Toxic Beauty: The Hidden Health Costs of Modern Beauty Treatments

Introduction to Toxic Beauty 0:00

doesn't cross the butter brain barrier. That's also false. And so you just don't know. There are people that will have an immediate response and it's very, very clear that that's what happened. You could have people that were getting injections for 10 years and the 10th year and, you know, third injection they got into that year, all of a sudden they have an issue. So while you may even want to use it for like potential acute management, if you're trying to manage another issue, is it worth the risk for what could happen after just one injection?

Because you don't know how someone's going to respond. So people could have an acute immediate response. They may have rapid shallow breathing, heart palpitations. Literally, it's botulinum toxin poisoning. So if you look at what that is in different types of Google searches, you can come up with a host of lists of how that affects the nervous system. If you're overwhelmed with chronic health symptoms and still don't have answers, you're not alone. I'm Dr. Javin, and on redefining wellness with Dr.

Javin, we'll be exploring root causes like Lyme disease, mold, and parasites, and I'll guide you with simple and practical steps towards real healing. So today I get to talk to you about toxic beauty. I'm really excited about this, Alyssa, because this is a topic that comes up every single day and it's not gonna stop. It's only going to continue to grow because the biohacking, longevity, beauty realm is exploding. Just as much as health is exploding, we wanna all stay looking younger and technology keeps advancing.

And what I'm seeing is a lot of it is more or less toxic. So you may be looking potentially younger for a few years, but I feel like there's just going to be this race to like age right after that for a lot of people because their body's going to end up being toxic. And you know, I first read your handle, biohacking bombshell. I was just like, is this because you're beautiful? Was this like, what is that? And you're like, no, it's because there's this bombshell information that I just really want to get out that has affected my life.

So first I got to ask, what are the top three to 10 beauty things that women are doing that are affecting their health in a negative way? As far as like categories, like simple categories.

Nail Polish and Acrylate Risks 2:25

Yeah, just a category. I mean, a lot of it is personal care product usage, hair dyes, hair different treatments, nails, lashes, different types of non-surgical procedures that are being marketed as longevity. So you have the filler, you have the Botox. So those are the top common areas of concern. And I mean, you've got so many in there that are everyday commonplace. I mean, The most natural people that come into my clinic are doing those things. They are living organic food. non-toxic cleaning agents.

They're buying low VOC paints. They're doing all the things that you think you need to be doing. They're doing their detoxes. They're taking the parasite cleanses, but they're getting their nails done. They're dying their hair. They're doing Botox. So where's the limit? Is it okay? Is it not okay? What's it doing to us? That's what gets through my brain is because I tell people, I'm like, you don't need to live perfect. But these things that they're doing to themselves, are there solutions to help them stay well?

I've got so many questions that are coming up. Are there binders? Are there detox agents? Let's start off by first going through the problems, and then we'll go one by one through a problem, and then we'll talk about the possible solutions, because some of them there's not great solutions for yet, as we've talked. So let's start with fingernails. Your fingernails right now are done. So what's going on with fingernail polish? Why is this a problem? There's a lot of different toxins in there between like VOCs, acrylates are a big problem that are in there, different types of phthalates.

And so there's a lot of endocrine disruption. There's a lot of carcinogenic properties. And so when you're looking at nails, the issue that many women have is that it's really hard to find ones that function well when you take out the toxic materials. So when you're looking at applying it to your toenails, your fingernails, the issue is with all these toxins, it can actually manifest as issues in other areas outside of just where you're applying it. But there's not that many good solutions that are going to give women the benefit that they want.

So it's about finding that balance and if it's worth it to them. So you don't want your nails chipping. So you got to throw some toxins in there. And what are these toxins doing? What are the common toxins in nails doing? Methylacrylates and acrylates are big ones, like I said. Phthalates, again, these are a lot of endocrine disrupting properties. There's a lot of rashes, eczema, hives, different types of contact allergen responses. And so how it manifests in each individual can be very different.

But I see the endocrine disruption and cancer development, especially breast cancer with a lot of these components, are the biggest risks that come with it. So you're using those big words called like endocrine disruption. So endocrine's hormones and disruptions like even plastics and these things can do it so they can get on your receptors, they can block the receptors and make it to where your hormones aren't operating, right? So you can become infertile, right? And what about PCOS? You can end up with other type of hormone disorders because of getting your fingernails done?

