Are Your Beauty Products Toxic? Ingredients to Avoid.

throw out your toxic products

Even I fall victim to the spa, hair salon, and health food store people who convince me to by a product that’s almost totally organic or marketed as safe. Pictured above are the products that I just threw away a couple days ago. If you tend to pick up products while traveling, browsing through whole foods, or from the nice hairstylists at the salon then you might want to take some time to check the ingredients. I know it’s not easy to trash your products, you may feel like you are wasting money, but is it worth your health? My general rule for products is ‘if you can’t eat it, you shouldn’t be putting it on your skin.’ Your skin will absorb the products and it will enter the body causing all kinds of problems for you if used over long periods of time. Think about deodorant for example, it gets sucked right into the large pores in your armpits and eventually reaches the breasts causing breast cancer. Most Asians don’t wear deodorant and breast cancer is very low among Asians. My advice is don’t rush product purchases, don’t feel pressured to buy anything, and take the time to research products online. The EWG site is a good place to start. Go to Skin Deep to see how your favorite products score for safety.

Listed below are ingredients to avoid. For a more detailed description go to Terressentials or do your own research!

Natural oils to avoid:

castor oil (castor beans yield the biotoxin ricin)
cottonseed oil (likely to contain high pesticide residues)
grapeseed oil
peanut oil
pomace-grade olive oil
evening primrose seed oil
rice bran oil

Oleochemical and petrochemical (synthetic) emollients:

acetylated lanolin alcohol
butyl adipate
butylene glycol
capric/caprylic triglyceride
ceteareth-2
ceteareth-2 glyceryl monostearate
ceteareth-20
ceteareth-27
cetearyl alcohol
cetearyl glucoside
cetearyl isononanoate
cetearyl octanoate
cetyl alcohol
cetyl esters
cetyl palmitate
coconut fatty acids
cyclomethicone
decyl oleate
dicaprylate-dicapriate
dimethicone
disodium cocoamphodiacetate
dodecatrienol
ethylhexyl glycerine
emulsifying wax
eucerin (petroleum jelly)
fat alcohol (cetearyl alcohol)
fatty acids
glycerol-mono-di-stearate
glycerol-mono-stearate-palmitate
glyceryl cocoate
glyceryl stearate
potassium stearate
hydrated palm glycerides
hydrogenated oils
isobutyl stearate
isopropyl lanolate
isopropyl myristate
isostearyl-isostearate
jojoba butter/wax (hydrogenated jojoba oil)
lanolin linoleate
lauryl lactate
methyl glucose dioleate
mineral oil
non-vegetable glycerine or glycerol
octyl palmitate
octyldodecanol
oleth 2
paraffin
petrolatum
plant emulsifying wax
squalane
stearate
stearic acid
stearyl alcohol
vegetable emulsifying wax

Oleochemical and petrochemical (synthetic) detergents & Boosters:

ammonium lauryl sulfate
betaine
carboxylate
cocamidopropyl betaine
cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine
coco betaine
coco polyglucose
DEA cetyl phosphate
decyl glucoside
decyl polyglucose
disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate
glycerol laurate
glycerol monolaurate
glycerol stearate
glyceryl cocoate
lactamide DEA
lauramide DEA
lauramide DEA/MEA
methyl glucose dioleate
olefin sulfonate
cocamine
cocoamphoglycinate
cococarboxamide  MEA-4-
carboxylate
coconut and corn oil “soap”
coconut surfactants—
(ammonium lauryl or      laureth sulfate)
cocamide DEA or MEA
coconut betaine
lauramide DEA
magnesium lauryl sulfate
neutralized coconut extract
olefin sulfonate
PEG-100 (polyethylene
glycol) stearate
PEG-150 (polyethylene
glycol) distearate
sodium cocosulfate
sodium cocoyl isethionate
sodium laureth sulfate
sodium lauryl/laureth
sulfate
sodium myreth sulfate
sodium myristoyl sarcosinate
sodium stearate
sorbitan stearate
sucrose cocoate
sucrose/glyceryl cocoate
“sugar surfactant”
sulfated/sulfonated oil
TEA (triethanolamine)
lauryl sulfate
sodium coco-
amphodiacetate
sodium cocoyl
glutamate
sodium lauryl
sarcosinate
sodium lauryl or laureth
sulfate
sucrose cocoate
decyl glucoside
decyl oleate
diethanolamine (DEA)
disodium laureth
sulfosuccinate
glyceryl cocoate
laureth-13 carboxylate
triethanolamine (TEA)

Chemical Solvents:

acetic acid
acetone
amyl alcohol
benzene
butylene glycol
ethyl alcohol, synthetic
ethyl butyl acetate
ether
ethylene glycol monophenyl-ether (phenoxyethanol)
glycerine
isopropyl alcohol
hexane
methanol
phenol
propyl alcohol
propylene glycol
SD alcohols

