Cosmetic Ingredients Guide: The Most Toxic Offenders

Cosmetic Ingredients: A Guide to the Worst Offenders

Are there toxic ingredients in your personal care products? Indeed! Learn some of the worst cosmetic ingredients found in your everyday products.

Ever looked at the ingredient label on your shampoo or lotion? If you have, and if you’re one of the 99.99999% of the world without a Ph.D in chemical engineering, you might have been confused. Or at least concerned. Cosmetic ingredients can be dizzying unless you know what all of those chemicals are.

Maybe you just shrugged and assumed that the FDA is vetting those cosmetic ingredients. I won’t beat around the bush on this. Unfortunately, they are NOT.

The FDA is the agency that works on regulatory oversight for the personal care industry, and it’s made up of representatives from the companies themselves. A conflict of interest, perhaps? The truth is that there’s very little testing on cosmetic ingredients.

From DMDM Hydantoin to Polysorbate Acetone to Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, there’s a whole pile of petrochemical derived stuff in products we use on our bodies every day. The FDA has allowed this to happen. For more information about the ineffectiveness of the FDA, check these articles:

+ FDA testing on chemical ingredients: are we safe?

+ Personal Care Ingredients to Avoi

You an also watch the super informative video Story of Cosmetics with Annie Leonard, which explains the lack of regulation in a cute little cartoon.

Here at Vibrant Wellness Journal we’ve spent a lot of time researching the toxic cosmetic ingredients. We created this guide to share that information with you in a digestible way. The following guide will help you quickly find the worst of the worst ingredients and chemical offenders. If you’re shopping for deodorant, for example, you can quickly scan for the worst chemical ingredients .

We hope you find this useful! Please share on Facebook or your other favorite social media! Your friends and family will thank you… and so will we! We’ve also added a downloadable version of this guide, so you can bring it with you everywhere.

>> Click here to download our printable Cosmetic Ingredients Guide.

Personal Care Product	Ingredient of Concern	Health Concerns
Soap	Triclosan	Probable carcinogen Read more on Triclosan here
	Triclocarban	Thyroid and endocrine disruption Read more on Triclocarban here
	1-4 dioxane	Probable carcinogen
	Bronopol	Thyroid disruption
Deodorant & Antiperspirant	Aluminum ______	Alzheimer’s
	Fragrance	Who knows?! “Fragrance” is a catchall for >2000 types of chemicals Read more on fragrance here
Lip balm	Retinyl palmitate	Facilitates cancer cell growth when exposed to sun
	Retinol	Facilitates cancer cell growth when exposed to sun
	“Vitamin A”	Facilitates cancer cell growth when exposed to sun
Sunscreen	Oxybenzone	Probable carcinogen
	Aerosol spray of any kind	Chemical inhalation hazard for yourself and others around you
	Benzalkonium or Benzethonium chloride	Endocrine and immune system disruption
	Retinyl palmitate, retinol, “Vitamin A”	see Lip balm, above
Toothpaste	Triclosan	see Soap, above
Shampoo	PEG, Ceteareth, or polyethylene	Endocrine Read more on PEGs here
	Parabens	Brain/nervous system. Also probably carcinogenic Read more on parabens here
	DMDM Hydantoin	Allergy and immunotoxicology
Dandruff shampoo	Selenium sulfide, ketoconazole, salicylic acid, coal tar	Known carcinogens
	Lead	Brain/nervous system damage
	Phenacetin	Probable carcinogen
Hair spray	nitromethane	Probable carcinogen
Cosmetics	Parabens	Brain & Nervous system damage, carcinogenic
	SLS (sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate)	Opens pores to allow greater absorption of other chemicals Read more on sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate here
	DEA, as cocamide or lauramide	Become carcinogenic if mixed with nitrosating agents. Which are….?? Read more on DEA here
	BHT, BHA	Banned in the EU
	Quaternium 15, Imidazolidinyl Urea, MEA, TEA	Form nitrosamines!
Moisturizer	Benzalkonium or benzethonium chlorides	Endocrine and immune disruption
	1,4 Dioxane	Probable carcinogen
	Petrolatum	Banned in the EU.
	Bronopol	Endocrine & Immune disruption
Nail stuff	Formaldehyde, formalin, toluene	Possible carcinogens Read more on formaldehyde in personal care here
Anti-aging stuff	Bronopol, SLS, propylene glycol, alpha and beta hydroxy acids, glycolic acid	Endocrine and immune disruption, among others
Diaper cream	BHA, Boric acid, sodium borate, DMDM hydantoin, fragrance, Bronopol	All sorts of bad outcomes!
Acne treatments	Parabens, triclosan	Probable carcinogens
	PEG, Ceteareth, Polyethylene
Perfume	“Fragrance”	Who knows?? See deodorants, above
	diethyl phthalate, oxybenzone	Probable carcinogens Read more on phthalates here
Aftershave	Oxybenzone	Probable carcinogen
	PEG, ceteareth, polyethylene, parabens	…..
Shaving cream	Triclosan	Probable carcinogen
	DMD hydantoin, PEG, Ceteareth, polyethylene	Allergy and other symptoms
Dental floss	PTFE, PFC	Bioaccumulate, likely human carcinogens
Painkillers	Parabens	Brain & nervous system, probable carcinogens
	Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate	Found in Advil
	PEGs, artificial colors	Found in Motrin

photo credit: LaVladina via photopin cc

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