Ingredients to avoid in your personal care items!

You’ve likely heard of the Dirty Dozen when it comes to fruits and vegetables (if you haven’t click here).

But do you know that there are more than 80,000 ingredients in our skin care, body care and hair care products that are not regulated and do not have any safety data on them? Even worse, the FDA does not have the authority to remove harmful ingredients from a skin care or beauty product. Without the help from our government, we have to stick together as consumers and make the choose to get education and eliminate these bad ingredients from our daily routines. But with so many potential harmful things out there, where do we start?

At Nuts ‘n Berries, we are trying to take the work out of it. We carefully select our products to avoid the most harmful ingredients and vet any new products through the Environmental Working Group's rating system. If you have not done any ingredient investigations yourself, checkout https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ and enter any product that you currently have in your bathroom to see how it stands up to their ingredient review.

We think you can start by eliminating products with these 12 ingredients + 1.

1. Aluminum

Found in: almost every personal care product, especially antiperspirant deodorants
Ingredients to look for: aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum chloride, aluminum oxide, aluminum hydroxide, magnesium aluminum silicate
Why’s it bad? This is a toxic metal that can have an estrogen like effect in our bodies disrupting our endocrine system.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our wide selection of natural deodorants that work! Our favorite, Native Deodorant.

2. Parabens

Found in: makeup, moisturizer, shaving gel, shampoo, personal lubricant and spray tan products
Ingredients to look for: Methyl/ethyl/butyl/isobutyl/propyl paraben, hydroxybenzoic acid, hydroxybenzoate or ester.
Why’s it bad? These mimic estrogen and disrupt the hormonal balance in the body.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our new Every Man Jack Shaving Cream

3. PEG/Polyethylene

Found in: scrubs, body wash, makeup, toothpaste
Ingredients to look for: polyethylene, polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyoxyethylene, ethoxylated ingredients, sodium laureate sulfate, polysorbate, -eth – or oxynol-, oleths.
Why’s it bad? Those tiny plastic beads in face or lip scrubs and exfoliating washes are made from polyethylene (used because they’re gentler on the skin than natural exfoliators like walnut shells). These synthetic chemicals are frequently contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, which the U.S. government considers a probable human carcinogen and which readily penetrates the skin.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Native body wash selection

4. Phthalates

Found in: hair spray, hair gel, deodorant, lipstick, lotion, nail polish, fragrance, perfume, nail strengtheners, eyelash glue
Ingredients to look for: Phthalate, DBP, DEHP, DMP, DEP, with variations on dibutyl/diethyl ester or 1,2-benzenedicarboxylate, fragrance
Why’s it bad? Known hormone disruptors.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Giovanni Hair Spray

5. SLS and SLES – Also known as Sodium lauryl sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate

Found in: shampoo, body wash, bubble bath, foundation, face wash and even toothpaste
Ingredients to look for: Sodium Lauryl/laureth sulfate, sodium salt sulphuric acid, sodium dodecyl sulfate, mono dodecyl ester, and other variations including sodium sulfate or sodium salt
Why’s it bad? SLES and SLS penetrate the scalp quickly and are unable to be metabolized by the liver.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Mill Creek Shampoos and coming soon, John Masters!

6. Synthetic fragrance

Found in: moisturizers, deodorant, lotion, face cream, shampoo, conditioner, bath bombs, bath salts, really everything that smells in a less than natural way
Ingredients to look for: Fragrance, Fragrance oil, perfume
Why’s it bad? Because fragrance is considered a “trade secret” and companies don’t have to list the ingredients, it is often (75%) a hidden source of chemicals like phthalates. Fragrance can hide up to 100 different chemicals. Some fragrance ingredients are known neurotoxins, and many can irritate skin.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Luna CBD Detox bath bomb or Luna CBD Bath Soak both using only organic essential oils

7. Triclosan and triclocarban

Found in: soaps, acne treatments, antiperspirants, toothpaste, and lipstick. It is the active ingredient in “anti-bacterial” products.
Ingredients to look for: chloro and dichloro phenoxy
Why’s it bad? Linked to hormonal disruptions, bacterial resistance and impaired immune function.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Dr. Bronner’s Hand Sanitizer using essential oils

8. Formaldehyde

Found in: nail products, shampoos, hair dyes, antiperspirant, makeup, bubble bath, liquid baby soap, bath lotions, keratin hair treatments and other hair growing products. Used as a preservative to prevent bacteria from growing in water-based products. It is banned in Europe
Ingredients to look for: 2-bromo-2nitropropane-1,3 diol; Diazolidinyl urea; DMDM Hydantoin; imidazolidinyl urea; quaternium -15, Cormalin, formic aldehyde, sodium hydroxymethyl glycinate, methenamine, bronopol
Why’s it bad? The International Agency for Research on Cancer and the U.S. National Toxicology program have classified it as a known carcinogen.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Alaffia Coconut Strawberry Shampoo/Body Wash for babies. It’s great for all ages.

9. Phenylenediamine (Coal Tar)

Found in: hair dye and shampoo
Ingredients to look for:
Why’s it bad? Avoid dandruff and psoriasis shampoos to avoid this potential carcinogen. And unfortunately when this is not an active ingredient in the product it doesn’t have to be listed.
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Naturtint natural hair color line.

10. Mineral Oil

Found in: mascara, creams, lotions, ointments, and cosmetics
Ingredients to look for: mineral oil, liquid petroleum, paraffin oil, white mineral oil
Why’s it bad? A petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging its pores. This is incredibly harmful because it interferes with skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, therefore increasing likelihood of acne and other disorders
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Earth Keepers organic herbal salve

11. BHA & BHT -

Found in: exfoliants and perfumes and as preservatives in lipsticks
Ingredients to look for: butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoulene
Why’s it bad? Known to be a carcinogen and cause liver damage in mice. Also known to be an endocrine disruptor and mimic estrogen
We’ve got you covered! Check out our roll on essential oil based fragrances from Pranarom.

12. Diethanolamine (DEA), Triethanolamine (TEA), Monoethanolamine (MEA)/Ethanolamine (ETA)

Found in: wetting agents and emulsifiers in products such as facial cleansers, shampoos, hair colors, hair relaxers and body wash
Ingredients to Look For: Triethanolamine, TEA lauryl sulfate, cocamide DEA, Cocamide MEA, DEA-CETYL, phosphate, DEA oleth-3 phosphate, lauramide DEA, lin oleamide MEA, myristamide, DEA, Oleamide DEA, steramide MEA. (This list is not comprehensive.)
Why’s it bad? If these products also have nitrous in them, a chemical reaction may occur that leads to the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines that are readily absorbed into the body
We’ve got you covered! Check out our Acure Brilliantly Brightening Cleansing Gel

13. Talc

Found in: sunscreens, face powders, eye shadows, liquid powder and baby powder
Ingredients to look for: talc, talcum powder
Why’s it bad? It’s in the same family as asbestos. Enough said.
We’ve got you covered! Try our Country Comfort Natural Baby Powder

And while not all of these products are available online yet, you can find these and many more clean beauty and personal care products in our Brookhaven, GA store. If you have a suggestion for a product you would like for us to carry, please email [email protected].

Mari Geier

CEO

Nuts ‘n Berries Healthy Market

Long live the little guy.