Personal care products like soaps, shampoos, lotions, cosmetics and deodorants help us maintain healthy skin by inhibiting harmful microbial growth and providing adequate hydration support. Unfortunately, they also contain chemicals which could potentially be detrimental to both our health and environment.
Although some products are regulated as drugs by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), others fall under cosmetics category without as rigorous of review – meaning potentially harmful chemicals could potentially hide behind terms like fragrance and flavorings.
Preservatives
Preservatives protect personal care products from bacteria, fungus and mold growth that could wreak havoc with your health. Without preservatives in personal care products, they would quickly spoil and make you sick. While certain natural ingredients such as vitamin E and rosemary extract have been touted as natural preservatives, they don’t actively work against spoilage; rather they act as antioxidants which slow oxidation so oils don’t go rancid as quickly and lose color or scent as quickly.
However, if you prefer more natural solutions to preservatives for protecting your products against contamination. Glyceryl caprylate, a skin-care ingredient, can increase antimicrobial activity by allowing organic acids and preservatives to penetrate bacterial and fungal cell membranes and work their magic against infection. This synergistic combination was highlighted in a study that evaluated the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of five multifunctional ingredients–sodium coco PG-dimonium chloride phosphate; raspberry ketone; ricinoleic acid: palmitoleic acid and sorbitan caprylate–and their respective combinations to treat Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergillus brasiliensis.
Fragrances
Fragrance chemicals are used in many personal care products to enhance their aroma, mask unpleasant odors, and provide an overall better product experience. While most fragrance chemicals are synthetic in origin, others come directly from plants – these natural or botanical varieties may offer greater scent complexity and quality.
Fragrances are highly volatile compounds that quickly evaporate at skin temperature when products are applied, dispersed into the air by inhalation, and used as fragrances in products. Each fragrance consists of hundreds of chemical components; some may act as hormone disruptors, carcinogens or allergens and lead to contact dermatitis in some individuals.
Fragrance ingredients don’t often appear on ingredient lists as they’re considered trade secrets, so to ensure they’re free from fragrance chemicals of concern look for products with the EWG VERIFIEDTM mark.
Scents
Scent-ed beauty and personal care products can create the desired impression, such as creating an invigorating citrus fragrance for soap or perfume, or an aromatic spa-like experience through body lotion. However, synthetic fragrances used in such products often contain hundreds of chemicals; their contents are rarely listed on ingredients labels due to being trade secrets. Fragranced products include perfume, cologne, aftershave, deodorant hairspray body spray and shampoo; those free from added fragrances should include those marked EWG VERIFIED as EWG standards will have no trade secrets ingredients and contain no EWG chemicals of concern such as those listed by Skin Deep database search or products bearing EWG VERIFIED mark for best results.
Chemicals
Shampoo to deodorant and makeup to sunscreen are among the many everyday beauty and personal care products used on skin, hair, nails and external genital areas – yet these items contain harmful substances including carcinogenic ones and those which disrupt hormone balance.
Chemicals produced during manufacturing or use may be released into the air, contaminating the environment and washing into sewers where they accumulate with sewage sludge to then end up entering food chains as contaminants.
Personal care products, unlike drugs, are not subject to regulation by government agencies before being sold on the market. Companies also don’t need to disclose all ingredients on their labels – enabling companies to hide potentially hazardous ones under “fragrance” or “natural fragrance,” leaving even savvy consumers unaware that their lotions, soaps and hair dyes contain toxic toxins with long-term health ramifications. To stay safe it is wise to read labels of your favorite products carefully in order to select those with transparent ingredient lists and full lists.
