15 Toxic Ingredients in Personal Care

By now we’ve all heard that everything from hair serum to sunscreen can be teeming with troublesome toxins and crazy chemicals, and many concerned consumers already steer clear of products made with parabens, phthalates, and synthetic scents and colors. But there are hundreds of lesser-known ingredients hidden in many favorite products–some with the potential to wreak havoc on the environment and others that have been linked to breast cancer. Without a universal and enforceable natural or organic standard to regulate the beauty industry, even companies claiming to be natural often produce products laced with not-so-clean stuff.

For their 2nd Annual Beauty with a Conscience Awards, Natural Solutions magazine put its stamp of approval on 101 of the purest and best personal care products using guidelines developed in collaboration with Whole Foods Market, here is their list of the toxic ingredients that you don’t want in your products.

Next: Top 15 ingredients to avoid in personal care and beauty products

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

New G.

8:13PM PST on Dec 31, 2011

Thank you.

send a green star

8:46AM PDT on Jun 20, 2011

Thank you for the informative article.

Jeramie D.

1:29AM PST on Jan 26, 2011

Thanks

David M.

3:49AM PST on Jan 25, 2011

Alicia T.

6:15PM PST on Jan 23, 2011

Annemarie W.

12:01AM PST on Dec 8, 2010

Susan A.

4:45AM PST on Dec 5, 2010

Great info. Thanks Mel.
P.s. Are products with the leaping bunny logo automatically free of these ingredients ?

melissa a.

2:52PM PDT on Aug 14, 2010

we should be able to know every ingredient. However the way the law is written only products which are used commercially must supply a list of all ingredients. Per OSHA regulations an MSDS must be posted. items marketed to end consumers do not carry the same regulations. The key for the consumer is to find a responsible manufacturer who does not use toxic or harmful ingredients. Once again, this link might help..www.gogreenwebcast.com/ucandoit

Wendy M.

7:30AM PDT on Aug 2, 2010

This is such important information that I am also so passionate about sharing. thank you for posting the list of ingredients to watch out for.
I use a line of anti-aging skin care called BioCe.
It is free from :
benzene, comedogenics, formaldehyde, fragrance, nano-particles, nitrosating ingredients, paba, parabens, pegs, petrolatum, phthalates,sodium lauryl and toluene.

I used to use only home made mixes of foods on my skin and was very happy about the health aspect of that , but to be honest my skin wasn't as nice as it is now after using this line for 2 months. Deeply etched wrinkles in my forhead have vanished and I'm growing my bangs out and feeling 10 years younger !

If you are interested in more information about BioCe or becoming a distributor, visit me for a chat !
www.bioceyourlife.com

Angel H.

10:03AM PDT on Jul 23, 2010

I don't understand why there aren't laws that protect us from these chemicals being put into the products in the first place. It's scary, I've known about the sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), but there are so many to watch out for. The SLS is in just about everything on the store shelves, it's really scary how many things contain this ingredient. It's why one needs to use the organic stuff, only that can get too expensive if one is on an extremely tight budget. There needs to be a change created to ban all of the toxins mentioned here. The people need to stand up to these companies and demand a change. A lot of people tend to look the other way though, as they lack knowledge of these dangers. It's so sad. Thanks Mel for spreading the word and educating me on even more toxins to watch out for.