient, the fragrance and I'm like, no, sorry guys. I'm like, and I show them look, what are the ingredients?
Speaker 1:They still want to defy me and I walk into the room sometimes and they've got all the products, but they know, Some day when they decide they want to be healthier or have a child themselves. Hopefully they will understand this. I've been trying to train them from day one. It's those fragrance that are so bad for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't just give up the fight. I know with my kids it's the same way. It's a little different. I created all this stuff so they didn't really get a choice. I bring home what they use and I see things sneak in the house and I do the education piece. In fact, not too long ago, my daughter ordered stuff off of. She got some Amazon gift cards for Christmas and she ordered some lip things and face things and they came in the mail and, of course, my husband gives them to me before they go to her. I looked at her and I go Mia, I just can't let you use this.
Speaker 2:It goes against me being a mom and protecting you by allowing you to put something that causes cancer on your body. If it was like middle of the line to not so bad, I'm not one of those people. That is, oh, 100% of the time you have to do this. I believe that there are times when you're going to need to use things that have chemicals in them. There are times when you know, like when I go do a big interview, I'm not worried as much about the products that go on my hair or the makeup that they're using, because I know that, like we talked about earlier. If I'm doing everything right, I'm eating healthy, I'm not over-polluting my body every single day. Your body is meant to be able to get rid of the toxins on a daily basis. If the toxic load is an overload, if you're not already an overwhelm, you can use some things every once in a while and your body will be like I can go. That's how you're good, you're good. It's when we're in toxic overload that everything becomes an overwhelm. And when, think about if there's too many people on the elevator, nobody else can get on, so the fat tissue gets to absorb all those toxins and they sit there and they and a lot of these toxins now in chemical in these ingredients, are forever chemicals. Even in dental floss right, even in dental floss there's Teflon and forever chemicals that your body. They're forever because your body can't break them down. And then they go into your fat tissue. And guess what we're one of the biggest fat tissues of your body is. It's in your brain. So this is some of the problems that we're having.
Speaker 2:But I'm one of those people that believes if you're doing it right and you are healthy and you've minimized the risks, the every once in a while exposure. If you use hand sanitizer that has all the crap in it, it's not going to actually kill you. It's not going to be anything. Your body's going to be like oh my God, we don't know what to do. It's going to be like good, we're good. Five seconds later, we're good. So, yeah, I'm with you with the struggle with the teenagers, but, on the other hand, I believe in leading by example, for you too, like you are leading by example, you're using the right stuff. Someday they're going to go. Oh, this is why mom did that. Yeah, I can't wait for that day. But it's right, it's the leading by example and just knowing that someday, like, they're going to look back and then it's going to click.
Speaker 1:It just reminded me I had found this new floss that I was like, oh, so cute. And then you have all these flavors that were naturally based on and I was like, oh, and they were so cute in the colors. And then I bought some and then I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't do my research made from recyclable plastics, and I was like, oh, it's plastic. That's one of the worst things, right, but it sounds good, right, it's recyclable.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh.
Speaker 1:God, I just know that all is going in the trash. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did not do my due diligence when I know better and read more. I got everybody. I'm that consumer by pretty pictures. I'm a marketing person's heaven. Because he put pretty picture and something ahead of me and I'm like, oh, I want it, I want it. And then afterwards I was like, oh, buyer's remorse to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know creating that awareness is important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the one thing I just you just sparked this in me to mention to people, because and this goes for dental, this goes for skincare, this goes for every single thing that you're buying, pretty much what they're selling you. So they're selling you all the little things that they want you to know about that product. For instance, in skincare it's anti-wrinkle, anti-aging, anti-this doesn't do this. In dental, it's anti-cavity, or healthy microbiome. They're telling you exactly what. The one I had the other day. It was a crest and it was to reduce gum sensitivity and gum inflammation and I said this is what you're they're selling you, which is reduced gum inflammation and reduced sensitivity.
Speaker 2:What you're actually buying is cavities and gum disease, because when you look at the ingredients, what they're selling you doesn't match up. What they're actually selling you is the opposite of what you really want to buy. Same thing with skincare, like the acne products. I'll go back to that. They're selling you something that's going to help prevent or get rid of a breakout. What you're actually buying is something that's going to turn on your oil production, get rid of your natural sebum and your natural healthy bacteria that's going to fight acne and you're actually going to buy more acne and oily skin. That's what you're buying. But then you come back to buy more because they're still promising you that they're going to get rid of your acne and your oily skin. So buy more.
Speaker 2:It's just not working right now. Oh, it must be your diet, it must be your gut. These are the things we play in our head. Oh, it can't be the product. It can't be the product. It can't be the product. It's got to be the sugar that I ate. But in reality, it's what they're selling. You is just putting you on that hamster wheel. Just on the hamster wheel. You talk about this all the time.
