Being a Food Babe doesn’t stop at food. Once you’ve understood what chemicals can do in your diet – The next logical step is to understand what other chemicals in your surroundings can effect your health. Ever thought about what toxins are lurking in the cosmetic industry? Why there are so many chemicals in your shampoo or toothpaste? Check out this video for a fabulous explanation of why:
I am a firm believer that if I eat the way I do, I can avoid the impact of most of the chemicals in my surroundings, but I also want to vote with my dollars and I refuse to buy products from companies that continue to pollute the environment and our bodies with loads of toxic substances. I also don’t like the idea that something I wash my face with can potentially cause cancer over time.
Yesterday I counted the number of cosmetic products I used from morning to night – My number was 15. I’d like all my Food Babe readers to do the same little exercise! Count the number of products you use in a 24 hour period. And report back here!
Please share the results in the comments section below or on my facebook page – I’d love to find out your number!
Next – do this crucial step to become educated about what is lurking in those beauty products. Check the list below to find out if any of your products contain these dirty dozen chemicals.
- BHA and BHT. Used mainly in moisturizers and makeup as preservatives. Suspected endocrine disruptors and may cause cancer (BHA). Harmful to fish and other wildlife.
- Coal tar dyes: p-phenylenediamine and colours listed as “CI” followed by a five digit number. Look for p-phenylenediamine hair dyes and in other products colours listed as “CI” followed by five digits.1 The U.S. colour name may also be listed (e.g. “FD&C Blue No. 1″ or “Blue 1″). Potential to cause cancer and may be contaminated with heavy metals toxic to the brain.
- DEA-related ingredients. Used in creamy and foaming products, such as moisturizers and shampoos. Can react to form nitrosamines, which may cause cancer. Harmful to fish and other wildlife. Look also for related chemicals MEA and TEA.
- Dibutyl phthalate. Used as a plasticizer in some nail care products. Suspected endocrine disrupter and reproductive toxicant. Harmful to fish and other wildlife.
- Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. Look for DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, methenamine and quarternium-15. Used in a variety of cosmetics. Slowly release small amounts of formaldehyde, which causes cancer.
- Parabens. Used in a variety of cosmetics as preservatives. Suspected endocrine disrupters and may interfere with male reproductive functions.
- Parfum (a.k.a. fragrance) Any mixture of fragrance ingredients used in a variety of cosmetics — even in some products marketed as “unscented.” Some fragrance ingredients can trigger allergies and asthma. Some linked to cancer and neurotoxicity. Some harmful to fish and other wildlife.
- PEG compounds. Used in many cosmetic cream bases. Can be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which may cause cancer. Also for related chemical propylene glycol and other ingredients with the letters “eth” (e.g., polyethylene glycol).
- Petrolatum. Used in some hair products for shine and as a moisture barrier in some lip balms, lip sticks and moisturizers. A petroleum product that can be contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which may cause cancer.
- Siloxanes. Look for ingredients ending in “-siloxane” or “-methicone.” Used in a variety of cosmetics to soften, smooth and moisten. Suspected endocrine disrupter and reproductive toxicant (cyclotetrasiloxane). Harmful to fish and other wildlife.
- Sodium laureth sulfate. Used in foaming cosmetics, such as shampoos, cleansers and bubble bath. Can be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which may cause cancer. Look also for related chemical sodium lauryl sulfate and other ingredients with the letters “eth” (e.g., sodium laureth sulfate).
- Triclosan. Used in antibacterial cosmetics, such as toothpastes, cleansers and antiperspirants. Suspected endocrine disrupter and may contribute to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Harmful to fish and other wildlife.
Source – David Suzuki More details on these chemicals can be found here
Ok so a lot your products have this sh&* in them – what do you do? Be a Drug Store Beauty Drop Out!
*Apologies for the cursing – when I get mad I like to curse. It’s something I need to work on 
Food Babe’s Tips: How to be a Drug Store Beauty Drop Out
- Stop going to the drug store to buy your cosmetics – This may seem a little extreme – but this is probably your best way to avoid the dirty dozen.
