What to Avoid When Choosing Personal-Care Products

Every year we bring into our homes a multitude of products that contain ingredients we can't even pronounce, yet they are part of our everyday lives.  

Many times we take these products, such as cleaning supplies and personal care items, for granted. They serve a purpose, and we assume they are completely safe to use.  But more and more, we’ve finding that there are ingredients we should try to avoid using in our homes— not only because of the impact they may have on our families, but because of the impact they have on our environment when they leave our homes through water and trash.

My family and I use the Environmental Working Group as a resource when deciding what products we want to avoid and what we want to embrace. One thing to watch for are the words “natural” and “gentle.” Those words do not automatically mean a product isn’t full of questionable chemicals. 

The EWG points out, “Extra caution is in order for kids because, pound for pound, they are exposed to more contaminants in everyday products than adults.” 

The Environmental Working Group provides some easy steps for reading personal-care labels and what to avoid:

How to read a label
Every personal-care product must list its ingredients. Here's how to navigate the label:

• Start at the end, with preservatives. Avoid:
  • Words ending in "paraben"
  • DMDM hydantoin
  • Imidazolidinyl urea
  • Methylchloroisothiazolinone
  • Methylisothiazolinons
  • Triclosan
  • Triclocarban
  • Triethanolamine (or "TEA")

• Check the beginning of the ingredients lists, where soaps, surfactants and lubricants show up. Try to avoid ingredients that start with "PEG" or have an "-eth" in the middle (e.g., sodium laureth sulfate).
• Read the ingredients in the middle of the list and avoid products with these: "FRAGRANCE," "FD&C," or "D&C."

Follow EWG's top five tips for kids:

1. Use fewer products and use them less often.
2. Don't trust ad hype; check ingredients.
3. Buy fragrance-free products.
4. Avoid the use of baby powder.
5. Always avoid EWG's top six chemicals of concern for kids:

• 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3 Diol
• BHA
• Boric acid and sodium borate
• DMDM Hydantoin
• Oxybenzone
• Triclosan

The Environmental Working Group also provides a "safer shopping list," which covers many of the above tips, and a "what not to buy list,"  which includes specific products that have dangerous ingredients—such as traces of mercury and lead.

Local markets like Henry's often have personal-care-product sales that can help lower the cost of natural products.  It allows me to afford our favorite sunscreens and other products.  In some cases, I have to go online to find the more quirky alternatives, such as Piggy Paints, which is a natural line of nail polish for kids and adults. FYI—Nail polish has some of the harshest chemicals in use.  Piggy Paints likes to say its are as safe as mud.