Hi Jessica.Thank you for this informative post. About 15 years ago I started having problems with my skin. I would get lots of small blisters on my hands and other areas of my body. The blisters would burst, get very itchy and my skin would start to flake off. It was horrid and created a lot of stress and moodiness in me.
I went from one Dr. to another specialist and was just being told it is contact dermatitis, given steroid creams and told to wear gloves before I commence cleaning etc.
As it turns out, my condition became worse because I have an allergy to latex. Hence it was the rubber gloves causing most of my problems. I forgot about my allergy until recently when I started wearing rubber thongs on my feet because I moved to the tropics. Wow did I get a reminder of my allergy. It has taken lots of treatment and special care to get my feet back to normal. Anyway, I eventually went to see a naturapathic specialist all those years ago. The best treatment was "organic". I started reading labels and yes it is very scary. The chemicals we expose ourselves to are very toxic and some once in the body cannot be eliminated. Like alluminium which is found in antiperspirants.
Since I started using organic products I only get reactions through forgetting and/or using a new product. I have to be vigilant about reading labels as my allergy tests show I am allergic to many base metals, certain chemicals as well as latex.
Thanks for starting this thread. I look forward to hearing more about ways to make our homes and body toxic free.