Thursday, September 19, 2013

EWG's Skin Deep Database & My Bathroom Cabinet

Are you familiar with the Environmental Working Group's "Skin Deep" Database?  It's a website (and soon to be an app) that contains ratings of beauty/skincare/personal products and the chemicals they contain, giving each product a safety ranking, from 0 (low hazard) to 10 (high hazard).

For most of my life, I've just assumed that if products are sold in stores, they're safe.  In reading my hippie books, subscribing to green living blogs, and hanging out at my local food co-op, I've decided that I want to be more careful about the products I slather, dab, and splash on every day.  It started when I was pregnant and began to worry about what chemicals my body was absorbing from sunscreen, bug spray, perfume, etc and what bebe would be getting in his system as a result.

Here's a look at my day to day products and which ones need to be replaced with a better option:


I've been using the Honest Company's shampoo and conditioner and love them.  Luckily, they rate well (shampoo is a 1, conditioner is a 2).  My beloved Kiehl's facial cleanser isn't too bad either at a 3 (moderate).


I  rarely rarely rarely wear makeup besides mascara (mostly because I'm lazy and don't usually have anywhere makeup worthy to go), but I had a feeling my makeup bag was toxin filled.  MAC foundation (4), MAC eye shadow (4), and Clinique eye shadow (4) aren't so bad.  My Chanel perfume ranks in at 6 and the Bliss "No Zit Sherlock" comes in at 5.  Considering how infrequently I use any of this stuff, I'm not too worried about the toxicity but will replace them with better ranked products as they run out.


The products I use every day sit out on my sink (this sort of looks staged, but I really just don't put things away).  The Jason deodorant is a 5, which surprised me.  Isn't this supposed to be "all natural"?  Time to start making my own, for sure.  My mainstay cheap-o Maybelline mascara and the Method hand soap both rate 4 which isn't terrible but I'd like to bring those numbers down.  Luckily, you can search by category for products that score better to replace the ones you're concerned about.  And you can believe I was patting myself on the back pretty hard when I realized that my toothpaste clocked in at a 1.

Am I being an alarmist by worrying about this?  Possibly.  But there are so many toxins and chemicals and contaminants that I come into contact with every day that I CAN'T control, so I figure I might as well stay on top of what I can.  What do you think?  Any suggestions on products that rank low?  Any products you are choosing to replace?  Let us know!

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