Resources for a Clean Beauty Routine
The first place people usually start in their journey to remove toxins from theur lifestyle and beauty routine is learning about ingredients.
It can be an overwhelming process that can lead you down a rabbit-hole of complicated names and it can be difficult to know who to trust or what to believe.
Added to the confusion is that some ingredients sound really long-winded and therefore toxic but they can just be the Latin word for a natural ingredient.
Here are some of our general rules of thumb to implement when looking for clean ingredients and what may or may not be safe.
We also include expert resources to help you navigate and simplify the steps to creating a toxic-free beauty routine.
Parabens: Why are they included in makeup and what do they do? Parabens are one of the most popular synthetic preservatives. The parabens used most commonly in cosmetics are methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and ethylparaben (FDA). They are not only found in makeup and skincare but also deodorants, shower gels and moisturizers.
The main concern regarding parabens in cosmetics is the potential of some of them to act like hormones in the body, in particular like estrogens. While toxic levels per product are controlled to not be individually harmful in their use, a lifetime of simultaneous use of products with paraben is cause for concern and requires more studies and data.
Petroleum based products (Cosmetics & Big-oil)
"Mineral oil," "paraffin," or "petrolatum", all petroleum-based ingredients are not only known to potentially contribute to some cancers they are also drying for skin and can clog pores, penetrating the skin with alarming chemicals. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that an alarming 22 percent of all conventional personal care products contain unsafe levels of 1,4-dioxane.
What to avoid, anything with PEG (polyethylene glycol), DEA, MEA, Butanol, EDTA, as well as anything with the word propyl for example isopropyl alcohol, propylene glycol, propyl alcohol (Goop).
Fragrance & Parfum
Titanium Dioxide and prop 65
Nano-paricles
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