Well, and they're also estrogen mimicking. So the same way where like mold can be estrogen mimicking, there's a lot of things that can do that, but it's going to exacerbate symptoms of estrogen dominance. So when women are having different types of mood swings, really bad periods, infertility issues, not being able to carry a baby to term miscarriage issues, even ovarian reserve, those types of things can all be impacted. Wow. And it's just from fingernail polish, which is on your nails and your nails are hard, right?

So that's the question I think some people are going to ask is does toxin permit the permeability? It's getting through your nail and your bloodstream and causing these problems. Yeah, one of the most mind-blowing things that I've seen in practice is women that are getting their nails done. And it doesn't have to be acrylics.

Lash Extensions and Eye Irritation 6:30

It could be you're just grabbing Sally Hansen or Essie from Target and you're doing it at home. A lot of them have all the same toxins. But you can get your toenails painted and develop eye dermatitis. And I've had that happen with several clients and they're like, Oh, I think it's, um, you know, related to XYZ. And I'm like, I think it's the acrylics that are in your nail polish. And lo and behold, they stop it and it goes away. So those are directly tied. And we see that often. Wow. Toenail. I'm just, just thinking through this.

Your. Your pedicure can affect your eyeballs. You go get your pedicure done to clean up your feet, so you don't have some ugly feet. And you end up with eye, face, skin dermatitis. Yeah. And who in their right mind is going to connect those two things? Your doctor's never going to say that. Right. They're never going to look at your feet and go, huh, I wonder if that's causing the dermatitis on your face. All right. So we've beaten nails down. Are there solutions that you have found or things that you would recommend for acrylates?

As far as removal solutions? Whatever it takes to help. I mean, ideally mitigation is gonna be one of the best things that you can do with any of these types of exposures. But you and I both know the reality is women still have things that make them feel beautiful and they don't wanna sacrifice on certain areas. And the same thing can be with nails. So you could go for five free, 10 free nail polishes. They don't tend to work well. The one brand, the green manicurist is like the only one that I found that a lot of people say that they like.

So that's an option. But as far as mitigation, That's closest you're probably going to get to something that you're happy with. And then everything else is maybe spreading out. How often do you do it? Some people will just do it during the summer. So they're just overall reducing that load. And then there are certain binders and drainage supports that you can use to try and bind and keel these things from the system. Okay. So just taking a charcoal is going to help get it out or? It depends on the binder.

Hair Dye and Cancer Concerns 8:40

And I know that you know with what you do that it can depend on the person and the toxicant and like what the best binding affinity is for that thing. But depending on the toxin we're talking about, you're going to want to vary your binder. Okay. All right. So we did fingernails. So we're going to move on from fingernails. It seems like such a simple thing that shouldn't be causing you a problem. We're going to move on. We're going to go to the lash extension. So girls can use like falsies. I mean, I grew up in the dance world, competition dance.

Everyone's wearing that all the time. Or maybe people wear it to weddings or events. But, you know, just doing lash extensions like I have them on right now. As a blonde, you literally can barely see any of my features unless I'm darkening them. So that's something that I decide because I'm equipped with the information that I know how to be able to address those toxicants. So the adhesive glue with the acrylates and VOCs and some of the other components are there, formaldehyde, off-gassing, those are the biggest things.

Any type of adhesive, a lot of the same things that are in nails are also in the lashes as well. And what are women going to experience in the lash? We're common things. I know you said you paint your toenails and get some facial stuff, but is it the same for eyelashes or are there some other types of things to look for? I found the eyes are just very commonly localized in that area. But if someone's having dry eye and it's a practitioner or a doctor trying to figure out like why is someone dealing with a lot of, it could be bags under the eyes and they're wondering why they can't clear that.

And maybe they think it's a kidney issue and it's like, no, you're literally just putting acrylics right on your eyes and it's an irritant. So it could be really obvious and just have like eyelid swelling or it could end up being something within the eye or under the eye, but pretty local for that one. All right, so that's eyelashes and fingernails. Hair dye. Hair dye. The aromatic amines is the major category there. And they just immediately start binding to proteins and DNA and just wreak a lot of havoc.

