http://www.care2.com/greenliving/deciphering-beauty-product-labels.html
Deciphering Beauty Product Labels
By Linda Knittle, Natural Solutions
Unlike the world of organic foods, the cosmetics industry is not yet regulated by a set of federal standards under which products are certified. The industry itself has created a task force to develop voluntary guidelines, which will be presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for approval�a process that could take up to five years.
In the meantime, you can learn to differentiate between the hype and truth about beauty care products by reading product labels. Following are a few definitions. Remember, labels list product ingredients in descending order based on how much of each ingredient the product contains (so the more of an ingredient the product contains, the higher its placement on the product label).
Organic implies the product is made with some certified organic ingredients. This does not mean it is chemical free.
Natural implies that ingredients are extracted directly from plant or animal products; however, they may have been synthetically derived from these sources.
Hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, allergy tested, or nonirritating implies that the product is less likely to cause allergic reactions than a product that is not designated as such.
Fragrance free suggests a product has no perceptible odor, although synthetic fragrance ingredients may have been added to mask an offensive odor originating from the raw materials. No synthetic (or artificial) fragrance means that there is no synthetic fragrance ingredients in the product.
Alcohol free generally means that the cosmetic product does not contain ethyl alcohol (or grain alcohol), although it may contain other alcohols, such as cetyl, stearyl, or cetearyl.
Expiration date specifies the amount of time for which a cosmetic product is good under normal conditions of storage and use.
Cruelty free implies that the product has not been tested on animals by the manufacturer, although it doesn’t guarantee that ingredients sourced to make the product weren’t tested on animals.
Natural Solutions: Vibrant Health, Balanced Living offers its readers the latest news on health conditions, herbs and supplements, natural beauty products, healing foods and conscious living. Click here for a free sample issue.
More from Mel, selected from Natural Solutions magazine (133 articles available)
related stories
-
(4 comments)
-
natsol1
(15 comments)
-
(12 comments)
Robyn
Melissa
Deepak
Eric
Dave
Dr. Brent
Isha
Susan
Delia
Michelle
Wendy
Megan
Hilary
Ann
Judi
Ronnie
Kelly
Lily
Terri
Betsy
Cait
Andrew
Jana
Annie B.
Veronica
12 comments
add your comment »it's also nice to be able to decipher the actual ingredient list on products you buy. kaia house organics offers a list of chemicals to avoid, why to avoid them, and only sells products that do not contain them. check out my blog for the list, and KaiaHouse.com for the products!
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Safe vegan friendly bath products and more for sale on vegan shop at care2 http://my.care2.com/veganstuff
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
So far, not too bad.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Well, Megan there's still polution so no way around the chemicals. I will check out your link, Fern. I have eye allergies, so that's how I usually find out what's good and not so good. It's also why I try to stick with all natural and organic. Let me see how my products rate...
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Probably the best way to avoid harmful chemicals and ridiculous testing is to get over our vain selves and let our skin breathe, living the house *gasp* with a natural, no make-up look! :-)
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
It is very discouraging but not surprising to learn the amount of chemicals put into products pushed by commercial corporations. Thanks for the honeysuckle extract = parabens heads-up. I would see that on a list of ingredients and wonder why. It seems like only a constant review of products and a stream of complaints to the offenders -- and economic threats -- have any positive results at all.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
The Enviromental Working Group is a good resource. Within the site is an area called Skin Deep, a cosmetics safety database which talks about products by name-brand. They rate each product for safety to our health. Their link is: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Another thing to keep in mind is that the water in a product is often the "70% organic" or other organic claim made on the labeling, while all the other ingredients are not organic. There's also some current controversy over "honeysuckle extract" being a clever way of adding parabens to products now that more people are trying to avoid them. There are tons of misleading ingredient names though. Organic Consumers Association has some great info for those wanting to learn more.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Some cosmetic companies are developing "certified organic" products. Not all certifications are the same. For the highest level of purity, look for products that are certified to FOOD GRADE STANDARDS. This means that the product meets the same government regulations that certified organic foods meet. For example, to be USDA certified, a cosmetic must contain at least 95% organic ingredients excluding water and salt (the other 5% can not contain sythetics either).
Be cautious of products that have cleverly self generated their own certified looking seals. Also avoid less stringent certifications like ECOCERT and OASIS. The Organic Consumers Association studied "organic" and "natural" products and found 1,4 Dioxane in products containing the ECOCERT and OASIS certifications.
To check out the an exceptional range of products certified to food grade standards with 100% beneficial ingredients for the skin go to www.betterchoices.mionegroup.com These products are both USDA and the Australian Certified Organic. Unless you enjoy spending your time reading ingredient labels, going food grade organic is the best way to guarantee you are getting the real deal. If it isn't safe enough to eat, why put it on your skin?
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
There is in fact an organization called the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that anyone can be a member of or just peruse online to get info. from, and they have done the work of it all.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Facebook account: