A Site I Love - The Cosmetics Database

I am always on the lookout for possibly hazardous chemicals in everything from my personal care products to my household cleaners. And one thing I have learned is that even companies that proport to using only 100 percent all-natural substances in their products, are not doing so.

Which is why I love The Cosmetics Database. It rates literally millions and millions of personal care products based on their toxicity. A product with a 0 rating has virtually no toxic ingredients and a product with a 10 rating is pretty much a nuclear bomb waiting to go off.

You can look at each product's full ingredient list, and each ingredient is broken down by its own individual toxicity. You can also search for products like "moisturizers" and the site will pull up all the moisturizers that have been rated in order of least to most toxic.


Take for instance, Aveda products, while their philosphy is that "what you put on your body should be as healthy and natural as what you put into it," Aveda apparently hasn't noticed that most people don't exactly put a whole lot of healthy and natural things into their body.

And while Aveda is a fine company with a lot of admirable qualities that does put a lot of naturally derived ingredients in its products, especially in its hair care products, you will find things in some of their products that are anything but naturally derived.

Take their Inner Light Foundation with SPF, while the product delivers like a dream (from what I hear), you'll find plenty of ingredients that are not at all natural, including Methylparaben, which is a synthetic preservative.

INNER LIGHT FOUNDATION SPF 12
Active Ingredient: Titanium Dioxide 3.5%
Ingredients: Water (Aqua Purificata) Purified
Glycerin
Phenyl Trimethicone
Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate
Caprylic/Capric/Myristic/Stearic Triglyceride
Tricaprylyl Citrate
Behenyl Alcohol
Astrocaryum Murumuru
Butter
Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract
Tocopherol
Tourmaline
Lecithin
Xanthan Gum
Glyceryl
Stearate Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate
Polyglyceryl-10 Pentastearate
Fragrance (Parfum)
Magnesium
Aluminum Silicate
Aluminum Hydroxide
Ethylhexylglycerin
Phenoxyethanol
Methylparaben
[+/-(May Contain) Mica, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891) Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)]

Not that I'm dissing Aveda, because their products lean considerably in the direction of naturally derived, but the point is that even companies that claim all-naturallness are definitely not. It seems that the majority of these companies, like Alba, Weleda, and Jurlique, include some definite natural plant-derived products, but they somehow manage to stuff just a little something in the jar that'll be sure to release some kind of toxin. A trip to The Cosmetics Database will tell you that while one of the company's products may yield a 0 toxicity rating, another product will yield a seven, so you really have to look at each company by each of its individual products.

And Aveda, which began putting some questionable ingredients in their products when it was purchased by Estee Lauder, is beginning to bring its products back around to something a little less synthetic.

So make sure to check out The Cosmetics Database before your next trip to the drug store.




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