7 Helpful Resources for Evaluating Personal Care Ingredients

More and more people are become aware of the plethora of toxic synthetic chemicals in their personal care products and are looking for safer alternatives.  Consumers are also becoming more and more frustrated with finding out that their trusted product that was supposed to be safe, really isn't.  One of the services I offer is to help people evaluate their products that they are using and find safer alternatives if what they've been using is no longer something their comfortable with.  I'm not always able to help someone one-on-one and sometimes people prefer to do the research themselves.  Therefore, I am often asked where people can find good information on ingredients in personal care products.

There is no one place that has all the information needed to evaluate ingredients.  There are several different resources I use, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, that together give a comprehensive information about the safety of personal care ingredients. 

1.  Cosmetics Database -  This is the first place most people start when researching products and ingredients.  It's a great resource, but I don't recommend using it as a sole resource as there are some serious flaws.  For instance, they list data gaps for ingredients, meaning a percentage that shows how much or little is known about the ingredient.  An ingredient that has a 100% data gap is given a safety score of "0" their safest score when it really should have "N/A" or something similar.  If a person only looks at the safety rating without reading the rest of the information, you could be using an ingredient that's not as safe as you think it is.  That being said, it's one of the best places to start when evaluating ingredients.

2.   Truth In Aging -  I stumbled up this site when googling ingredients.  I've repeatedly found great, through information about ingredients here.  I don't always agree with them 100%, but I always trust their research.  They do a very thorough job of researching ingredients.    

3.   Chemical of the Day - This is the blog of my friend Stephanie Greenwood, owner and formulator of Bubble and Bee Organic.  Stephanie's research is very thorough and she's not afraid to call companies out who are claiming ingredients are safe when they really aren't.  Stephanie's blog takes on whatever the hot chemical of the month is, making it very current.  I also like that she doesn't just take on dangerous chemicals.  She also writes about chemicals that are safe, and goes so far as to put up a diagram of the chemical structure of the ingredient.  Her blog is well regarded by many in the natural and organic personal care industry.

4.  The Dangerous Beauty Booklet - I love, love, love this booklet for 2 reasons. First, it's small enough to fit in my purse...which is where I often keep it so it's always with me when I'm at the store.  Second, it contains information that's hard to find elsewhere.  For instance, it's the only place I've been able to find good information about how titanium dioxide breaks down in the sun causing DNA damage.  It's very thorough, but very concise.  It's written by Dr. Peter Dingle.  He has a Bachelor of Education in Science, a Bachelor of Environmental Science with first class honors and a PhD. He also has more than 100 scientifically reviewed papers.  It is one of the best resources there is on toxic ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products.  

5.   Miessence Toxic Ingredient list  -  (I also have a .pdf document I frequently give out).  The information on this list comes directly from the MSDS sheets for the ingredients.  These are written by the manufacturers of the chemicals.  This information isn't comprehensive because of the laws about what does and does not have to be listed in an MSDS sheet.  However, what makes this information powerful is the fact that it comes DIRECTLY from the manufacturer.  Therefore, when the manufacturer lists health hazards and safety precautions, it's hard for people to argue with or claim the information is from a biased source.

6.  Good Guide - This is probably the resource from this list that I use the least.  What I like about it is they cover more than just personal care products.  I also like that people can review products so you get a better indication of how well the product works.  However, you can't look up individual ingredients, just products

It's unfortunate that we have to essentially have a chemistry degree to evaluate the products we bring into our home, but I find these resources very valuable in helping me do so.  None of these resources are comprehensive enough to serve as a stand-alone resource, but when put together you get a very complete picture of the safety or danger of most of the synthetic chemicals in today's cosmetics and personal care products.