How to read labels

In my last post i talked about what ingredients to stay away from. When you look at labels, i'm sure you are overwhelmed. The list of ingredients is usually very long, the print is usually very tiny, and you usually can't pronounce at least half of them. I swear they do this on purpose so we cant read them!

I found this website, Environmental Working Group (EWG) Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. EWG Skin Deep is an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care items. Skin Deep launched in 2004 to help people find safer products with fewer ingredients that are hazardous or that haven't been fully tested.

Skin Deep assesses over 70,000 personal care products using the most reputable science sources. They assign each product a score from 0-10 (10 is most toxic). The rating system offers three categories, low hazard ingredients, moderate hazard ingredients, and high hazard ingredients. Low hazard ingredients range from 0-2 on the scale and show up in green. Moderate hazard ingredients range from 3-6 on the scale and show up in orange. High hazard ingredients range from 7-10 on the scale and show up in red.

Not every single product is in the database. EWG expands Skin Deep with thousands of new products every year, but they can't evaluate every product on the market. It's still a great website and excellent resource.

You can manually type in the product to find it's rating right on their website www.ewg.org/skindeep

You can also download the free app http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/app. The app allows you to use a bar code scanner and actually scan products in the store before you purchase.

I will never forget the day I was in Sephora scanning away at some face cream in the back. I saw one of the girls that worked there watching me. At first I panicked. Is she going to say something to me for scanning products? Is that not allowed? Come on, you can try on every product in the store, buy it, then return it after it's half gone. How can they not allow me to scan a few products? She finally came over asked if I had any questions. My response "no thanks, I have an app that answers all my questions for me. " Yes, I know that was bitchy. I think she was surprised by my comment but more intrigued by the app to worry about it. She asked all about the app, grabbed her phone, and downloaded it right then.

Skin Deep is a great tool to utilize since it might be difficult to memorize all the ingredients I mentioned in my last post. Scan your products!! If it's moderate to high hazard (orange or red), don't buy it. There are so many products on the market surely you can find some that are low hazard (green).

EWG is currently running a promotion. If you donate a minimum of $5 to their research, they will send you a Quick Tips for Safer Cosmetics guide. This is a wallet size card full of tips on how to read labels. This could come in handy for anyone who still has a flip phone, like my mom....