- Shop in organic and natural grocery stores to look for new products – or even your pantry! Use oatmeal & salt for a body scrub, coconut oil to remove eye makeup and olive oil as moisturizer.
- Adopt a minimalist approach to your beauty regime – do you really need to coat your hair in a chemical bath of 5 different products every day? Think about the money you would save if you just used one or two safe products?
- Find brands that are committed to safe cosmetics at this site and stick with them.
- Use this tool at EWG to rate your current products and find new ones that are safe.
- Order products on the internet – I do this so I don’t have to search around town or go to multiple places to find my staples. This saves me money and time. I like Lucky Vitamin and Vitamin Shoppe for this and they have free shipping.
- Read magazine’s like Whole Living, Natural Health, and Alive for new product reviews that would be safer than the ones advertised in magazine’s like Glamour, Self, Men’s Health and Allure.
- Jillian Michaels is a huge support of natural beauty and cosmetics products – check out the ones she likes here
- I’ve been through a load of natural products – some are great – some not so great. Shop at stores like Sephora that allow you to bring back a product if it doesn’t suit you.
- A few times a week, give your face a rest. Spend a couple of days without makeup and allow your skin to naturally be rejuvenated – I do this almost every Sunday!
Don't fall into the trap of seeing celebrities wear certain brands of makeup - Revlon is one of the worst! Many of their products and other brands you see at your local drug store contain the dirty dozen beauty chemicals.
Ordering my goods at Lucky Vitamin and Vitamin Shoppe for the next couple of months!
No makeup Sunday!
Later this week I’ll share some of my favorite beauty products in a video post! Stay tuned!
Great post! I counted….and as it turns out I use a lot.
1. Aveda Shampoo
2. Aveda Conditioner
3. Dove Soap
4. Origins Facial Cleanser (Checks & Balances in AM, Perfect World PM)
5. Origins Toner
6. Origins Plantscription Serum
7. Origins Brighter by Nature facial cream by day, Origins Starting Over cream by night
8. Origins Youthtopia eye cream by night, Origins Ginzing eye cream by day
9. Burts Bees chapstick
10. Bare Minerals Powder
11. Neutrogena concealer
12. Bare Minerals Mineral Veil
13. Origins Mascara Beyond the Fringe
14. Origins Rich Rewards Hair Treatment 1x week
15. Origins Modern Friction 3x week
16. Origins Precipitation Lotion all over 2x day
Apparently, I am obsessed with Origins. My step-mother got me into them as they are all organic and have good business practices. Now my whole bathroom is full of them!
http://www.origins.com/customer_service/aboutus.tmpl#/Landing
Wow – Thanks for listing all of your products Alyssa – it’s fascinating to know how many products us ladies use on a daily basis! I’ll have to check out Origins next time I am at the mall
I’ll be changing as soon as I get home (real home, i’ve been on vacation for 4 months). Here are my current daily things and I starred the ones i’ll be changing asap
1. Pantene Shampoo *
2. Dove Conditioner *
3. Dove Deep moisture body wash *
4. Philosophy face cleanser *
5. Arm and Hammer Toothpaste
6. Crest Mouthwash
7. does floss count as a beauty product? haha
8. Philosophy Moisturizer
9. Sephora Eyeliner
Ashley – Good luck with all the changes! Hope you find my most recent post helpful on natural skin care products – http://foodbabe.com/2011/08/09/so-fresh-and-so-clean-skin-care-tips/
Food babe! I miss you … Let’s get together over a fabulous meal at Luna’s ASAP. I am searching on your blog for the EWG app for iPhones. I thought I remember you sayIng something about one. Is that true?
Have you looked into The Honest Company’s (www.honest.com) products? I like the idea of one stop shopping and the price point is good. Just want to make sure before I buy!
For completely chemical free hair dye, I use henna and indigo at http://www.hennahut.com. They also have a shampoo and conditioner that is excellent and 100% chemical free. There are absolutely no preservatives in their products just fresh natural plant ingredients. I have found that many natural or organic products still have chemicals. Everyone should check them out. http://www.hennahut.com
They don’t sell any products in retail stores because with the lack of preservatives, the products must be used within a year.
