You are working hard to become the healthiest version of yourself. You’ve started eating healthier, making better lifestyle choices, and exercising regularly. You’re taking control of your health, and you want your skin to reflect those decisions. But reading skincare ingredient labels can be confusing. How do you determine if your skincare products are compatible with your goals to be the healthiest version of yourself? 

Most abundant Ingredients First

First, the FDA requires cosmetic manufacturers to list ingredients in skin care products in order from the most to least abundant. However, this doesn’t mean they require all the ingredients in a product to be listed. For example, color additives and any ingredient that makes up less than 1% of the product do not have to be in descending order. The FDA also exempts certain ingredients from having to be disclosed to the public and allows them to be listed by manufacturers as “other ingredients.” This is one of the reasons why purchasing your skincare products from a company that shares your values is so important.

Active and Inactive Ingredients

Sometimes, skin care products contain ingredients that are considered over-the-counter (OTC) drugs by the FDA. Examples of this are sunscreen and dandruff shampoo. Products that claim to treat or prevent disease will have a label separating active ingredients (OTC drugs) from inactive ingredients (cosmetics). When you see this on a skincare label, know that active ingredients must be listed first and in alphabetical order instead of most to least abundant. This can be confusing, to say the least! There is no way to know how abundant the active ingredients are compared to the inactive ingredients.

Naming of Ingredients

Now let’s look at the actual ingredients. You are not alone if you find them hard to pronounce, difficult to recognize, and unsure how they will affect your health. Thankfully, there are helpful databases that have done a lot of the investigation work for you! One such site is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep DATABASE. Here, you can learn about the ingredients in your skincare products, find synonyms that are allowed to be used, and learn about their safety and precautions. Some companies try to hide harmful ingredients by using their synonyms on their ingredient labels to trick you into thinking their product is safe. An example of this is petroleum jelly. Some synonyms for this ingredient include mineral grease, petrolatum, and petrolatum amber (or white or yellow). You can see why a database with all of this information is invaluable!

Ingredients to Avoid

Another helpful resource is learning about the Dirty Dozen. Most people are familiar with the Dirty Dozen when shopping for Fruits and Vegetables, but the David Suzuki Foundation also compiled a list of cosmetic chemicals to avoid. This list includes BHA and BHT, Coal tar dyes, DEA-related ingredients, Dibutyl phthalate, Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, Parabens, Parfum, PEG compounds, Petrolatum, Siloxanes, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Triclosan. Phew!! That is a lot to remember! Find more in-depth information HERE.

We applaud and support your health journey! Hopefully, now you feel equipt to expand your healthy lifestyle by only purchasing products that support your values. At Simple Body, we are committed to providing products that not only leave you with glowing skin but don’t compromise your overall health in the process.

So, if you would like to buy our best, natural anti-aging cream, click HERE.

REFERENCES
David Suzuki Foundation. (2022). The dirty dozen cosmetic chemicals to avoid. Retrieved from:
https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/dirty-dozen-cosmetic-chemicals-avoid/
FDA. (March 17, 2022). Summary of cosmetics labeling requirements. Retrieved from
https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-labeling-regulations/summary-cosmetics-labeling-requ
irements#Cosmetic_Labeling