Chemicals in personal care products

The daily exposure

Before leaving the house each morning, the average person applies shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, moisturiser, sunscreen and makeup. Research estimates that adds up to over 150 distinct chemicals applied to the skin daily.

The skin is not an impermeable barrier. Studies estimate it can absorb up to 60% of topical chemicals directly into the bloodstream, depending on the formulation, body location, and chemical properties. This makes leave-on products like moisturiser, deodorant and sunscreen significantly higher risk than rinse-off products like shampoo and body wash.

The US cosmetics regulatory framework under the FDA does not require pre-market safety testing for most ingredients. The EU has banned or restricted over 1,400 chemicals from cosmetics. The US has restricted approximately 11.

The worst offenders

How to read a label

Ingredients on personal care products are listed using the INCI system (International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredients). Ingredients are listed in order of concentration from highest to lowest, down to 1%. Below 1%, order is not required to reflect concentration.

The single most important loophole: the word "fragrance" or "parfum" on a label is treated as a trade secret in the US. It can conceal dozens or hundreds of individual chemicals including phthalates, synthetic musks and allergens, none of which are required to be disclosed individually.

Five ingredients that should make you put a product back on the shelf:

1. Fragrance / parfum (unless labelled as derived from essential oils with full disclosure)
2. Any paraben (methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben)
3. DMDM hydantoin or quaternium-15 (formaldehyde releasers)
4. Oxybenzone or octinoxate in sunscreen
5. PEG followed by any number (e.g. PEG-100 stearate)

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