Hi Renee,
Tell me more! I’ve always been curious about natural hair color because I get my hair colored so often and I worry about the chemicals! You have used it? Easy to apply? How long does it last? Thanks!
Can you please share with us all the products you use? That would be very helpful! I have acne and had recently tried using all natural products and essential oils. Not working yet…ok currently trying pratima skin care
Hi Food Babe! I had a facial which felt wonderful yesterday, but this morning I woke up with a red, itchy, swollen face. I switched to organic/chemical free face products a couple of years ago and I must be really sensitive now to whatever “crap” they used on my face. Any natural remedies/suggestions to help ease the swelling/itching/redness on my face without using Benadryl? No more facials for me unless I have approved each product they put on my skin. Lesson learned. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!
Hi, I started using Bareminerals years ago because it was supposed to be natural and good for me. As I am clicking on all the link to the other sites, no one has recommended Bareminerals. Do you have any input?
Thank yoU!
I have psoraisis and have used Tgel for years. That is coal tar and is obviously bad for me. Any ideas on a natural product that would alleviate my psoriasis?
I wash my face with water-like my 84 year old mother always did, use homemade toothpaste-she used baking soda, am using little samples of shampoo and conditioner, until I decide which homemade method to use for my hair-which is short. I occasionally use Curel hand lotion. I want to find a home version of a bath gel, but don’t have that figured out yet. I use very little make-up…a bit of blush or rouge-yes, I am old-fashioned, eye brow pencil, and lip gloss or lipstick. I go to the gym a lot in the morning, so don’t usually wear make-up there. I am 64 and don’t work away from home, so don’t use make-up very often. (Sorry about the long sentences that are probably very incorrect grammatically!)
The biggest item I use a lot of, is chapstick or lip gloss, because I am always dry in SoCal! I have a recipe to make my own that I want to try. But I just found an organic version of softlips-chai tea flavor, at the 99cent store! I was so excited! It’s the little things!
Oh my gosh, Food Babe, you are beautiful without make-up. I’d never wear it if I looked like you!
Hi Food Babe. Do you have any comments about this deodorant? Is it safe?
http://www.greenvirginproducts.com/mineral-salts-deodorant-stone-4-25-oz-120-grams/?gclid=CIC6z47Kz7YCFUdU4Aodlm8ACQ
thanks,
Hi Terri, the most worrisome ingredient in antiperspirants is the aluminum and this one is aluminum free so it should be fine. It is a good idea to check the dirty dozen cosmetic list to make sure none of these chemicals are in your products.
http://foodbabe.com/2011/07/31/how-to-find-safe-beauty-products/
Here is another one. They also make roll-ons and sprays. Any comments?
http://livesuperfoods.com/crystal-deodorant-rock-unscented.html
I just started using Kiss My Face’s Natural Active Life deodorant, which works well and has a really nice, almost incense-like smell, without any aluminum, parabens or artificial fragrance. But… the first ingredient is propylene glycol, which was mentioned under #8 above. Is there any way to determine if it’s contaminated? Is there a concern for the environment with it’s use in cosmetics? I did a quick read up on wikipedia, and it didn’t set off any alarms.
Hi Laura, I would avoid propylene glycol. Kiss my Face has some great products but you really have to check each individual product for the dirty dozen chemicals. Everything in a specific line might not be clean.
I’ve been going through the EWG’s Skin Deep website to see how the products I normally use rate, and I’ve noticed that some companies (like Revlon) have quite a few products with 1-3 ratings. Not of all them of course, but the drugstore concealer, mascara and lipsticks I use are all rated low to medium hazard, whereas Bare Minerals foundations all rate a 7 (high hazard) as do some of Tarte’s products. I was just wonder how you reconcile these types of rating with the desire for natural/organic/vegan products. I’m trying to switch over to all-natural and the conflicting information is making my head spin!