It all gets applied to your body, including all the chemicals within.
Diane MacEachern, author of “Big Green Purse,” suggests a fun little exercise: Gather all those products in one place and take a count. You won’t be alone if the number hits 12 or 15.
“People are amazed,” she said. “Someone has convinced us we need to use all these products every day.”
Eco-groups and environmental researchers have raised alarms about the cumulative health effects of many of the compounds found in personal-care products. While many industry experts say the products are safe, some scientists and others outside the industry disagree.
In her book, published this year, MacEachern says women spend 85 cents of every dollar in the marketplace and are predisposed to protect the environment and health. That puts them in a strong position to force the greening of products, she argues. And in the personal-care category, they’re the target audience.
“The way we spend our money is our first line of defense,” she said. “American women have more economic clout than the GDP of China. It’s huge.”
Emily Main of National Geographic’s Green Guide said many consumers aren’t aware that the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t review the safety of cosmetics and other skin and beauty products. And that many chemicals restricted or prohibited by the European Union aren’t restricted in the United States.
A group called the Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel (www.cir-safety.org) evaluates safety, but critics point out that it’s funded by the personal-care product industry.
Even so, Main said, consumers seem to be more concerned about broader health effects — that leftover chemicals from soaps, cosmetics and other products are sullying the environment and threatening wildlife and the water supplies.
“I think that’s where people really start to pay attention,” she said.
If you’re concerned, try taking these steps, compiled from recommendations by MacEachern, Main and Kim Erickson, author of “Drop-Dead Gorgeous.”
As a start, assess the array of personal-care products you use. Are there items you can do without?
Another method to reduce the volume of personal-care products: Regularly take a day off.
That means wash up and brush your teeth — whatever you think the minimum is — and don’t slather anything else on your body that day. It could be once a month or once a week.
Check out the labels. There’s some merit in choosing products with the shortest ingredient lists. The more complicated the formulation, the more likely it has lots of synthetic ingredients.
Also, be aware of meaningless terms. Marketing words on the label such as “natural,” “botanical” and even “organic” might mean very little, because no government agency is monitoring their use.
If your favorite products contain ingredients you want to avoid, you’re not stuck. Other companies are responding to demands like yours, with more and more items free of fragrances and parabens, for instance.
A few possibilities include Aubrey Organics, Burt’s Bees, Ecco Bella, Jason, Honeybee Gardens, Miessence, Pangea Organics, Terressentials and Tom’s of Maine.
