Lots of every day items contain a horrible little chemical called parabens. Lipsticks, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, bubblebath, baby products, the contraceptive pill, vitamins, ham, bacon and pastries. It's put in things to try and prolong their shelf life, but now experts have linked them with cancer.

Scientists at the University Hospital of South Manchester examined breast tumours taken from 40 women - and found parabens in nearly every one. The experts have not confirmed how they got there - but in my view, it's better to be safe than sorry.

So what I'm going to attempt to do here is to teach you all a little about parabens - and learn more myself.

The aim is to come up with a catalogue of paraben-free products for everyone to use and hopefully, along the way, we'll encourage more big firms to offer healthier alternatives.

And so I start today with a mascara. Maybelline's the Colossal Volum' Express. Most of the range DOES contain parabens but this one is a welcome exception. People rave about this mascara so why not give it a try.

And so, I've made a start. The key thing is to look at the ingredients on what you buy. Parabens can be spotted fairly easily Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Isopropylparaben, Methylparaben and Propylparaben though there are some relatives which I'll come to later.

Thanks for reading my first post. Please come back - my aim is to post at least one new product a day.