Dangers In Your Personal Care Products

Every day you apply chemicals to the largest organ of your body -- your skin. Shampoo, body wash, soap, sunscreen and lotion often contain questionable ingredients that may compromise your health. Because you use these products so much, and so often, it pays to know what ingredients are not safe so that you can read labels and select cleaner products.

The Food and Drug Administration does not review the majority of products that are sold to the public, nor does it require safety testing for most cosmetic and personal care products. Manufacturers can use any ingredient in their products without testing for safety, with the exception of color and a few ingredients considered to be over the counter drugs. Manufacturers can use words like "natural" or "organic" without having to back up those claims, so looking for those words on the label doesn't really protect you from contaminants.

According to Skin Deep, more than 500 products sold in the U.S. contain ingredients banned in Japan, Canada or the European Union. Skin Deep also reports that:

• 22% of all personal care products, including children's products, contain the cancer-causing impurity 1,4-dioxane
• 60% of sunscreens contain oxybenzone --  which disrupts hormones in your body 
• 61% of lipsticks contain lead residue.

Other harmful ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products include phthalate plasticizers, paraben preservatives, the pesticide triclosan, synthetic musks, and sunscreens which carry risk for sperm damage, hormone disruption, cancer and more.


What Can You Do?

Here is a short list of the most risky ingredients. Carry the list in your wallet so you can check for unsafe ingredients when you are buying personal care products and cosmetics.

• Bensalkonium chloride
• BHA (butilated hydroxyanisole)
• Coal tar derivatives
• DMDM hydantoin and bronopol
• Formaldehyde
• Fragrances, except for pure essential oil
• Hydroquinone
• Methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone
• Oxybenzone
• Parabens (Propyl, Isopropyl, Butyl, and Isobutylparabens)
• PEG/Ceteareth/Polyethylene compounds
• Petroleum distillates
• Phthalates
• Resorcinol
• Retinyl palmitate and retinol
• Triclosan and triclocarban

Buy fragrance-free products as the word "fragrance" on a label doesn't mean the fragrance is natural or safe. Use essential oils or essential oil blends for perfume.  Use pure soap made with only lye, organic fats and essential oils. (There is no lye left once the soap has formed). Pure soap contains glycerin, usually removed from commercial brands, and glycerin is a good moisturizer for your skin. Or, learn to make your own soap. It only takes one afternoon to make enough soap for a family for six months. If you like, you can also learn to make your own moisturizers, creams and lotions. Wear a hat and long sleeves in the sun, and use zinc-oxide based sun block, or a sunscreen no higher than 30 SPF. Wash your hair less often. If you wash your hair every other day, you cut your exposure to harmful ingredients in shampoo by 50%.

Look for brands that don't contain harmful ingredients. You can find lists of safer cosmetic brands on the Skin Deep website as well as:

• Good Guide
• Safe Cosmetics  
• Cosmetic Ingredient Review
• Organic Consumers