Are your personal care products doing more harm than good?
If you’ve been tuning into my Tuesday Tips on Instagram, you know that I’ve been showcasing my favorite personal care products (example below). I’ve also written about my favorite sunscreens and moisturizers.
I have to tell you, all of these products have one thing in common. All are safer and cleaner for you! But some of you might be thinking…
Why Does It Matter If Products are Safe?
Many of the products that we use every day contain hidden chemicals that negatively impact our hormones and our reproductive health. For women of color, this issue is even more serious because (for a variety of reasons) we tend to use even more beauty products and thus are exposed to higher levels of chemicals known to be harmful to our health.
If you want to know more about this, go here to read an article titled “The Environmental Injustice of Beauty”. It was published by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2017, and the findings are just astounding.
During my Instagram Tuesday Tips, I’ve talked a lot about Beautycounter products, not only because I love them, but because the products are safer. The ingredients are fully disclosed and Beautycounter maintains a list of more than 1,800 questionable or harmful chemicals that they will never use as ingredients in any of their products. Further, they test their products rigorously before they ever come to market, and they are high-performing.
Before I dig deeper into this topic, let me address some common questions first!
Common Questions About Personal Care Products
These are products that you use on your body every day. They are products that you commonly use for skincare, makeup, lotions, shampoos, etc.
The simple answer is: not really in the United States. It’s perfectly legal for companies to use harmful ingredients in the products we use on our skin every single day. To date, the US only bans about 30 ingredients from personal care products. That number pales in comparison to the EU, which bans 1,400 ingredients.
There are a number of products that contain ingredients that have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption, infertility, and a number of health issues. For this reason, it’s important to be knowledgeable about what those ingredients are so you can recognize them and avoid them. See tip #1 below for a great resource you can use.
Everyone! Women, men and children use these products every single day.
3 Simple Ways to Evaluate Your Personal Care Products
So, I have three ways for you to ensure that your products aren’t doing more harm than good. Here they are:
- Become familiar with the toxic ingredients that you should avoid. Here’s a great resource for you. Download Beautycounter’s Never List here. This is a list of over 1,800 questionable or harmful chemicals that the company will never use as ingredients in their own products. This includes the 1,400 ingredients banned by the EU (mentioned above) plus additional concerning chemicals.
- Check out your own products! Start reading the ingredient labels of the products that you regularly purchase and use. Then, take a look at the Never List. Are some of those ingredients on the Never List?
- Consult with an independent resource. The Environmental Working Group is an independent organization that evaluates the toxicity of many popular personal care products on the market today. Their mission is to provide easy access to the information you need to make smart, healthy choices. You can check out their Skin Deep database.
And if you have any questions, just let me know! We can chat, leave a comment below, or send me an email.
I hope this has been helpful. Have a good one friends!
Mrs. Traylor is a Fitness Instructor, NASM Certified Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach, AFPA Certified Prenatal and Postnatal Fitness Specialist, wife, and momma who provides actionable advice for positive lifestyle changes with fitness, nutrition, and wellness. Read about Wendy’s inspiring entrepreneurial journey, and subscribe to Wendy’s newsletter here!
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