
When I was working in cosmetic retail, it was required to wear a full face of makeup, always have our nails manicured, and have our hair nicely styled at all times. It was part of our job requirement, and I did what I needed to do to sell beauty products. Now having the knowledge that I do about what is in many store bought beauty products, I’m no longer interested to put any of those beautifying cosmetics anywhere near my skin, hair, or nails.
Although there isn’t the convenience of finding chemical free cosmetics as easily as all the rest, it is important to your health to make the effort.
My brother was telling me that he had referred a friend to my blog and that she thought that I was too “green” and pretty much that I used grass for beauty. I had to laugh. Although I do make a ton of my own beauty products, I also buy a good amount of wonderful chemical free cosmetics as well.
The truth is that ignorance is bliss. There are so many beautifully wrapped products for hair, skin, and nails that smell amazing! Although they may give the results that they advertise on the bottle, there is no fine print describing how your body absorbs these ingredients.
Many of the synthetically derived ingredients cause toxicity in the body with consistent use over time as well as illness.
I saw a prescription drug commercial last night that said near the end of the commercial that in some cases the medication may cause death. Well at least they were honest telling all of the side effects. The beauty industry doesn’t share the fine print, nor are they tested and approved like other industries or in other countries outside of the US. There are ingredients banned in Canada and Europe that still remain in cosmetics in the US.
Women use more cosmetics than men do on a daily basis, and throughout the day reapply lipstick and powder, while also spraying a light spritz of fragrance for that fresh scent.
We are conditioned to think from a young age that beauty products are one of the luxuries of growing up. For this new year let’s do three things that could really change our life for the better: educate ourselves on chemicals to avoid, clean out our cosmetics of with toxic ingredients, and replace them with truly organic natural products and simple DIY cosmetics. For starters take everything out from under your bathroom sink, displayed on the counter, and in your makeup bag, and put them on a clear surface. It is important to see exactly what are in each product. Don’t worry if you have a lot of cosmetics as most women do, just take everything out.
The general rule is that if you can’t pronounce the ingredient you don’t want it in your body.
There are a few chemicals that we have also become accustomed to seeing and we don’t worry about them. That’s not a good idea. I was shocked this month to discover a natural lipstick that I was using contained retinyl palmitate (vitamin A palmitate) that is rated as an 8 in toxicity on a scale of 0-10 on the Cosmetic Database. Even the cosmetics in natural grocery stores need to be fully checked, and I happened to miss this one myself.
According to Sophie Uliano in Gorgeously Green–8 Steps to an Earth Friendly Life there are “Red Alert” cosmetic ingredients and “Orange Alert” cosmetic ingredients. The “Red Alert” ingredients are coal tar used in dyes such as FD&C blue in many toothpastes and FD&C green 3 in mouthwash, fragrance including phthalates, hydroquinone in skin lightners and moisturizers, aluminum in eye shadows, nail polishes, and deoderants, triclosan in antibacterial products and often mixed with dioxins, p-phenylenediamine in regular hair dye, as well as lead and mercury which have shown up in lipstick, men’s hair dye and possibly a contaminant in hydrated silica. These ingredients should be avoided at all costs. Any cosmetic that have these ingredients should be tossed immediately.
The “Orange Alert” cosmetic ingredients that should be avoided are nitrosamines (cocomide DEH, lauramide DEA, Cocamide MEA, triethanolamine (TEA), diethanolamine (DEA)), mineral oil, parabens, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate/sodium lauryl ether sulfate, polyethylene glycol (PEG), formaldehyde-producing preservatives such as hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, and diazolidinyl urea, talc, acrylates/methacrylates, isopropyl alcohol, tocopherol acetate, phenonip, quaternary ammonium compounds such as benzalkonium chloride, cetrimonium bromide, quaternium-15, and quaternium 1-29, cationic surfactants such as stearalkonium chloride, benzalkonium chloride, cetrimonium cloride, cetalkonium chloride, and lauryl dimonium hydrolyzed collagen, benzyl alcohol, silicon derived emollients such as dimethicone, dimethicone copolyol, and cyclomethicone, and carbomer 934, 940, 941, 960, 961C.
