going non-toxic: why i'm cutting chemicals from my beauty routine –– and how you can, too.
July 12, 2017
If you used to follow my first blog, Born in August, you probably remember how much I used to adore trying out new beauty products. And I was pretty indiscriminate about it, too. Not a lot of research went into what I was using – all that mattered is that it was new and interesting and worthy of a blog post. So onto my body it went… Until last summer.
I love animals. Though I’m not a vegetarian or vegan, I try to buy ethically raised animal products from local farms and I certainly treat my pets as though they are family. That care was not translating into other areas of my life; specifically, my beauty and hygiene routine was not cruelty-free. I gradually made the transition to an entirely cruelty-free routine after doing a lot of research and I felt great about it.
But when you start researching the companies, you start to find out a lot more than you bargained for. Like just how little oversight there is into what ingredients they use and where they get them from. And as you learn more about their ingredients, you learn more about what those ingredients can do to your body.
It’s not good stuff, folks.
First off, the lack of oversight means that “natural” and “organic” products are often anything but. In fact, certified organic products may have as little as 10% actual organic ingredients in them. And while the EU has banned over 1,300 ingredients from use in beauty products, the United States has only banned 11! What the what? I mean, it really makes you wonder what kind of stuff you’re putting on your body, right? And if you are putting it on your body, let me tell you, it’s also going in your body.
So what do you need to look out for?
Well, sadly, a lot of stuff. But let’s start with the 5 P’s:
Parabens.
Polyethylene Glycols.
Phthalates.
Parfums.
Paraffins.
In addition to those, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) says to avoid:
- Words ending in "paraben"
- DMDM hydantoin
- Imidazolidinyl urea
- Methylchloroisothiazolinone
- Methylisothiazolinone
- Triclosan
- Triclocarban
- Triethanolamine (or "TEA")
The EWG also says to:
- Check the beginning of the ingredients lists, where soaps, surfactants, and lubricants show up. Try to avoid ingredients that start with "PEG" or have an "-eth" in the middle (e.g., sodium laureth sulfate).
- Read the ingredients in the middle. Look for these words: "FRAGRANCE," "FD&C," or "D&C."
It’s a lot to remember and that can be pretty tough, especially if you’re just starting out (like I am). Luckily, there are several tools to make the process a lot easier.
First and foremost, you have the EWG Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. They list almost 70,000 products and rank them on a scale of 1-10 for possible toxins. The products they list range from makeup and skincare to oral hygiene and baby needs. They even have their own EWG Verified page where you can find all of the ingredients that (literally!!) have their seal of approval. And because you can’t always scroll through a website while you’re out shopping, they have the Healthy Living app to help you make clean decisions on-the-go.
Speaking of apps, one that has really been helping me lately is the ThinkDirty app. The founder of ThinkDirty, Lily Tse, was researching the causes of breast cancer and discovered the severe impact toxins in our makeup can have on our health. (Read more about that here!) Because she was having a tough time figuring out which products were actually “clean,” she decided to create this app.
Like EWG, it reviews the ingredients in a product and ranks it on a scale from 1-10. It gives you a “dirty meter” so that you can see exactly what is dirty about it, as well as a list of ingredients (color coded and also ranked so that you can easily see the dirty culprits). If you click on each ingredient, you will get information about why each ingredient is considered good or bad as well as possible health impacts. Plus they give you a list of recommended products that are similar to the one you’ve looked up! So not only does it educate you, it helps you make better decisions!
Lastly, an important tool to use is the growing community of non-toxic beauty converts on YouTube and in the general web-o-sphere. Their reviews will help you decide what products you might want to try out and which ones you want to avoid at all costs. And it’s a source of support, knowing that there is a group of like-minded people doing what you’re doing. Just give “non-toxic beauty” a search on YouTube and you will definitely find some fantastic channels to follow.
Remember that going clean & green isn’t an overnight challenge. Switch out your beauty products as necessary and don’t worry about being perfect – if you can’t afford something that is EWG verified, try to go for something that ranks lower than your previous product. In the future, I’ll be doing reviews of products that have a rating of 5 or less on ThinkDirty, so if you’re interested in making the switch I welcome you to give this blog a follow on Bloglovin’ so that we can go on the journey together!
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