Toxic Skincare Ingredients To Avoid Bundle

Ingredients such as parabens, formaldehyde, and phthalates are unfortunately found in many of our skincare products today have been linked to some pretty serious health concerns such as cancer, hormonal imbalances (endocrine disruptors), and respiratory issues, just to name a few.

In this bundle, we expose the toxic skincare ingredients found in many skincare products. Share the images to educate your social media followers and help them make better, more non-toxic decisions when it comes to choosing their skincare products.

Inside The Bundle

The Toxic Skincare Ingredients To Avoid Bundle includes 20 beautiful pieces of visual content:

Image Content

1. PHTHALATES
   • Found In: Hair spray, hair gel, deodorant, lipstick, lotion, nail polish, fragrance, perfume, nail strengtheners, eyelash glue
   • Ingredients To Look For Phthalate, DBP, DEHP, DMP, DEP, with variations on dibutyl/diethyl ester or 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate, fragrance.
2. CHEMICAL SUNSCREENS
   • Found In: Sunscreens, creams, makeup and lip balms with SPF. Chemical sunscreens absorb the UV rays before they cause damage to the skin.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Padimate-O, PABA, octinoxate, benzophenone, oxybenzone, octyl-methoxycinnamate, homosalate. Generally speaking, if something doesn’t explicitly say that it is a mineral or physical blocker and claims to have SPF, it is a chemical sunscreen.
3. LEAD
   • Found In: Eyeliners, lipsticks, lip glosses, lip conditioners, and hair dye. It is usually found as a contaminant and will not be listed on labels. In 2009, the FDA conducted a study and found lead in all chemicals tested.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Thimerosal and variations. But again, they are usually not listed at all because it is a contaminant, not an ingredient.
4. 1,4-DIOXANE
   • Found In: Baby products, children’s bath products such as body soaps, baby shampoos and bubble bath, hair relaxers, curl creams, dyes, shampoo, sunless tanners, body lotions, detergents, and face creams.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Polyethylene, polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyoxyethylene, ethoxylated ingredients, sodium laureate sulfate, polysorbate, -eth – or oxynol-, oleths.
5. FORMALDEHYDE
   • Found In: Nail products, shampoos, hair dyes, antiperspirant, makeup, bubble bath, liquid baby soap, bath lotions, keratin hair treatments and other hair growth products. It’s used as a preservative to prevent bacteria from growing in water-based products.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Diazolidinyl urea, DMDM Hydantoin, quaternium -15, 2-bromo-2nitropropane-1,3 diol, imidazolidinyl urea, cormalin, formic aldehyde, sodium hydroxymethyl glycinate, methenamine, bronopol.
6. DIETHANOLAMINE (DEA)
   TRIETHANOLAMINE (TEA)
   MONOETHANOLAMINE (MEA)
   ETHANOLAMINE (ETA)
   • Found In: Wetting agents and emulsifiers in products such as facial cleansers, shampoos, hair dyes, hair relaxers and body wash.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Triethanolamine, TEA lauryl sulfate, cocamide DEA, Cocamide MEA, DEA-CETYL, phosphate, DEA oleth-3 phosphate, lauramide DEA, lin oleamide MEA, myristamide, DEA, Oleamide DEA, steramide MEA.
7. FRAGRANCE
   • Found In: Almost everything! It can be legally hidden because it is regarded as a “trade secret”.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Fragrance, Perfume, Parfum.
8. DIETHYLENE GLYCOL (DEG)
   PROPYLENE GLYCOL (PG)
   ETHYLENE GLYCOL
   POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL (PEG)
   • Found In: Fragrances, shampoo, baby washes, lotions, makeup, foundation and soaps.
   • Ingredients To Look For: The names listed above, 1-2 propanediol, variations on 1,2-dihydroxypropane and variations on methyl ethylene glycol.
9. MERCURY
   • Found In: Skin lightening creams and mascara.
   • Ingredients To Look For: Thimerosal is one thing you can look for. However, since Mercury is a contaminant you most likely won’t find it on a label.
10. MINERAL OIL
    • Found In: Creams and skin treatments.
    • Ingredients To Look For: White oil, liquid paraffin, pariffinum liquidum (Latin), and baby oil.
11. PARABENS
    • Found In: Nearly every type of cosmetics. It is estimated that parabens are in between 75% and 95% of all products.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Methyl/ethyl/ butyl/isobutyl/ propyl paraben, hydroxybenzoic acid, hydroxybenzoate or ester.
12. PHENOXYETHANOL
    • Found In: Many different products across the board. It is common to find it in face cleansers and lotions. It can also be used in fragrance. This preservative is an alternative to parabens and has become very popular with companies who are greenwashing their products.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Phenoxyethanol, 2-phenoxy, ethanol, 2-hydroxyethyl phenyl ether.
13. ALUMINUM SALTS
    • Found In: Antiperspirants used to help to kill bacteria that causes odor and seal the sweat glands.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Aluminum chloride, aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum hydroxybromide, and aluminum zirconium.
14. PETROLEUM DISTILLATES + SOLVENTS
    • Found In: Mascara and other makeup and skincare products.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Petroleum distillate, Stoddard solvent, light liquid paraffin.
15. P-PHENYLENEDIAMINE
    • Found In: Hair dyes, hair bleach, henna dyes.
    • Ingredients To Look For: 1,4-Benzenediamine, p-Phenylenediamine, 4-Phenylenediamine.
16. RETINYL PALMITATE
    • Found In: Makeup, skincare, self-tanners, sunscreens and skin creams.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Retinyl palmitate, axerophthol palmitate, hexadecanoate retinol, retinol palmitate, retinoil, hexadecanoate, vitamin A palmitate.
17. SILOXANES
    • Found In: Hair products, facial treatments, deodorants and skin creams.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Cyclomethicone and ingredients ending in “siloxane”.
18. SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE (SLES) + SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (SLS)
    • Found In: Shampoo, bubble bath, soap, body wash, toothpaste, face wash, mascara, conditioner, baby wash, exfoliants.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Sodium Lauryl/laureth sulfate, sodium salt sulphuric acid, sodium dodecyl sulfate, mono dodecyl ester, and other variations including sodium sulfate or sodium salt combined with other chemicals and PEG lauryl sulfate and variations.
19. TALC
    • Found In: Sunscreens, face powders, eye shadows, liquid powder and baby powder.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Talc, talcum powder.
20.  TOLUENE
    • Found In: Nail polish and nail hardener.
    • Ingredients To Look For: Toluene, toluol, fragrance, phenylmethane, methylbenzene.