In Cosmetic Ingredients to Avoid, I not only list chemicals to avoid in cosmetics, yet also offer brands of cosmetics that I have found to have really good ingredients. I tried to give each chemical ingredient listed a link to the Cosmetic Database so that you could read what was scientifically found about each ingredient. Throughout this entire blog are also recipes for DIY skin and hair care that can replace the chemical products that you may have been currently using.
I am extremely passionate about educating women on chemical cosmetics and healthy alternatives to beauty. It is important to also have this information so that we are not applying these same chemicals to children because they are in baby geared cosmetic brands.
Switching over all of your beauty products may seem to be a complete hassle, expensive, and unnecessary, but it is not. Sophie Uliano suggests getting rid of products with “Red Alert” ingredients immediately and using up the products with “Orange Alert” ingredients to never buy them again. If your like me you just toss it all.
Your skin is your largest organ and it absorbs everything that you put on it. There are enough pollutants that are in our air and all around us for our body to process and try to discard. Let’s not add more work for it to do and protect our health by making conscious choices.
My research comes from different sources such as Gorgeously Green and The Cosmetic Database.
What we put on our body is just as important as what we eat.
(Image by D Sharon Pruitt)
Kourtney L. says
Thank you for putting such an expansive list together of the ingredients to avoid.
I agree with you when you say “ignorance is bliss” and there was a time was I was blissful, it was a lot easier to buy products. It was also a lot more terrifying now that I know all the harmful products I was using.
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Kourtney L,
I’m hoping that this year will continue to be a year of discovering new toxic free easy beauty ideas that are effective and affordable. I guess the new motto should be knowledge is bliss.
Peace,
Dawn Michelle
Amy V. says
I’ve had your blog on my blog list for a while but haven’t paid much attention ’til now. This article caught my attention ’cause I want to be as healthy as I can be. I want to work on eliminating chemical laden products but I have so many hair products that I love already. Also, I’m concerned about the expense of cosmetic products without the truly bad stuff. I will explore my options and try! Thanks!!
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Amy V,
I feel you about the expense of chemical free products. I am in the midst of again trying a new hair regimen and I have a funny story to share later on this week regarding it. I was in Target today and saw a very popular hair conditioner among the curly hair community and it a large size container for $6. The conditioner that I recently found without any crazy ingredients is $15. The balance for me is making some products and buying others. Much of my skin care I make, and I also make much of my hair care. It cuts down the cost overall not to buy every product that you use. There are simpler hair and skin care recipes that are extremely nourishing.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend,
Dawn Michelle
Tahnee J. says
Awesome post! I read an article just last week that stated 100% of 200 lipsticks tested had lead in them!! Many women lick their lips at least once through out the day!! Scary thought.
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Tahnee J,
That is a scary thought! Also the chemicals in lipsticks absorb through the skin too. Thanks for your comment!
Daisy says
To be honest, I decided to venture outside consumer run blogs and I am still a fan of your blog but I honestly went to a lot of sites ran by chemists who also use cosmetics and who have no relation to the cosmetic industry. I also spoke to my uncle who is a scientist and honestly, the natural beauty industry is also part of industry. There’s so much scare mongering in the green beauty community, I was actually shocked when I was reading about certain ingredients and I even went as far as to read the studies on these ingredients. Especially, the one in regards to parabens. It was really flawed… All of my interest started with me wondering how EWG rates and gets their information. Have you ever wondered where EWG gets their information? Futhermore, is the exaggerated claims that the FDA does not regulate cosmetics. Yes they do. I went and spoke to someone who is creating a shampoo line catered towards natural hair and there’s actually not only a lot of ingredients that you can use but there are a lot of specified requirements. I didn’t just go to one site but multiple sites that talk about ingredients. Skininc.com was one of them, personal care truth was another huge source, plus I went to a nail polish blog ran by a chemist who actually loves nail polish. I also read a study on whether or not these chemicals are really absorbed into your skin and through your bloood stream. Furthermore, some of the warned about chemicals are within you naturally meaning your exposure from cosmetics is practically on the same level. Furthermore, the