 Many consumers are moving away from common skincare products because of the environmental and health impacts. Here are a few tips to help you to shop environmentally savvy.
First of all, make sure that when a product claims that it's natural, that it is truly natural. Toxic, synthetic chemicals are the biggest issues in the beauty industry today, so it pays to be conscientious when it comes to examining product labels. Unfortunately, the phrases hinting that something is natural are not regulated and are often just used for marketing. The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database rates popular cosmetics and personal-care products with hazard scores on a scale of 0 to 10. This can be a great resource.
Another issue is to avoid artificial fragrances. Federal law doesn't require companies to declare any of the dozens of toxic chemicals that a single product's fragrance mixture could contain. Artificial fragrances, which frequently contain phthalates, can also trigger allergic reactions and other health problems. When something has “parfum†or “fragrance†on the label, be cautious. Try to go for fragrance-free products instead. If you do want to have a scent, use products that only use essential oils for the scent.
Choose products that use minimal or recyclable packaging. You can never go wrong with glass or steel because they are recyclable and have no danger of leaching toxins into the product contained within. As far as plastics go, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (also known by the recycling code #1) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are most frequently accepted by municipal curbside recycling programs and are considered safe. Avoid containers that bear recycling code #3 and the letter "V", which refers to polyvinyl chloride or PVC. PVC poses great environmental and health hazards from the way it's manufactured to the way it is disposed. In addition to releasing hydrochloric acid, cancer-causing dioxins and other persistent pollutants into the several systems during its production, PVC also contains additives and chemical stabilizers such as lead or phthalates that can leach, flake or off-gas throughout its life.
Don't buy products using petrochemicals. Petroleum byproducts can be contaminated by cancer-containing impurities, but appear as common ingredients in shampoos, makeup and more. It is also a non-renewable resource. It appears on labels as petrolatum, mineral oil and paraffin and a variety of other names.
A truly good skin care company takes careful measures in choosing what goes into their products. Visiting a company's website can be very enlightening. EnviroCitizen.org suggests that you do some research prior to purchasing any products.
Check out EnviroCitizen.org's selection of environmentally-friendly skin care products.
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