paraben and other crap you've never heard of

I may have mentioned this before but about a month ago I was washing my face with my super crazy benzoyl peroxide face wash and it just hit me this could potentially be really bad for the baby. It hadn't even crossed my mind. So I did a huge search on the internet and came up with nothing except most people are fucking nuts out there. There were a few "dr" sites that said I didn't need to worry about anything then other sites that said avoid anything that isn't natural. I know there is no right answer but I want to do the right thing, especially if its something I can avoid. So I emailed my good friend and new mama Malina. She is an esthetician and super knowledge about so many things. She is actually the one that inspired me to watch "The business of being born" and having a natural birth (more on that later)
Anyways this is what she told me "the ingredients that you have to watch out for in products are the preservatives also known as parabens. when you see words like methyl-paraben, ethylparaben, butylparaben etc you should avoid them. also avoid sodium lauryl sulfate. as long as salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide are not combined with those ingredients they should be safe in my opinion. even the most natural brands put salicylic acid in their products because it's the best way to clear and clean the skin."
So I checked my face wash, moisturizers, etc and they included a lot of those ingredients. I immediately went to Sephora and looked around. They have a great natural section and its not too overwhelming. Blake may disagree as I made him suffer through that one. Anyways I settled on Boscia
It was pricey but I liked what I read and it didn't seem complected. After using it for a few days I really noticed a difference. My face felt really good. The next day Malina suggested another great product called Mario Badescu
Since my face is prone to acne I started there. There were so many choices and everything is natural. Plus its been around a really long time. I ended up with a lot of stuff but after over a month of using it I'm a huge fan. I'm combining the Boscia and Mario Badescu stuff and I'm pleased.
Oh and just the other day I noticed my body lotion had a few forms of parabens in it. Luckily I was on my last pump and just replaced it with Aveeno. They have a new line of lotion that smells yummy.
There are so many things out there they say to avoid during pregnancy. The big one a few weeks ago was don't get a pedicure. My midwife laughed at that and I found it pretty silly too. I get pedicures so rarely that I can't imagine it being a problem. Then there is hair dye which I think is the same deal. I avoided dying my hair till after the first trimester but after that I bought an ammonia free dye but I wasn't going to stop that all together. I think its just about moderation and using common sense.