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 |
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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 |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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) |
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!
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.
so i have a question? what products can we use if almost every product has at least one or multiple of these ingredients
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!
Wow. I need to look more closely @ the ingredient lists…