Safety levels in lotions and potions

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posted: Jan 22nd, 2010
under: Daily Life

I finally caught up on reading back issues Experience Life Magazine and I came across an interesting article called Beauty Beware.

“99 percent of the chemical ingredients in personal-care products sold in the United States have never been tested for safety, despite research showing long-term health risks associated with some of these compounds. Here’s how to keep yourself looking great with safer, simpler, more natural ingredients.”

That statement pretty much sums the piece up. I’ve been spending so much time converting a lot of what I eat too whole/natural foods that it’s funny that I forgot about what I put on my body too. I went to the Skin Deep website and checked the safety levels of most all of the products I use. Wow, was I surprised by the chemical levels in things I use everyday, like face lotion and body wash. Egad. I had no idea.

I’m still working my through my product list but so far I’ve weeded out everything that falls in the 7-10 high hazard rage except hair dye. Not sure what I’ll do about that. Maybe try some natural henna? Who knows? Next I plan on using up what I have left that’s on the high end of moderate hazard. When they run low I’ll look at replacing them with something else. I’m not tossing everything since, you know, I’m not made of money. But my goal is to eventually move everything into that low end of the moderate level and below.

It’s been an interesting and enlightening process. That’s for sure

Here are some resources for more information:

WEB

Beauty Beware article
The Skin Deep Web site of the Environmental Working Group (www.cosmeticsdatabase.org) provides safety ratings for more than 50,000 specific products.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Web site (www.safecosmetics.org) features links to dozens of informative articles on personal-care products.
The Good Guide (www.goodguide.com) offers carefully researched ratings based on health, environmental and social responsibility, and more for over 70,000 products, including body care and cosmetics. Check out their free iPhone app for in-store help!
Organic Divas (www.organicdivas.com) features a large selection of nontoxic body-care products that have all been vetted for quality and safety.