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Okay, now that I’ve introduced you to the Environmental Working Group, I want to take some time to talk about one of their resources that I frequent weekly. Literally. Without it, I’d probably still be slopping chemicals on my face every day!

Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products. Their website reviews health and beauty products and rates them on a scale of 0-10 from low hazard to high hazard.

Head on over to Skin Deep and start playing around with some of the products you have in your house, I think you will be surprised what you find. Just now I put in ‘Johnson and Johnson Baby Lotion‘ because it was the first thing that came to my mind and baby lotion is definitely something you wouldn’t want to be rated on the high hazard side of the scale. It scored a 6 which is on the higher end of ‘moderate hazard’ which is not something I’d feel comfortable putting on my baby.

Now, there’s been a few times where I’ve gone to search something and they don’t have it! If this happens to you, don’t freak out! You can either:

1. Search by ingredient and find out what each ingredient is ranked OR
2. create your own ‘Personal Report’.

You do have to create an account, but it’s fast, free, and easy. Once logged in, just click on ‘Get a product report not located in Skin Deep’. From there, enter all of the information listed on the packaging of the product you are hoping to review exactly as listed. Sometimes you may have to tweak the way you enter the ingredients, but the website walks you through it, it’s great! Here is a product that I reviewed: Trader Joe’s A Midsummer Night’s Cream.  It came up a 4! Not terrible, but I’m really trying to stay away from Parabens, so I decided not to buy it.

The cool thing is, you can click on any of the ingredients and Skin Deep will tell you if it is a harmful ingredient to be using on your skin. It will also tell you why it’s harmful!

What’s great is that if you’re not searching for a specific product, you can search by category at the top of their home page. Sometimes, if I’m looking for a new beauty product, I’ll click on what I’m looking for (say nail polish for example) and then browse through the products that are rated low. I like to stay within the low hazard range (or 0-3 on their scale), but f I happen to have a product that I love that’s rated a 4, I don’t beat myself up. I LOVE when I find out a product that I use scored a 0 or a 1, it feels like I won a prize! For instance, I recently bought this Desert Essence Thoroughly Clean Face Wash and it’s only rated a 1 :) I love it!

So, if you’re anxious to go check out how all of your products rate, head on over to the Cosmetics Safety Database and check them out!

I know that it can be scary when you find out that some of your favorite health and beauty products are rated at the higher end of their scale. Don’t get upset and please do NOT just throw everything away so that you can run out and buy new stuff. Throwing it away is not very eco-friendly. When I first started  changing to a crunchy lifestyle, I just used up the products I had and as I ran out, I replaced them with healthier alternatives. By healthier I mean both to myself and the environment.  If you can’t wait, check out websites like Craigslist and Freecycle and give away your old products. You’d be amazed how many people will contact you for a listing for ‘Free Face Products.’

Also, check out their Shopper’s Guide to Safe Cosmetics which is another great tool to print off and take shopping as a reminder of what ingredients and products to avoid!

Posted on February 5, 2010 by thecrunchywife

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