scare mongering that comes with slogans like “they use this to prevent a dead body from rotting” but heavens, formaldehyde is for instance a chemical that actually goes through a lot of “breaking down” (sorry I can’t use any better terms) before it even gets to nail polish. In fact, it isn’t even formaldehyde anymore. Formaldehyde is actually a gas which is severely toxic but much in the same formatt that chlorine gas is severely toxic but chlorine is also in just about every water supply and it’s what keeps the pool blue. Nonetheless, I still choose to avoid certain preservatives simply because of clogged pores and also the fact that my hair and silicones equates to a flaky mess. I also really love the fuss free life of “natural” ingredients which by the way I have also learned means nothing. Even a lot of natural products need preservatives or an equivalent because seriously, how can something made from organic fruits last a year? Although, I do think there is a lot of valid information because preservatives can definitely be irritants and much in the same way there is scare mongering, the coventional industry isn’t that clean either. Ultimately though, it’s better to have both sides of the story and be informed and make your own choices based on your own findings. All I’ve learned is to take things with a grain of salt. I still avoid parabens, SLS, certain fragrances (a lot of perfumes just give me head aches) and a few other ingredients because of the fact that they don’t agree with me but really ultimately it’s all about preference. Another thing I’ve strangely noticed is how articles are worded. I study the media (as in my college major) and I’m always looking for key words such as “may, might, often, potentially.” Those words mean nothing. It’s like saying a meatball may fall from the sky yet reading in between the lines is the best thing here.
PS. Sorry for my long rant. I do love your blog. I still love natural skin care and I still use a lot of natural products even with my shifting opinions. I enjoy the DIY’s too and I love a lot of products due to your suggestion. I religiously use green tea for skin care and hair care, the clay wash is awesome, honey and lemon are staples, etc. I hope you don’t take this as a bashing of any kind.
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Daisy,
I appreciate reading your thoughts on this. The cosmetic industry is an industry, yet there are always companies with both good and only money making intentions. One of the reasons I believe that there are so many chemical ingredients in cosmetics is because they are extremely cheap compared to using natural ingredients. Also the FDA doesn’t monitor the cosmetic industry like they should even if there are a few regulations. There are othe countries who do not allow some of the toxic ingredients that are allowed here in The States because they care more about the people over the dollar.
You may also want to check out my latest article on chemicals in skin care which shares the personal health story of Rosie-Marie Swift who became very very sick by using chemical laden cosmetics for years and years. She actually spent a lot of money to get the test results she needed to pinpoint her illness. Who knows how many others are sick in this same way but don’t have the funds to prove what the true culprit is.
Also getting a headache from a product in my opinion is a good indicator that the chemicals in the product don’t agree with your body and are toxic. Listening to your body is one of the best ways to make healthy decisions for yourself. I’m glad that you are also enjoying the simple natural recipes on Minimalist Beauty!
Best wishes!
Priya says
Hi
I am a total fan of your decluttering and using all so green products, you have really inspired me a lot. Everytime i go out or think of buying sonething, i always ask myself 2 questions, is it really useful and is it good for nature? I will say that i have not yet completely transformed like you have but i am trying a little step by step. Thanks to you.
So now my question time:
1) i have very oily skin full of acnes, partly bcaz my internal body twmperature is really high which reflecta on to my skin. Any suggestions onto which oil should i use?
2) Dark circles….:(
3) Really oily scalp, fine hair and what not……(ahhh…sometimes i just want to kill myself)
I would so so appreciate if you can shed some light on my beauty regime
PS: I have stopped using face wash, shampoos and packs, i only honey wash my face and use areetha shikakai for shampoo.
Thanks again, keep blogging and keep inspiring. 🙂
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Priya,
It sounds like you are high in pitta, the Ayurvedic dosha description. You may want to see an Ayurvedic, Chinese, or naturopathic doctor to find the internal imbalance which shows up in the external appearance as well as do some of your own research and see if this is a possibility. As for oils to choose for skin care I suggest a high linoleic oil. My favorite is pumpkin seed oil. With hair care if you have been using commercial shampoos etc. it will take time for your scalp to adjust to not having all of its natural oils stripped. Be patient with the process.
Best wishes!