So that is one of the highest risk in my opinion. And it's not very regulated. The EU is better at it than we are. But there was a mind blowing stat that I just shared today at the conference where I'm like, there is absolutely an, like, when you were looking at black women versus white women, the black women were shown, if they were getting permanent hair dye every five to eight weeks, they were, what is it? I believe, I think it was around like 60% increase for cancer. White women, it was eight.

which is just mind blowing. Like, so if you can even reduce the amount of times you're dying your hair each year, but also know there are genetic predispositions when you're looking at the epigenetic effects of just, hey, this is the reality of my ethnicity and this is what I'm more at risk for, you may want to take some of those things

Filler Risks and Dissolving Complications 11:30

more seriously. Yeah, for sure. I think just the education here is the most important thing. Yeah. Because as a man, I didn't even know you could do all these things. I had no idea, right? Like that's just not something I live in. You know, we look at women and we're like, you're beautiful. Thank you for being beautiful. And all the work you put in. You don't know what it takes. We had no idea. I roll out of bed and I'm like, all right, it's been 10 minutes. I'm walking out of the house to go work.

And it's just not the same experience. And we're not even talking about so many of the other things that can be toxic in the world, whether that be mold in the house, water. Because I think those things are talked about a lot and they're much more widely accepted by functional medicine for sure and Western medicine a little bit. Agreed. But it's like, you know, as a man here, it's like, you know, I want women to be like, you're coming after the things that I want to be doing. I just want to educate.

No, but it's relative for you because a lot of your patients are also females. This is about getting people better and informed consent of whatever decisions you're making. Absolutely. And if we're struggling to get pregnant couples that I'm working with, or if women are struggling to get better and they're having chronic illness, which women are 80% of the auto-immunity that's diagnosed, this is one of those areas where, hey, we still, we have to have the conversation. And I think this is important.

So we're just going to keep going down the list. And this is going to get painful for some of our listeners. It's going to be a little painful because they're like, yeah, I do that. I'm not giving that up. I want to do that. It's like, okay, well, then we've got to make some choices on what's important. Can your body handle it? Are you genetically sound? Are you doing other things to keep your body stable? So we keep going. Filler. Filler is more of the lymphatic drainage impairment and autoimmune response that I see with that.

So, of course, you're putting it in an area. It's supposed to stay there. It does migrate on some individuals, but it is impacting natural lymphatic drainage. So, stagnation, breed sickness, you definitely are more likely to have different types of infections. You can have different biofilms and such build up on the fitler. That would be my main concern there. I mean, you can have it travel. You can have it go into the brain. There have been MRIs that find that in, you know, crossing the blood-brain barrier.

It's not as concerning as some of the other topics that we'll talk about here in my opinion. It is, I think the biggest concern for me with this space is that there are some women knowing like, oh, I'm considering getting Botox, but it sounds more toxic. I'll get filler as an alternative. But the reality is that they're thinking, I can just go and take this hyaluronidase dissolver.

Botox Side Effects and Poisoning Risks 14:20

And if I decide that I don't want it, then I can just dissolve it and it'll be good and it'll go away. And the reality is that your other tissues, you and I both know, are made up of the hyaluronic acid, which is what most fillers are made up of. So if you go and try and dissolve that, you don't necessarily get to select what tissues it's going to. So you could actually degrade some of your other tissues and cause more problems. So the solution for filler is also potentially going to cause problems in your body?

If you're trying dissolving, get rid of it, yes. And if it does migrate to the brain, is there symptoms? I know for some women, yeah, which is why it ends up getting to the point where they do want to do the MRI. But I wouldn't say that everyone's going to be symptomatic. And we see that with systemic toxicity all around. Okay. We're going to cross a barrier where we're going to loosen people. There's a trigger warning. Botox. Yeah, I knew you were going there. And it's something that I always make the disclaimer that I have a bunch of friends, practitioner friends too, that still choose to do that.

So none of this is throwing shade. I'm literally sitting here with nails on as well and I'm like, this is something I choose to do and I'm prepared to be able to do that. But with Botox, it's just something that I could not risk. It's very different than say, oh, we have some phthalates or some parabens or some heavy metals in the body. Let's just chelate it out because you're looking at the effect that it's having. And so many people think Botox just wears off and that means it's gone, but there's actually a cumulative effect.

So what do you want to talk about specifically with Botox? Symptoms first, what are the potential symptoms and side effects of Botox gone wrong, right? Because Botox gone right is your face is frozen. I'm just kidding. You don't get wrinkles. You know, I love the memes and everything and it's like, Not that, but just like, we're not getting the wrinkles, right? That's the purpose that most people are shooting for. Or honestly, like medically, I've had people come in with headaches and Botox is the only thing shutting down the muscles in the back of the neck to allow them relief.

