Cosmetic Ingredients: The Naughty and Nice list
You can find organic and all-natural claims on just about anything. These words are sometimes used by companies to get people to buy their products, but they may be stretching the truth. Often-times companies are contradicting their own claims in unethical ways. This is called Healthwashing, and these labels don’t tell the whole story. The only way to really know if flashy claims are true is to look at ingredients. There are a few ingredients to avoid in your cosmetics and a few to look out for.
Naughty Ingredients:
Sulfates – Ingredients like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate that make shampoos and body soaps lather, have been shown to contain the carcinogens ethylene oxide and 1,4 – dioxane which can lead to cancer.
Fragrance – Synthetic fragrances are a cocktail of untested and unlabeled chemicals. Since fragrance is considered a trade secret, companies don’t label ingredients which that can damage skin and cause allergies. Even some unscented products contain fragrance, so read your labels. Look for products that are scented with essential oils, scents that are extracted directly from plants.
Parabens – Parabens have been shown to disrupt hormones. Hormone imbalances can lead to serious conditions like cancer, cause infertility, or early puberty in children.
Nice Ingredients:
Botanical Ingredients – these are plant extracts derived directly from flowers, plants, roots, leaves, nuts and berries, such as rosehip oil and shea butter. They have natural healing properties, contain antioxidants and do not damage our health.
Essential oils – essential oils, like lavender and peppermint, are naturally derived plant extracts. Many companies use them exclusively for adding fragrance to their products. Beyond scenting a product, many of these oils have properties that benefit skin.
Unrefined or Cold-Pressed oils – This describes the process by which the oil is extracted from the plant. When these processes are used it ensures that all of the beneficial properties of the oil remain intact.
And yep, you guessed it! Barefoot Naturals uses only botanical ingredients (zero synthetic ingredients), essential oils for those heavenly scents (no chemical fragrance), and unrefined, or cold-pressed oils in all of our products! For a more in-depth look at cosmetics and safe ingredients, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep site.
