Clean Beauty is one of the top growing trends in the overall Beauty category. So what exactly is it and why does it matter?
Clean Beauty is consciously made without ingredients shown or suspected to be harmful to use. As our knowledge and technology continues to improve, there is little excuse to continue making products with harmful ingredients.
It is hard to believe that conventional beauty brands would use harmful ingredients, particularly when we see them being shared by some of our most beloved actors and public figures, but it is still common practice. Currently in the United States there are 13 banned beauty ingredients, and that hasn’t changed since 1938. The FDA offers little oversight as to what ingredients can be included in beauty and self care products. Conversely, the European Standard bans over 1300 ingredients that are commonly found in our mascara, face wash, lipsticks and more.
Of these 1300 ingredients the main concern is that they are shown to be cancer causing and hormone disruptors making them even more of a concern to our teens and young adults.
Some of the big ingredients to look for:
Formaldehyde
These ingredients are used as preservatives and are a known cancer causer in humans. You will find it listed as one of the following in your products:
DMDM hydantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15, hydroxymethylglycinate, Bronopol, which is a trade name, which sometimes shows up as 2-Bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol. And then there’s a related compound, 5-Bromo-5-nitro-1,3-dioxane.
DEA, MEA and TEA
These ingredients interact with other ingredients and form a compound called nitrosamines, which are known human cancer causes. They are common in your persoanl care products as emulsifiers and to adjust the pH blanace
Styrene
This is a super common ingredient in fragrances and is a known human cancer causer. Manufacturers don’t need to list out fragrance as they are considered “proprietary”, so anytime you see the words “fragrance” or parfum” run as it is a cover up for all sorts of nastiness.
in addition to:
- BHA & BHT
- Chemical Sunscreens
- Ethanolamines
- Hydroquinine
- Mineral Oils
- Microplastics
- Petroleum
- Parabens
- Phthalates
- Propylene Glycol
- Sulfites
- Synthetic Fragrances
So What to Look For:
Companies that follow strict EU standards across all lines
Companies with Clinical Results
The company I love to share is Ever Skincare as they were first to market with a clean and clinical grade skincare line, trademarking the word *Cleanical
Even better you can take this quick Beauty Consult to determine your biggest areas of concern and how to best treat them
On the Watchlist:
BPA: “This is a tough one because it’s not on any list as a carcinogen, though there’s emerging research that certainly suggests that it is. We avoid BPA because of its hormone-disrupting nature. As far as being carcinogenic, though, it’s not one I’d put on the list just yet.”
PVC: “The same is true of PVCs—commonly found in products like toys and shower curtains—they’re on-deck to be added to the known carcinogen list.”