Now I'd love to figure out what the causation of that is, but even while they're working on root cause, that's a great, not to say filler as the fillers we just talked about, but stop gap for them to get relief. That's not the way it always goes. No. Sometimes it goes very wrong. I mean, there's Facebook groups with like 50,000 women in it or something. Yes. Of the side effects of Botox. Yep. What are they experiencing? I mean, you have to realize that when this first came out, it was more for medical intervention.

It was for cross-eyed conditions and face and neck spasms. And then they realized what it could do and you take it into the beauty industry and they'll still do it for like cervical dystonia. There's a lot of people that go in for TMJ, migraines, like you were saying. And so could there be a time and a place for anything? I will always say that. And it's up to you what you want to do. The reality is there's a lot of myths where it's like you have to have the medical amount of units versus the small amount that's used for aesthetics.

And that's where the risk comes from, which is not true. They say it stays local. That's not guaranteed. It doesn't cross the butter brain barrier. That's also false. And so you just don't know. There are people that will have an immediate response. And it's very, very clear that that's what happened. You could have people that were getting injections for 10 years and the 10th year and, you know, third injection they got into that year, all of a sudden they have an issue. So while you may even want to use it for like potential acute management, if you're trying to manage another issue, is it worth the risk for what could happen after just one injection?

Because you don't know how someone's going to respond. So people could have an acute immediate response. They may have rapid, shallow breathing, heart palpitations. Literally, it's botulinum toxin poisoning. So if you look at what that is in different types of Google searches, you can come up with a host of lists of how that affects the nervous system. What's the solution when you get stuck in that way? When you have those symptoms and things went wrong, what is the solution? If it was food-borne botulism, which is how they even discovered this toxin to begin with, there's an antidote for that.

But if it's through food, you qualify. If it's through any of these other injections, you do not. basically have to go to the ER and try and end up getting care. It really depends on who you fall under. There's a lot of different substances that you can try and leverage, like copper-based inhibitors and things like that that can try and block it. But there's not like one antitoxin that they will go and give everyone unless it's from food. So you're left trying to pick up the pieces, call in the mast cell response, use different peptides, different types of injections, tools and resources to be able to do that.

And it's a long road for most people. So it's not simple is what you're saying. Botulinum toxin or Botox gone wrong leaves you in a position where there's really no simple answer and you're kind of stuck. Yeah. It's not something where you can just take a binder, do a detox, get a red light, do a sauna. It's not going to be an easy road. No, it's multi-layer. And they do say that right in the black box warning label that it could be days to weeks to months after injection that it can spread. And that's the hardest part is patients are gaslit because unless it's an immediate response, they're thinking, no, this had nothing to do with the injection.

And it does. Okay. And there's a few more things that we can talk about. Breast implants. What's going on there? Well, last couple of years, that ended up being something that is way more well-known, right? Like within the last, I think it was like 2020, 2021, Fishley got a black box warning label put on there.

Breast Implants and Autoimmune Concerns 20:15

The reality is with implants, whether they're saline or silicone, they come with a risk. There's silicone in there, there's heavy metals within the shell. I think some of the biggest risks comes with silicone, to be honest, and that is the one that is pushed most down Women's throats, when they go into a plastic surgeon, they do look better. It doesn't ripple. But I do personally believe that it carries more risk. The silicone can leach from the shell or inside. And so when it comes to that leach or gel bleed, as they call it, I mean, silicone is very hard to get rid of and it goes in the fat and the lymph and the liver.

And so when you're looking at the overall silicone load that you have, these silicone filled implants are going to be the greater risk. I honestly would love to see if there were studies out there showing you know, how many women got silicone versus the same amount with saline and just like the increased risk of the autoimmune issues, RA, lupus, things like that. Those are some of the biggest things that the FDA acknowledges now. You do have with silicone implants increased risk for different types of autoimmune type of disorders.

And there's no study that you're aware of that shows a risk possibility of breast implant versus not breast implant versus silicone versus saline breast implant, where we could compare across none saline silicone to just see like, it's not just the women that are breast implant illness, but like, are there other things going up? There are some studies out there that will say like from a control group, like they don't have implants at all, to what I've seen, they describe it as silicone implants.

So it's not saying that that also includes saline. 86% of people that get implants, it's silicone. So that's gonna be the grand majority. So what I'm saying is I would like to be able to see a study where it was just the silicone and then the saline and being able to see is the difference in your risk of autoimmunity, like how much greater is that with silicone filled versus saline filled? But a lot of them do compare no implants to silicone. And that starts to give us some indicators, but it's not all the clarity.

