A few years ago when I found out about dangerous chemicals in the home, aside from cleaning products, one of the first things I changed was the personal products we were using - shampoo, soap, lotions, etc. I was surfing one day and came across a website you've probably heard of by now - Environmental Working Group or EWG. These folks are fantastic and both their main and sister websites (Skin Deep Cosmetics Database) are so full of information, you could spend days just reading and reading. Which, I did. I read so much, used the database to search for the products I had at home to see their safety levels, read about which ingredients to avoid, etc. I armed myself with knowledge that I have been using ever since.
I am careful when I shop for products that go on our bodies, because as safe as so many products may seem...they are not. There are ingredients that cause cancer, endocrine disruption, asthma, allergies, reproductive toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation...I mean, WHAT??? These are popular grocery and department store brands!! I don't want that stuff on me, let alone MY KIDS. So, I became the soap nazi. No chemicals for you!
I've held onto this for quite a few years now...since Alex was probably 2, and he's 9 now. So...he's 9 now. Becoming independent, wanting to do what his friends do, following trends, and all that good stuff. One of the things some of his friends do is use this oh-so-manly product called Axe. I'm sure you've seen the fascinating commercials - a guy turns to chocolate and the girls eat him, and of course the 'clean balls' one. If you haven't...feel free to youtube it, I'll wait here.
So there we are at the grocery store, and the boy wants to 'go smell Axe'. I don't mind humoring him once in a while, so no biggie, we'll go smell Axe. My first course of action is to read the label. Upon picking up the bottle and turning it over, the first thing I notice is the Recommended Usage. It has this nice little diagram done in the spirit of 'later, rinse, repeat'. Axe's label basically says 'shower, and the girls will be on you like white on rice'. But, not in so many words. Check it out sometime. I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. Alex looked a little hurt, like I was digging at him personally. Moving on to the ingredient label, I didn't immediately see any of the red flag ingredients I commonly look for, which was VERY surprising. 'Fragrance' is always a concern, and of course that is practically the #1 ingredient. Ok that's an exaggeration, but it should be...I mean, have you smelled this stuff? I have and let me tell you, I started sneezing right there in the Man Aisle of Woodman's. VERY potent stuff.
Naturally, there is no way I am going to buy this garbage and bring it into our house to pollute his little body...not to mention my indoor air quality. I do NOT want my little boy to smell like 'a hunk of man candy'. Completely inappropriate and unnecessary! I think at this point he is under the impression that because he got me into the aisle, we will be taking home one of these offensive bottles of poison. HA! No way!
As we are lightly arguing about it, a man about my dad's age comes and stands in front of us at the Axe display, and starts smelling the different scents. Alex grabs his favorite and throws it in the cart, then in true character informs me that the last item we need to get is Ding Dongs. I inform him (and indirectly the man in the aisle) that if he uses this Axe garbage, he is going to smell like a ding dong. His resolve to buy the product does not waver, but the man turns around laughing, puts the bottle of Axe back on the shelf and walks away! Yay, one point for Bonnie!!
To make a long story short, Axe came home with us that day. I know, I know, it is completely the opposite of everything I normally do and buy and believe in and everything else. Once in a while I give in to the puppy-dog eyes and the lower lip and the please please please I'll do anything you want I'll clean my room every day and scoop the litter box and anything else please please PLEASE. Well, not only does the boy use Axe every day, but dear husband (the traitor!) uses it too. As my dad would say, they walk around smelling like a couple of French Who-ers.
It's a funny thing, this resistance I get. I'm only trying to do the best for them and keep them safe. GOSH. Why can't they just conform and not want the bad stuff?! I don't know. Maybe a couple more brainwashing sessions are in order (I got the boy to go Vegan for about two weeks once!). Something has to be done though, cause one day I will set him loose on the rest of the world and hope he makes the right choices.
Someday he will have a family with kids who may resist him, and I will have to remind him of the time he got rebellious and resistant and used Axe body spray as air freshener in his room, then called out 'HA, MOM! Now my room is HYDROGENATED!!'
*Shameless Shaklee plug: Shaklee has a full line of SAFE products, including skin care, hair care, and body products. Check it out Shaklee Personal Products
www.ewg.org
Oh, Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie... you need to walk down the halls of any middle school on any given day... it reeks of Axe.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to hand it to their marketing department though... these middle school boys spray that crap on, turn, lean against their lockers and just... wait. Seriously. They are standing their waiting for the girls to flock to them. It is a riot!!
So, my thought is educate them and they will practice what you're preaching later in life. They may drive off the path, but they will remember the track you laid down.
ReplyDeleteSherri, I am strangely comforted by your comment! You're right about their marketing, those commercials WOULD seem believable to 10-13 yr old!
ReplyDeleteDeAnna, I will keep hoping and crossing fingers that all the lecturing and hinting and flat out demanding I do will sink in someday. Even if they fight me now but make the right choices in the end, I will be happy!