Speaker 1:It's absolutely true. With oral care, all these things, we got to kill the bad bugs, we got to use this mouthwash and we got to use these toothpaste to do these kind of things and maybe in an acute hemorrhagic gum bleeding situation it's a little better initially. This is the same thing. I think that goes with a lot of diets. When we change our diet almost every diet you change to you may initially notice your symptoms go away or you feel better initially because something has switched. But again, when you're chasing a symptom like acne or gum disease and you never get at the root of the problem, you're chasing it on that hamster wheel, just like you said over and over. So we need to come back and think about again.
Speaker 1:Why is my skin oily? Just like you said, because I'm dehydrating it and no matter the amount of powders or whatever I use, as you said, skin is supposed to be have a little bit of oil, just like our body's supposed to have cholesterol. Same idea, right? Cholesterol coats every cell in our body. Without cholesterol, our cells cannot take in nutrients and they can't get rid of the toxins. Right, but we keep trying to tell everybody their cholesterol is too high, so we've got to cut it off. That is one of the first molecules that ever evolved as human beings, as mammals, and cholesterol has been around for billions of years, right, so there's a reason. All this thing, so, when we're thinking about oral care and skin care and your diet and all this, it's getting at the root. How is the body supposed to work? Stop trying to fight mother nature.
Speaker 2:But we're told we're crazy. How many times have you been told you're crazy, there's nothing wrong with you or you just need to take this and you'll be fine. And at some point you and I and so many people unfortunately it happens more as you get older and you start to question the things that you realize aren't working, that you start to realize that I've got to do my own homework. I really have to start looking at this myself, because if I trust what the government is telling me, by the time they tell me that something's poisoned that I've been putting in my body for 50 years, I'll be dead. I'll already have cancer. So you have to wait. You actually have to think for yourself and start doing your research, listening to people like Dr Carver and myself and there's a lot of people out there that are spreading the right word, not to preach I'm not here to preach to anyone, but to open your eyes and let you be the thinker that you're supposed to be Like. Think for yourself, do what's right for you, do what's right for your family, and you're still gonna make some wrong choices I still do but at least you can grow with that and your body won't take as big of a hit. If you're feeding yourself nutritionally correct, if you're feeding your mouth and your skin the right types of products, you deescalate a lot of that inflammation. It's so much comes down to inflammation. I know this is another rabbit hole we could go down, but everything comes down to inflammation inside the body and that root causes typically the mouth, when you talked about earlier.
Speaker 2:As women, sometimes we've already exposed ourselves to a hundred chemicals just first thing in the morning. So let me just expound upon that for a second. If you pick up just about any personal care product that is made obviously with water first, which is almost all of them, almost all of those, if you count the chemicals, there's probably between 10 and 15 chemicals in almost every product, chemicals that are known to cause cancer and health problems in the body. And, as a woman, in the morning we're brushing our teeth, probably showering if not. We did it the night before putting on face products, moisturizer, hair products, putting on makeup, deodorant, body moisturizers and men save themselves a little bit because they don't put makeup on traditionally, but women typically do. And by the time we leave the morning, like you said, if we've put 10 products on our face, each that has 15 chemicals. We have put 150 chemicals on our body and it only takes about 60 seconds for chemicals to be absorbed into your bloodstream. And these are not chemicals that are broken down. These are full strength chemicals traveling all throughout your body.
Speaker 2:So that's the real and I never wanna cause fear. I don't want anyone to ever react, to feel. I want you to respond to what I said and just educate yourself and start looking. And people typically ask me where do I start? What do I start with? And I always try and tell people, of course I start them with dental. When it's a big picture, when we're not just talking about skincare, where do I start? I always start dental because I've never had to yank a $7 toothpaste out of someone's hand to replace it with something better. People are happy, okay, to give up a $7, but you try and take a $100 moisturizer out of someone's hands and it becomes a little tougher. So I always start people on dental and deodorant. Those are pretty easy. As far as skincare, I tell people start with what you're gonna run out with. Next, look at everything you're using my face wash, my moisturizer, let's put it this way A lot of women are using a lot of products you don't need on your face.
Speaker 2:I use two products typically every day. I use a face wash and then either a moisturizer or serum. That goes everywhere. I don't need anything special for my lips. I don't need anything special for my under my eyes or my eyes. It's a one and done.
Speaker 2:When you're using natural products, it's a one and done. It's minimalist, which is the other piece of it. Might cost a little more, but really is it. No, because you're actually using one product instead of five. So that's the other piece of it. But it just comes down to making good choices and looking at the products that you're using. What am I gonna run out of first, and then doing your research and finding the substitute before you run out, because when you run out it's too late. You need it. So buying that product so for, say, it's a face wash.
Speaker 2:Most face washes are made with ingredients that will dry your skin out. Strip off that natural oil. Of course you can shop at my store. I'm very transparent and I use all of my products, everything I made for myself, and if you're looking for something that you want to start with, I send people to the PLO, or it's the Glow Package, g-l-o package, g-l-o-w package. It has everything that you really need in it and it's gonna last you. Probably 60 to 90 days is what that package is gonna last you, but I tell people if that's not the case, I'm not forcing anyone to go to my store.
Speaker 2:If you wanna do and search for yourself, but start looking at the product that you're gonna run out of first and find something before you need it. And then the next thing like if you're gonna run out of your face moisturizer and you wanna replace your moisturizer and your under eye cream and your lip cream and all of that with one look for it before you run out. Because, again, when you run out isn't the time you're gonna run to the drugstore, you're gonna run to Ulta or something, and then you're bombarded and you can't make good decisions in those types of stores. So that's my advice to people is just planning ahead and finding what you want and doing your research. There's plenty of people that are gonna listen to this recording and go. I need to start looking at this and now, all of a sudden, you're gonna be aware and things are gonna come up.
Speaker 2:I have a lot of great blogs on my blog, my website, so I encourage you to go to that to read, but I've got some about the root causes of aging. I've discovered the root causes of aging and when you look at skincare products or what surgeons plastic surgeons are either injecting in you or doing to your face, you'll realize very quickly that isn't solving the problem. The root cause of aging is actually fixable, but what they're doing is chopping it up or injecting something that's gonna paralyze you or paralyze your muscle, and when you paralyze a muscle you actually cause more atrophy. So when this paralytic called Botox wears off, you actually have worse, more damage under your skin, to the muscle and then the tissue itself once it's worn off. So I go into all that. I have a lot of different types of blogs that I encourage you to read because, if nothing else, it opens your eyes to it and it helps you make better choices in the future.
Speaker 1:They're really great because they're short and sweet. You're not having to read a whole novel. So I really appreciate that blog and all the research. I asked you, I think last time we tried I was like, how do you find time for that? Like, people can tell me you need to do a blog. I'm like I just don't have time. So I appreciate all the work you're doing and, as you've said so many times, the whole point of this podcast is to create awareness. I don't wanna preach either. Things that I did five years ago I'm doing differently now because I just keep learning and I'm not perfect, but as I learn, I just wanna share all the things that I've discovered along my journey that have helped me, that have helped my family, and we have to start somewhere right. And so, just trying to get this information, one of the just reminds me of the best story.
Speaker 1:Last week I had a patient who had even scheduled to do some laser snoring stuff, where we use a non-invasive laser to try to stimulate the collagen, to create more tone, to make the snoring easier, and it's expensive, the insurance doesn't typically cover that and so he took it upon himself. He said what else can I do? And he did his own research and he came up with research, all this about breathing. And he said I've been doing this breathing technique before I go to bed and my wife says I'm not snoring anymore. And to me I was like this is such a win. So he canceled his laser appointment. So oh boom, I'm out that money.
Speaker 1:But I'm so excited that this man took it upon himself to heal him, to be his own doctor, and if that's the one person I can have that little effect to just help people help themselves right, that is such a win for me because the body does know how to heal. When we do things in the right way and we support our system, we can heal from anything. So I just thought that was amazing and I hope for the point. But just listening to Trina and myself that take these little tidbits, one baby step at a time, and just try to improve your life, those of your loved ones, and that's why Trina and I are doing what we're doing. We've seen the results of our hard work and we just wanna share with everyone else. So thank you so much. Yeah, and you're not.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yes, no, my gosh, this was so amazing. And just a final thought you're not, like we've said before. You're not stuck with the teeth that you have and the gum tissue, like it's, you can heal all of that. You're not stuck with your skin either. Like your skin regenerates every couple of days. The cells are constantly turning over. It's a constant process. So you're not stuck with it. You just need to make some changes. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, using the same products over and over again and expecting to get better results, you're never going to. That's the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Make some switches, make some changes. It's not forever. It doesn't have to be forever. If you don't like it, you can always go back. But if you're gonna keep doing the same thing that you've been doing for years and expect to look better when you wake up, think again. So, but thank you so much. I love this topic. I love chatting with you Because we are-.
Speaker 1:Tell us where we can, what exactly your website is and how they can find that blog and all your products.
Speaker 2:Yeah, primallifeorganicscom and Dr Carver. I can give you a discount code that people can use to get 15% off, so we can put that in the show notes, but we'll just. We can just use your name. We'll just use Dr Carver D-R-C-A-R-V-E-R why don't we do that? And then if they purchase anything, it'll be 15% off that way as a thank you to you for making people more aware of the toxins in their skincare.
Speaker 1:Well, you too. Thank you so much and I look forward to our next conversation. Thanks everybody for listening and go check out all those labels and remember first thing we wanna think about is all those water. I'm like I think I'm gonna have to go back to my bathroom after this conversation and check that I have any more of those and get rid of them. But anyway, everybody, I hope you had a wonderful time listening. Thank you again and we'll see you on the next episode.