Synthetic Thickeners:

caprylic triglycerides
carbomer
cetyl alcohol
cocamide DEA, MEA
coconut fatty acids
emulsifying wax
glyceryl stearate
hydrolyzed wheat protein
hyrdoxymethyl cellulose
hydroxypropyl cellulose
methacryloyl ethyl betaine
methacrylates copolymer
oat protein
potassium carbomer
potassium stearate
quinoa protein
rice protein
soy protein
vegetable cellulose
wheat protein
xanthan gum

Synthetic Emulsifiers:

acetylated lanolin alcohol
alkyl polyglycoside
betaine
carbomer
carboxymethyl cellulose
cetearyl alcohol
cocamidopropyl betaine (coco betaine)
glyceryl stearate
emulsifying wax
ethyl acetate
ethylene glycol distearate
fatty acid alkanolamide
glyceryl mono-, di-oleate
glycerol mono-, di-stearate
PEG-100 stearate
PEG-25 hydrogenated castor oil
polysorbate
sodium lauryl sulfate
sodium sulfosuccinates
sorbitan esters
sorbitan stearate
stearyl alcohol
triethanolamine (TEA)

Synthetic Colors:

aluminum lakes
astaxanthin
azulene
canthaxanthin
carmine
sodium copper chlorophyllin (chlorophyll)
D&C colors (all)
FD&C colors (all)
iron oxides
titanium dioxide
ultramarine
zinc oxide

Synthetic Preservatives:

ascorbic acid
ascorbyl palmitate
benzethonium chloride
benzalkonium chloride
benzoic acid
benzyl alcohol
BHA
BHT
boric acid
butyl paraben
captan
cetrimonium bromide
chloramine
chlorhexidine
chlorobutanol
chloroxylenol
chlorphenesin
denatured alcohol
diazolidinyl urea
DMDM Hydantoin
ethanolamines
ethylhexyl glycerine
ethyl paraben
euxyl
germaben
germall
glyceryl caprate
glyceryl caprylate
glyceryl laurate
glyceryl stearate
hexachlorophene
imidazolidinyl urea
isopropyl alcohol
kathon
methenamine
methyl paraben
methylisothiazolinone
phenethyl alcohol
phenoxyethanol
2-phenoxyethanol
phenylphenol
polylysine
potassium metabisulfite
potassium sorbate
propyl paraben
quaternary ammonium
compounds
salicylic acid
SD alcohol
sodium benzoate
sodium bisulfite
sodium borate
sodium hydroxymethyl-
glycinate
sodium propionate
sorbic acid
succinic acid
thimerosal
triclosan
undecylenic acid
urea
vitamin K

Synthetic Chemical Fragrance:

amyl acetate (banana fragrance)
anisole
apple fragrance
banana fragrance
benzophenones 1 to 12 (rose fragrance)
berry fragrance
bitter almond oil (benzaldehyde)
cinnamic acid
coconut fragrance
cucumber fragrance
honeysuckle fragrance
lilac fragrance (anisyl acetate)
mango fragrance
melon fragrance
methyl acetate (apple fragrance)
methyl salicylate (wintergreen or birch fragrance)
plum fragrance
peach fragrance
phenethyl alcohol (rose ether-rose fragrance)
2-Phenoxyethanol (rose-ether-rose fragrance)
Phenoxyethanol (rose-ether-rose fragrance)
Prabanol (a.k.a. Ebanol, sandalwood fragrance)
strawberry fragrance
vanillin
verataldehyde (vanilla fragrance)

 

 

Comments

  1. Tori
    February 17, 2020 / 12:55 pm

    Thank you for creating a comprehensive list of harmful ingredients in skin, hair and makeup products.
    Claims of “organic,” can be deceptive. You’ve saved me a wealth of time from researching- Every- Single- Ingredient on product ingredient labels. Very time consuming!
    I wish there were stringent guidelines to claims of “organic.” Even those marked organic, Non-GMO and cruelty free fail and sneak in harmful ingredients. Once I find a product then review to the very last ingredient- I find snake oil that deters me.
    Shopping on Amazon is nice but has become a nightmare as advertisers/product claims are faulty.
    I applaud you for your dedication. I will save your list, to compare products (more easily). BRAVO!

  2. November 25, 2019 / 4:51 am

    I think you have included all the chemicals used in the products available in the market, irrespective of their harmful activity. Not all the chemicals enlisted in your blog are harmful at all, like glecryl oleate…and specially.. castor oil?? I have researched about castor oil after reading your blog. Ricin is not at all oil soluble and it is eliminated from castor oil while it is extracted from castor beans.

  3. melissa
    October 31, 2018 / 2:50 pm

    so i have a question? what products can we use if almost every product has at least one or multiple of these ingredients

  4. natedawg
    November 21, 2016 / 5:23 pm

    Yes! More people need to share the information that’s on EWG.com so we can all make better choices about what goes into and onto our bodies!

  5. Pearl
    September 10, 2016 / 8:50 am

    Wow. I need to look more closely @ the ingredient lists…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *