NATURAL UNDERWEAR — TRINE KRISTIANSEN

An essential part of natural living, is the fabrics and materials we use and live in, like sheets, towels and especially clothes. Your skin is the largest organ on your body, why put chemically-laden contaminates on your skin? This is especially important when it comes to your underwear as it’s the closest thing to your skin, and it is touching the most sensitive parts of your body.

Conventional Fabrics

Traditional fabrics, especially cotton, are sprayed with tons of pesticides. Conventional cotton is one of the most toxic crops on the planet in which endures the third highest pesticide use in the US after soy and corn.

This doesn’t just affect the planet and environment, it goes directly onto your body. Studies now show that toxins remain in our clothes and that human breast milk can store a overload of toxins from our environment, food and clothing. In addition to being sprayed with pesticides during the farming, cotton has often times also been bleached, dyed and fireproofed before it ends up on our skin, in which contributes with even more toxins.

Cotton is the most commonly worn material, when it comes to underwear. Unfortunately, the cotton you put on your body is most likely heavily sprayed, genetically modified and grown and processed with a number of chemicals, and the chemical remnants may end up rubbing against your skin before getting absorbed through the pores.

The harmful chemicals found in conventional cotton irritate, cause bacteria to grow, help with the growth of yeast and disturbs your hormones.

XENOESTROGENS

Endocrine disruptors are a category of chemicals that disrupt the hormonal system. Xenoestrogens are a sub-category of the endocrine disruptor group. Xenoestrogens are chemicals that acts as an estrogen in the body by mimicking our natural hormones; blocking or binding hormone receptors, resulting in hormonal imbalances. They come from outside the body, and just by living our normal lives, we come into contact with hundres of them each day. The women of today are exposed to more toxins and chemicals in a thirty-day period than our grandmother’s generation was exposed to over the course of their entire lives.

Why is this relevant when it comes to cotton? Because pesticides, in which the cotton crops are sprayed with, contains xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens are found in a variety of everyday items. Many of us don’t think twice about the makeup we wear each day or the plastic container we use to pack our lunch in - or the clothes that we wear. Conventional clothing, particularly underwear that sits right on the skin and on particularly vulnerable parts of the body, can harm our health as they contains these endocrine disruptors. When xenoestrogens enter the body they increase the total amount of estrogen resulting in a phenomenon called, estrogen dominance.

Build up of xenoestrogens have been shown to play a role in many conditions including breast, prostate and testicular cancer, obesity, infertility, endometriosis, early onset puberty, miscarriages and diabetes.

Choosing Natural Fabrics

Organic and natural fabrics is the way to go for so many reasons. Not only is it healthier for your body, it’s better for the environment. Many companies sell sustainable and organic underwear in a variety of eco-material, including certified organic cotton, bamboo, silk, hemp and recycled fabrics. Knowing which brands are making an effort in lowering their environmental footprint, and ensuring top quality while avoiding any chemicals getting absorbed into our skin is essential in reaching better decisions.