Tag Archives: 100 Percent Pure

How To: Shop Clean Beauty (Realistically!)

Posted in Beauty, Did You Know?, Hair, How-To, Makeup, Shopping, Skincare by

(Bloody Mary shot in the Chronicle studio in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, January 3, 2017.)

I know, I know- seems like every time you turn around, some new ingredient in the beauty industry has been found to cause cancer or some other slow, painful demise. I used to chalk this up to nit-picky scare tactics perpetuated by wealthy, pilates-doing, kale-eating, desperate housewife-y, ladies-who-lunch (not that there’s something wrong with being any of these things, of course) until I started doing research for my earlier post, and realized… *channeling my inner Negan voice* holyyyyyy s@#%, there actually are a lot of ingredients out there in our personal care products that, indeed, cause cancer or some other slow, painful demise.

Welp.

Yeahhhhhh so, um, long story short: questionable ingredients are usually cheaper, enabling companies to lower the price tag of an item and therefore allowing more people to access it, which of course means the company makes more money. But some of these ingredients are truly toxic. And unfortunately, they’re almost ubiquitous- if you want out of this dangerous hamster wheel you may have to put in some major effort. But that’s exactly what deters many people from purchasing “cleaner” products; we all just want to go into a store and pick something affordable off a shelf; who wants to spend hours researching? So, I did some of that work for you and came up with three ways we can all shop a little bit cleaner- realistically:

1. Know your ingredients.

All products are not created equal. Conventional brands can sometimes make products that are as pure as water- and vice versa with cleaner brands (although any brand marketing itself as USDA-certified 100% organic should be safe).  Read your labels. Remember, how much of an ingredient there is correlates to how close to the beginning of the list it is. Here is a list of several ingredients to avoid whenever possible in products from any brand.

(Disclaimer: I am NOT a scientist or dermatologist- just a concerned citizen and beauty lover. I have linked all the following products so you can make an informed decision for yourself.)

  • Parabens (AKA: methyl, ethyl, etc. paraben)- preservatives known to be hormone disruptors; commonly found in almost every 1st world product known to man, but especially liquid products.
  • Phthalates– used to make products more pliable or make fragrance last on skin; known endocrine disruptors/may cause birth defects.
  • Fragrance/parfum–  provides the scent in perfumes and other beauty/skincare products but since it’s not regulated by the FDA, no one knows for sure what this even means…
  • Sulfates (sodium lauryl sulfate/sodium laureth sulfate)- lathering agents that cause some people skin irritation or trigger allergies; found in shampoo, conditioner, soaps, cleansers- basically anything with bubbles.
  • Mineral oil/petrolatum– smoothing agents in hair or moisturizing skincare products but actually block moisture penetration.
  • EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid)– binding agent commonly found in bar soaps and face masks; may be toxic to organs.
  • Talc/talcum powder– gives a smooth, powdery finish but has been linked to cervical cancer; found in almost any powder product.
  • Oxybenzone– sun protection ingredient but has been linked to cancer; present in most conventional sunscreens and beauty products with SPF.
  • Toluene, camphor, formaldehyde… common nail polish ingredients proven to cause cancer and/or birth defects in humans; read more on toxins specific to nail polish in my previous post.

2. Download the (FREE!) Think Dirty app.

Think Dirty is an app that pretty much does the above for you. Simply search for a product- any product, they cover so much more than beauty- and up it pops along with a rating 1-10 (1 being the “cleanest” and 10 being the “dirtiest”), also with an ingredient list telling you in depth which ingredients are potentially dangerous and why and what research supports/refutes the claim. The only downside to this app seems to be that it’s not exactly…up to date. Products get reformulated all the time, new products are released, but Think Dirty kinda seems about a year or two behind. However, it’s a fantastic start if you simply want a basic overview of how toxic a product might be. I try to avoid anything rated a 7 and above, and only use 4s-6s sparingly.

3. Patronize more non-toxic brands.

Now that more large companies are bandwagoning on the clean trend (sad that that has to be a special interest gimmick, isn’t it?), safer products are undoubtedly easier to get access to. But beware of products that brand themselves as “natural” (for which, in the USA, there is no legal definition or requirement for) and throw in a pinch of coconut oil or avocado on top of a bunch of otherwise crap ingredients merely in order to score points with consumers. Check those ingredients! Here are some clean (or clean-ish) beauty and skincare brands I’ve tried or wishlisted that are easy to score:

BONUS TIP: Use common sense.

Listen, the most important factor of a product is whether it does what you want it to. I don’t care if an item is totally organic, mixed up in your kitchen, and kissed by angels periodically- if it doesn’t work for you then there’s no point. It can be very, very difficult nowadays to have a 100% non-toxic collection (although not impossible, if you want to take on that challenge) of products throughout your house, and honestly…okay look, some products are just the GOAT, “dirty” or not. I own some products right now that are 9s and 10s on the Think Dirty scale but I keep them because they are literally the best I have ever, EVER tried (so far). But only a few; the goal is to minimize the amount of dirty products in your home, because I know it may seem pointless to haggle over what’s in your shampoo when these ingredients are in everything. However, I think we should take a stand for cleaner products and show these companies it is not okay for them to poison us and get paid for it.

It can take just 26 seconds for ingredients to sink into your skin- which has no backup processor for toxins unlike the digestive system- so anything that’s going to sit on it for long periods of time (lotions, antiperspirants, foundations/powders, sunscreens, perfumes, etc.) is obviously riskier for you than something that will be washed off quickly or that covers a small area (hand soaps, eyeshadows, body washes, shampoos, etc.) So buy what works for you first and foremost, but pick and choose wisely what you put your money towards that you work so hard for. Be an informed shopper. Challenge your favorite brands on social media for their ingredients. Buy more from brands that reflect your values when possible.

Every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of world you want.