So what do you do? You're a woman. Yeah. Your nails are done. Your lashes are done. What are the solutions to these things that women need to just go, look, if I'm going to decide that these beauty tactics are something I want to do, what are the bare minimums that they need to be doing on a daily basis? So what I will say is that my standard could be completely different depending on the stage of healing that I was in. And it's the same thing for a lot of my clients, I'm sure with yours as well.

Your level of dedication to totally eliminating any source of toxicity could be very different. If you're in the thick of chronic fatigue, brain fog, gut issues like I was, it was like, I wasn't doing anything. No nails, no lashes, every makeup, like it was, everything was as clean as possible. But then, you know, you get to a point where you are more recovered and you're like, I'd like to be able to try and live life. Is there anything that I can do? So making sure that you are, honestly, the simple things like eating organic whole foods, drinking clean water, clean air, getting enough sleep, that's going to give your body a good natural terrain.

And then, you know, if you have different genetic SNPs, if you're aware of what your genetics look like, like I know I have HLA-DR gene mutation. I know I don't detox as well.

Daily Detox, Feminine Care, and Closing Thoughts 23:35

So I'm pretty robust with my detox supports. So I will do sauna weekly. I will do coffee enemas, you know, here and there, depending on the season that I'm in. And then I do drainage supports and binders every day on top of my good foundational supports. But how hefty that gets, I do think it depends on the person, what they need. And the studies that are shown, I know you have presented on this and I've went back and looked at the research. There is no, No enzyme or binder for Botox that is used across the board.

There's just nothing out there that even claims. Yeah. Fillers, you know, removal tactics are risky. acrylates and silicone binders, there's just very minimal things that can pull it out. Very, very select few for dirt. There's a lot of detox for heavy metals. There's a lot of antimicrobials for parasites and bacterias. And there's just not nearly enough out there that has been worked on and discovered that would show people that you can actually remove these beauty chemicals at this point. Yeah.

Yeah. Your best chance up until this point was knowing like, okay, how does the body process this? Is it urine? Is it bile emptied out into the stool? And you support those pathways and do the best that you can, but yeah. It's just kind of amazing that no one's figured that out yet. And Man, that's a spot that we need to be working on because at least the women I know in my life, if they like these things and less chronic illness hits, it's part of who they are. And that's okay until it's not. Exactly.

Exactly. Bringing them peace of mind and making sure before, during, after they're going and doing specific types of treatments. I do think it can make a drastic difference if you use the right things. Well, this information has been amazing. I'm glad it's coming from you because I feel like I can't be the one going out there, but we're not talking about your nails, your lashes, your hair. I don't even know all the different possible other things you could do. There's probably a lot more that we need to get on.

We didn't even get into like the spandex form fitting clothing. Oh yeah. The plastics and the infertility. And how about the post that you did on don't wear underwear to bed? There's so many other things that aren't just beauty tips. Oh, for sure, for sure. And one of the things I was talking to a few people about earlier is, like, even just as a woman, and most men would be uncomfortable talking about this, but, like, you have to remember that you have another, if I can say, like, your vagina is like a giant mouth.

And I say that because I need women to understand that it can absorb up to 10x of other tissues. So anything that you are using, personal care product down there, any type of lubricant, any type of what you're shaving with, what you're washing with, what personal care, feminine care products you're using, women that are using period underwear, any of those feminine care products, those are actually some of the biggest areas that I would be concerned about first because there's so much absorption there.

We didn't get to that, but I wanted to make sure we squeeze that in because many women are still using scented tampons and it's wrecking their health probably more than their nails or their lash extensions. I feel like that's a great way to finish there. So women are definitely going to want to know more about this. Where are you sharing this type of content? Yeah, I definitely am going to start branching out more to dive deeper into this over the last couple of months. I've taught on Botox and such over the years, definitely taught on breast implants.

I'll be honest with you, a lot of it, you get a ton of pushback and it gets flagged from a lot of these medical companies that are saying, oh, this is false information, but it literally is just impacting their marketing. and how they want to be able to sell their products. So I think there's a lot more freedom that's coming with some of the changes that have been in the algorithm. And so if someone follows me at biohacking bombshell on Instagram, they see a lot of different content there. I have several different highlight bubbles that are very dedicated to some of these certain topics and more to come.

Well, thank you for sharing this information and being the warrior, the bombshell and this this area of toxins. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thank you for tuning in to redefining wellness with Dr. Javin. If this episode spoke to you, please follow and share this podcast with someone who is ready to take control of their chronic health symptoms. Also, please consider leaving a review. It helps more people find the show. See you here again.