How To Find Safe Cosmetics
Using safe cosmetics is very important to your health. Many experts consider it as important as choosing organic and pesticide-free foods. The amount of information available on the safety of cosmetics is overwhelming, and consumers might have a hard time knowing how to find safe cosmetics to use. Read along for some tips to help you in your search.
- Check the safety of the products you love. Check out the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep cosmetics safety database. This is an easy-to-use online database that ranks specific brands on a safety scale of one to ten.
- Read labels carefully. You will notice that many cosmetic and personal care items have ingredients that you cannot easily identify. Many cosmetics contain ingredients that are known to cause cancer, birth defects and organ toxicity, among other problems. The FDA does not regulate cosmetic companies and their use of chemicals. It is up to the manufacturer to choose the ingredients that they use in their products. Consumers must read labels to know what ingredients their favorite products contain.
- Beware of products that are labeled "organic" and "all natural." In many cases, these products also contain harmful ingredients and chemicals. Again, it is important to read the labels of these products just as you would any other product.
- Avoid fragrances. When you are shopping for cosmetics, choose products that are fragrance-free. Fragrances contains hundreds of chemicals that can disrupt the body's natural hormone levels. It is much safer to choose fragrance-free products, or products that contain natural fragrances such as essential oils.
- Choose to use fewer products that contain simple ingredients. The best way to avoid unnecessary chemical exposure is to simply use fewer products. For the products that you cannot do without, choose brands that contain simple ingredients.
- Avoid top safety offenders. There are many products that are considered to be unsafe, and you should avoid the use of these products if at all possible. These include anti-aging creams with lactic, glycolic, AHA and BHA acids, hair dyes, skin lighteners and heavily scented products.