You know, with summer here and so much to post about I’ve sort of let the non-toxic body care series slide. In case you need to catch up, we first looked at how to keep toxic body care products and cosmetics out of your home. Then we looked at USDA Certified Organic body care products and Organic vs. Green Body Care Products.
Next up some icky old ingredients you should avoid. Really there are scads of chemicals and ingredients you should avoid in body care and beauty products, but this list is the baddest of the bad. If you see one of these ingredients listed in a product I’d suggest finding an alternative.
Note, I was going to actually list what these ingredients are found in, health concerns and links to more info, but after doing two of these I realized it would take me forever. That said, I’ll add to this from time to time – eventually linking all the ingredients to a more substantial post.
PS – these aren’t in danger order. I ended up placing them in basic alphabetical order because I kept forgetting if I’d listed a chemical or not.
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1,4-dioxane
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Butyl Acetate
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Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
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Coal Tar
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Diethanolamine (DEA)
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Diazolidinyl Urea
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Ethyl Acetate
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Formaldehyde
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Hydroquinone
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Lead
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Nitrosamines
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Parabens
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Petrolatum
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Phthalates
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Propylene glycol
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Sodium Laurel Sulfate
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Synthetic Musks
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Talc
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Triclosan
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Triethanolamine
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Hi, Jenn. Enjoyed the information here. Anyone could write these on a business-sized card and put them in her wallet–as has been done with the “dirty dozen” of produce.
Though they aren’t the exact-same chemicals, would you say a good way for the “average” person (or chemical layperson) to help remember these is to sort of red-flag the base words in your mind: namely “ethano,” “ethanyl,” “petro,” “nitro,” and “butyl” (most of which just sound like oil/petroleum derivatives anyway)? Again, keeping in mind that just because something has one of these doesn’t make it one of the worst, but just that it could be. Also, are #8 (formaldehyde) and #20 (triethanolamine) sometimes linked–could you shed light on that? I thought I saw them together in the Cosmetics Database.
Thanks again! Very informative.
What I tell people most of the time is this – don’t buy food or body care products that have ingredients that would require a chem book to decipher. If you don’t easily recognize an ingredient why slather it on or consume it? You can find body care products with only stuff you know. For example here is Earth Mama Angel Baby shampoo – (Saponified oils of Cocos nucifera (organic coconut) oil, Olea europaea (organic olive) oil, Butyrospermun parkii (organic shea) butter, kosher vegetable glycerin, Aloe barbadensis (organic aloe) leaf juice, Vanilla planifolia (organic vanilla) bean extract, Citrus sinensis (orange) oil, tocopherol (Vitamin E)). Now here is what’s in Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo – (Water, PEG 80 Sorbitan Laurate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Glycerin, Lauroamphoglycinate, PEG 150 Distearate, Sodium Laureth 13 Carboxylate, Fragrance, Polyquaternium 10, Tetrasodium EDTA, Quaternium 15, Citric Acid, D&C Yellow 10, D&C Orange 4). Not a hard choice.
Formaldehyde is more dangerious than triethanolamine. Maybe you’re thinking of Tosylamide/Formaldehyde Resin? I think the reason so many chemicals end up linked is because many work together or are commonly found in the same-type products.
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