Read the Ingredients: Check Your Beauty Products for these 4 Chemicals

It’s 2008……..

I’m out shopping with my mom and I ask her if we can get a box of Pop Tarts. “Read the ingredients. If there’s food coloring in there, it’s a no.”

Despite my frustrations with her rigid restrictions, my mother taught me a valuable lesson: whether it was sheets, clothes, food or beauty products, we analyzed and critiqued the ingredients in everything. This has helped me thrive as a consumer. Not only do I know how to find the highest quality products, but I have removed all harmful chemicals from my beauty routine.

“100% Natural,” “Sustainable” and “Pure” are labels that get slapped on products to trick consumers into making purchases they feel good about. Spending up to $3,765 a year on beauty products, American women have taken the brunt of these greenwashing marketing tactics. Attractive branding and shallow labels cannot be trusted, we need to get to the nitty gritty of the ingredients to know a product. From lotions to lipsticks, women are unknowingly stocking their cabinets and smearing their skin with harmful, hormone disrupting chemicals. Oftentimes these chemicals are hard to pronounce, and even harder to remember. In this article, I will break down four of the most harmful chemicals that you will be shocked to find in some of your favorite beauty products.

Fragrances and perfumes

If you see “Fragrance” or “Parfum” listed on the back of a product, it often indicates that there is a cocktail of chemicals hidden within that one word ingredient. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966 allows for this loophole because it protects the intellectual property of fragrance producers. But companies use this trade secret to their advantage. They hide toxic ingredients in products, without delineating them, and write them off as “Fragrance.”

One of these hidden ingredients are phthalates, a xenoestrogen (xeno=foreign) used in the plastics industry that mimics the body’s natural estrogen. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that shift in ratio as a female body (in its reproductive years) cycles through the four hormonal phases (follicular, ovulation, luteal and menstruation). Phalatates confuse the estrogen to progesterone ratio by making the body appear estrogen dominant. This confuses the natural sequencing of the hormonal phases and builds up excess estrogen in the body.

Estrogen dominance is widespread among modern women and is the root cause of disorders such as PMS and PCOS. It is so crucial to get all xenoestrogens out of your house, so that your body can recall its own hormonal queues. Musk is another toxic, fat-soluble chemical that interferes with hormone balance. When the body is estrogen dominant, and the liver is backed up trying to detox excess estrogen, fat-soluble chemicals get stowed away until they can be taken care of. (This is why many women have a hard time losing weight! Their bodies are resistant to burning off fat that will release toxins and put more pressure on an already belabored detox system.)

Why are FD&C Colors and Pigments harmful?

FD&C Blue #1 and D&C Red #3 are examples of synthetic colors found in toothpastes, makeup, body washes and even lotions. These colors make products more appealing to consumers and give makeup its striking, attractive hues. Non-toxic minerals can be used to create pigments, but oftentimes the boldest and longest lasting pigments are derived from petroleums or tars that contain heavy metals. Prolonged exposure of these metals on the skin or lips increases the risk of heavy metal build up in the major organs.

When the color is followed by the word “Lake,” it indicates that the compound has bonded with aluminum to make it seal to the skin. Red dye lake is associated with disrupting the correspondence between thyroid hormones. The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland located on the neck that regulates metabolism, body temperature, energy levels and menstruation. Women are five to eight times more likely than men to develop a thyroid disease. Red dye lake is known to intercept and block the transformation of T4 hormones into T3 hormones. T3 is not only responsible for regulating the functions of the thyroid, but also produces follicular cells — a precursor for ovulation and fertility health.

What are sulfates, and why are they harmful?

Sulfates give shampoos, soaps and pastes the frothing, spreadable texture that our bathrooms know so well. Also called surfactants, the most common ones you will find in products are sodium laureth sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate. Sodium lauryl sulfate has been used to degrease cars because of its aggressive ability to strip oil.

This same chemical is used in our beauty products to bind water and oil, and strip the oils and proteins off the surface of our skin. This chemical has a history of causing eye irritation and skin inflammation. Similar to fragrances, sulfates are xenoestrogens that confuse our hormonal rhythms. Sulfates attach to estrogen receptors in the body, leading to menstrual dysregulation and fertility issues. Sulfates have also been associated with gene mutation, chromosomal defects and cancer.

What are parabens, and why are they harmful?

Oftentimes beauty products contain unstable ingredients, such as contaminated tap water, or active botanicals that reduce the shelf life of a product. Parabens are used for their antibacterial, antifungal preserving properties. Methylparabens, propylparaben and butylparaben are among the most popular parabens found in beauty products. Similar to most chemical culprits in this article, parabens are xenoestrogens.

Some parabens such as polyparaben are known to alter gene expression and switch on cancer cells. Parabens are not yet confirmed to cause breast cancer, but in a 2004 study they were found in over 90% of breast tumors. It is often argued that parabens are only added to products in very small amounts (between .001-.004), however research proves they can penetrate the skin, and build up in the body after long periods of exposure.

Time to clean up your beauty routine…..

Now it’s time to survey your home for these toxic ingredients. My advice is to avoid getting overwhelmed if you find these chemicals in all of your favorite beauty products. Pat yourself on the back for taking the necessary first step of educating yourself, so that you can make more informed decisions in the future. Start by replacing one product at a time, starting with the products you use daily, that are not washed off the skin (hello moisturizers!).

Many products these days promote being paraben, sulfate and phthalates free; but don’t get fooled by labels on the front, flip that product over and read the entire ingredients list. Look for organic botanicals instead of fragrances, and pure oils instead of water and oil combinations. If you want to save money and make your own non-toxic products, check out my article on homemade beauty products.