The Dangers of Triclosan & How to Avoid It (Page 2)

Colgate Total contains Triclosan

Common Products that Contain Triclosan

The other day, while brushing my teeth, I was idly reading the ingredients on my toohpaste tube, and what should I see? The second active ingredient, after fluoride, was triclosan! Of course, that got me curious about what else in my medicine cabinet contains triclosan, and a little bit of research was incredibly eye-opening. Here are some common personal care products that contain triclosan:

Toothpaste
Deodorant
Pet shampoo
Makeup
Skin cleansers
Dry shampoo
Foot sprays and creams
Bath soaks
Mouthwash
Hand sanitizers and soaps
Shaving cream and shaving gel

Basically, this stuff is in everything. It’s often added to lengthen the products’ shelf life, so it could be in a product but not listed as an active ingredient.

Of course, not every brand of all of these products contains triclosan, and the best way to make sure you’re not putting this antimicrobial into your shopping basket and onto your body is to do some careful label-reading. Even products labeled as “natural” sometimes contain triclosan.

While keeping such a common ingredient out of the medicine cabinet might seem overwhelming, once you get into the habit of label-reading, it will start to become second nature. Who knew that activism could be as simple as reading through an ingredients list?

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by bsing

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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.

Geela G.

5:47AM PDT on Aug 21, 2012

Thanks for the information. Worth thinking about.

August 21
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Loo S.

11:33AM PDT on Aug 15, 2012

noted

August 15
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Abbe A.

3:10AM PDT on Jul 5, 2011

Thanks for the warning.

July 5
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Eternal G.

5:59PM PDT on Jun 13, 2011

Humans are mad!

June 13
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Annemarie W.

10:45AM PDT on May 31, 2011

thank you!

May 31
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Wes P.

1:06AM PDT on May 28, 2011

This means giving up my favorite soap (liquid safeguard), but I want to know I'm doing everything I can to be as healthy as I can for as long as I can.