Halloween Costume Add-Ons: Less Toxic Halloween Skin and Hair Products

Beyond Halloween costumes, most kids like to dress up their skin and nails for Halloween too. However, most face paints, cosmetics and nail colors aren’t safe for kids at all and aren’t eco-friendly either.

One option is to make your own non-toxic face paints for Halloween. You can also discuss with your child why it’s safer to simply forgo the makeup and weird hair colors. You can go with a colored wig vs. actually coloring hair or wear an awesome face mask vs. make-up. Some kids do love glam though, so here are some safer options if you do go the glossy, shiny route.

Luna Organics isn’t at Skin Deep yet, however, they have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics and are working toward compliance. Additional, and what’s very discouraging is they’re not certified organic – which is super lame because one, they seem to have a good grasp about what organic means, yet two, are using the name “Organic” in their name which almost made me skip posting about them. Beyond my annoyance with this flaw, I’m glad to see that they have a decent product ingredient page and that products don’t contain parabens, potential toxins, artificial colors or nut products. Their jars are free of BPA and they use recycled shipping boxes and labels. So this company has some pluses and minuses.

That said, here’s why I decided to post on them, in spite of the misleading name – it’s VERY hard (and by very I mean almost impossible) to find less icky face glitter for kids. I been looking for years with little luck, so I’m happy to see something safer this year to help kids get glittery and shiny this Halloween. Luna Organics carries a wide array of face paints, glittery makeup kits and more to add a little pop to Halloween. Goodies they carry include:

Hopscotch Kids eco-friendly, non-toxic WaterColor nail polish in spooky Halloween colors + an array of other colors for all season wear. Hopscotch is water-based, scores well at Skin Deep and is free from toluene, dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde, acetone, FD&C, and coal tar.

Lyra Theater Pencils are available in a wide array of colors perfect for any makeup creation you can imagine, have wood casings to keep fingers clean and contain nontoxic oil pigments that go on easily. Easy to clean off skin with soap and water.

For spiky hair styles or curls that hold try a less toxic hair gel this Halloween. Below are some Organic Consumer approved and Skin Deep approved less toxic hair holding options to choose from. Note – most hair sprays aren’t too safe, for kids, I’d go with gel or balm.

HAIR COLOR!

Okay, I’ve looked and looked and IMO there’s just not a great option for temporary and safe hair color for kids. Yeah, Kool Aid or Jello will sort of work – especially if your plan is blue or green, however, while less toxic than real hair coloring products these still contain dyes, some aren’t vegan and also, they don’t wash out well. It can take a long while. IF you do want to give it a try, simply mix a box of jello or many packs of kool-aid with water (make it super thick). Saturate your hair, let it sit and there you go.

If forced to go with a fake color, I’d recommend Manic Panic. They don’t test on animals and their products are vegan. Still, anything that turns your hair shockingly green or blue can’t be that natural.

That said, as someone who was colored and pierced as a kid, I can’t really say never to hair color – that’s pretty hypocritical. If my own son, Cedar, asked to color his hair I suppose I’d use Manic (prob dye hard) before other hair dyes. Now, keep in mind that Manic Panic has some awesome wigs you can choose from instead of allowing your kid to dye up.

Got any other less toxic suggestions for this Halloween?