Harmful Beauty Ingredients to Ditch

Beauty

For the last few years, I’ve been slowly but surely transitioning into only purchasing all natural skincare and make up products. And and although it’s been easier since there have been so many incredible all natural beauty brands pop up in the last few years, it’s always hard to find products and skincare brands you call in love with. To make it even more complicated, double checking to make sure your favorite products don’t have the harmful indredients is always important to keep your skin and makeup toxin free!

A few weeks ago I went to the new Credo Beauty store in Bucktown and learned all about the harmful skincare ingredients you should always avoid when looking for beauty and skincare products. Basically, you should always try to avoid these 5 things when looking at skincare and beauty products to make sure they’re worry-free!

  • Allergens: Ingredients that can cause an allergic reaction
  • Frank Carinogen: A single ingredient listed on an ingredient label that can lead to or cause cancer
  • Hidden Carcinogens: Ingredients that may, under certain conditions, have carcinogenic properties when combined with other ingredients in a product
  • Hormone Disruptor: Chemicals that may interfere with the body’s endocrine system that products adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects.
  • Penetration Enhancer: Ingredients that penetrate into skin to decrease the barrier to resistance.

When looking at specific products, here re the ingredients you should always avoid! I’ve been trying to keep tabs on checking all my old products and the new ones I’ve been buying too!

Cleaners:

  • Benzalkonium Chloride (allergen)
  • BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (Frank Carcinogen)
  • Coal Tar (Frank Carcinogen)
  • 1,4-Dioxane (Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Tetrasodium EDTA (ethylenediamineteraacetic acid tetrasodium salt) (Hormone Disrupter)
  • Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (FRPs) (Frank and Hidden Carcinogens)
  • Fragrance (Parfum) (Allergens, Hidden Carcinogen, Hormone Disruptor)
  • Ethanolamines (DEA/TEA/MEA/ETA) (hidden carcinogen, penetration enhancer)
  • Methyl Cellosolve (Hormone Disruptor)
  • Methylisothiazolinone (also known as MI or MIT) and methylchloroisothiazolinone (also known as MCI) (Penetration Enhancer, Allergen)
  • PEGs (polyethylene glycol) (Frank and Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Petroleum and mineral oil derived ingredients (Frank and Hidden carcinogen)
  • Parabens (Hormone Disruptor, Hidden Carcinogen)
  • SLS (Sodium lauryl sulfate) and SLES (Penetration enhancer, Allergen)
  • Triclosan (Penetration Enhancer, Allergen)

Color Cosmetics:

  • Oxybenzone (Allergen Penetration Enhancer)
  • BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (Frank and Hidden Carcinogen(
  • BPA (Frank and Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Coal Tar (Frank and Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Tetrasodium ETDA (Hormone Disrupter)
  • Ethanolamines (DEA/TEA/MEA/ETA) (Hidden Carcinogen, penetration Enhancer)
  • Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (FRPs) (Frank and hidden Carcinogen)
  • Mercury compounds (Thiomersal) (Frank and Hidden carcinogen)
  • Phthalates (Frank Carcinogen, Hormone Disrupter)
  • Parabens (Hormone Disrupter, Hidden carcinogen)
  • PEGs (polyethylene glycol) (Frank and Hidden carcinogen)

Creams and Lotions:

  • Benzalkonium chloride (Allergen)
  • BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (frank and Hidden carcinogen)
  • Coal Tar (frank carcinogen)
  • 1,4-Dioxane (Hidden carcinogen)
  • Ethanolamines (DEA/TEA/MEA/ETA) (Hidden Carcinogen and Penetration Enhancer)
  • Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (FRPs) (Frank and Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Methyl Cellosolve [Hormone Disrupter]
  • Methylisothiazolinone ( also known as MI or MIT) and methylchloroisothiazolinone ( also known as MCI) (Penetration Enhancer, Allergen)
  • Mercury compounds (Thiomersal) (Frank Carcinogen]
  • PEGs (polyethylene glycol) (Frank and Hidden carcinogen)
  • Parabens (Hormone Disrupter, Hidden carcinogen)
  • Petroleum and MIneral Oil derived ingredients (Frank and hidden Carcinogen)
  • Tetrasodium EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt) (Hormone Disruptor)

For Anti-Aging Products: 

  • Hydroquinone (Frank Carcinogen)
  • Methyl Cellosolve (Hormone Disruptor)
  • Mercury compounds (Thiomersal) (Frank Carcinogen)
  • Parabens (Hormone Disrupter, Hidden carcinogen)
  • PEGs (polyethylene glycol) (Frank and Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Petroleum and mineral oil derived ingredients (Frank and Hidden carcinogen)

Exfoliants and Masks:

  • 1,4-Dioxane (Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Tetrasodium EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt) (Hormone Disruptor)
  • Ethanolamines (DEA/TEA/MEA/ETA) (Hidden carcinogen, Penetration Enhancer)
  • Fragrance (Parfum) (hidden carcinogen)
  • PEGs (polyethylene glycol) (frank and Hidden Carcinogen)
  • Petroleum and mineral oil derived ingredients (Frank and Hidden carcinogen)
  • Parabens (Hormone Disruptor and Hidden Carcinogen)

Okay, I could go on forever, but if I’m missing any products you usually buy, check out the full list from Credo Beauty here! I’ve been trying my best to reference all the ingredients in the products I’ve been purchasing – and also making sure that they’re vegan whenever possible too!

My favorites as of late have been anything Tata Haper, One Love Organics and Cocovit – I’ve been trying to elicit some self control when it comes to buying skincare products, but I’m always a sucker for those brands 😉

Have any favorite all-natural beauty brands you swear by? I’m always willing to try something new over here!

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