Finding truly natural, nontoxic makeup and personal care products can be difficult. It wasn’t until recently that I realized how bad the chemicals in makeup and beauty products can be. While it is unrealistic to throw out all of your old beauty products, it is good to note which ingredients can harm both the health of your body, and the health of the environment when you go to purchase new products.
6 Beauty Product Ingredients to Avoid
· Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Examples include petroleum jelly, isopropyl alcohol or isopropanol, methyl alcohol or methanol, butyl alcohol or butanol, ethyl alcohol or ethanol (often used in skin astringents and perfumes or colognes).
· Sodium laureth/lauryl sulfates and other sulfate-based detergents
Examples include sodium lauryl ether sulfate; sodium laureth sulphate; sodium lauryl ether sulphate (most commonly used in shampoos, shower gel, bubble bath) It is basically a cheap ingredient that makes things foam, but has been shown to cause irritation on animal and human test subjects
· Propylene glycol and polyethylene glycol, along with various ingredients formulated with PEGs and PGs. Examples include ethylene glycol (used in firming lotions) and propylene glycol (found in everything from deodorant, mascara, baby powder, after shave and more).
· Formaldehyde & paraben preservatives
Examples include butylparaben, ethylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben (found in sunscreen, shampoos, shaving gel, toothpaste and more) In June 2011, the US National Toxicology Program has described formaldehyde as "known to be a human carcinogen,"
· Synthetic dyes
Examples include anything with F&DC preceding it, usually followed by a color and a number. (F representing food, D&C representing drugs and cosmetics), other color additives, including caramel, lead acetate, manganese violet, and more.
· Artificial fragrances
Avoid most perfumes/colognes, which legally aren't required to list ingredients to protect their trade mark.