Are Your Skincare Products Toxic? How to Find Out

We all know how important it is to watch what we put in our bodies, but how often do you think about what you put on your body? Skin, the largest organ in the body, absorbs the chemicals and parabens found in lotion, shampoo, makeup, sunscreen, bubble bath, body wash, etc. (If you’re questioning whether this is true, think about birth control and nicotine patches.) In fact, if you use daily makeup (just makeup!), you likely absorb nearly five pounds of chemicals each year. Five. Pounds.

It can be overwhelming to think about all the products you use, but we have some tips on how to eliminate your risks without losing your mind reading through a million labels.

Pick and choose. If it’s not realistic for you to do a complete overhaul of your products, these are the ones you should start with:

1. Bubble bath, bath bombs (anything you soak in)
2. Lotions, face and body creams (anything you don’t wash off)
3. Baby powder
4. Shampoo and condition
5. Infant and children’s products

Scan the ingredients. Read over the labels on the above products and look for these ingredients: parabens; formaldehyde (2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol; Diazolidinyl urea; DMDM hydantoin; Imidazolidinyl urea; Quaternium 15); phthalates; Diethanolamine (DEA), Triethanolamine (TEA), monoethanolamine (MEA); Diazolidinyl Urea, Imidazolidinyl Urea; Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate, and Ammonium laureth sulphate; Propylene Glycol and PEG’s;  PVP/VA Copolymer; nanoparticles; fragrance.

If it has it, replace it. If you can’t do it all at once, don’t worry. Start with the children’s products and then lotions, face and body creams.

How to Choose Safe Products

Fortunately, there’s an awesome group out there called the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit dedicated protecting the health and well-being of people and the environment. One of the great things about the EWG is their Skin Deep database, which lists information and safety assessments for nearly 70,000 products! You can easily enter the name of the skincare product and then pull up ratings (0-2 low hazard; 3-6 moderate hazard; 7-10 high hazard) on the overall product based on ingredients and toxicity levels. Or you can search for the safest product by using the dropdown menu at the top.

Johnson’s Baby Moisture Wash vs. Earth Mama Angel Baby Body Wash & Shampoo

For example, a leading manufacturer of baby wash has an overall hazard rating of 6 or moderately high with concerns such as “endocrine disruption; contamination concerns; irritation; organ system toxicity.” Some of the ingredients list an 8 or high hazard on the hazard scale. (Seems crazy that a product for an infant can have such toxic ingredients, right? Unfortunately, the United States seriously lags behind other countries on product safety.)

Some organic, all natural products have the EWG’s lowest hazard rating of 0 with no concerns and each ingredient carries a rating of 1 or 0.

When you know better, you do better. We’re here to give you the information you need to make informed choices when it comes to your health and your family’s health.