The skincare ingredients you want to avoid
The US beauty industry is highly unregulated. Makeup, cleansers, and other products hit the market without much prior government oversight. And then they’re in your home. What’s worse, many of the chemicals found in familiar beauty products irritate or penetrate your skin, disrupt your endocrine system (think hormones), or give you cancer.
All of this means you have to be an informed consumer. So here’s what to watch out for in your beauty products:
Parabens
Preservative parabens prevent the growth of bacteria, mold, and yeast in cosmetic products. While this may sound like a good thing, they also mimic estrogen and have been associated with greater risk of breast cancer. Parabens lurk in makeup, body washes, deodorants, shampoos, facial cleansers and more.
Artificial colors
Also be on the lookout for “FD&C” or “D&C” on beauty product labels. These letters signal the presence of artificial colors. Derived from petroleum or coal tar sources, they are suspected cancer-causing agents and skin irritants. This has led the European Union ban them. You should ban them, too.
Phthalates
Piggybacking on the “fragrance” label are phthalates, a group of chemicals used in hundreds of products for increasing the flexibility and softness of plastics. One of the most common diethyl phthalates, can be found in perfumes and lotions. Known endocrine disruptors, phthalates have been linked to higher risk of breast cancer, early breast development in girls, and reproductive birth defects in males and females.
Certain sulfates
Found in many beauty and cleaning products that foam, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) are known skin, lung, and eye irritants. SLS in particular may interact with other chemicals to form cancer-causing nitrosamines, which may also damage your kidneys or respiratory system.
Propylene glycol
A small organic alcohol commonly used as a skin-conditioning agent, propylene glycol can be found in moisturizers, sunscreen, makeup and more. Considered a neurotoxin, propylene glycol may cause kidney and liver damage, and that’s not any condition you want to be in.
Potent endocrine disruptors
Additionally, potential endocrine disruptors like benzophenone, PABA, avobenzone, homosalate, ethoxycinnmate are commonly found in sunscreen and easily absorbed into the body. They may also cause cellular damage and cancer.
End your chemical romance
It’s impossible to avoid synthetic chemicals altogether, but you can limit the amount of toxins you are exposed to. If you want to avoid toxic chemicals, be sure to eat clean, avoid chemical-laden processed foods, drink plenty of filtered water and look for products without the ingredients in this list.
Swap your skincare for LaserAway Beauty
Educate yourself by researching beauty products before you buy. The LaserAway Beauty line is the perfect place to start. Each product is 100% vegan and formulated without comedogenic ingredients, parabens, phthalates, artificial colors, drying alcohol, harsh sulfates, mineral oil and petrolatum. Visit LaserAway.com to learn more.
