Over the summer, I learned about clean beauty and makeup products. Before then, I never thought about the ingredients that were in the products I was using. It is so easy to walk into a store and pick something up without thinking about the ingredients, but it is something to think about as we use these products everyday, if not multiple times a day.
It can seem overwhelming knowing where to start when looking at lists of ingredients. Luckily, there are apps and websites that can help you understand what ingredients to look out for and why.
My favorite app for researching products and their ingredients is called Yuka. On this app, you are able to scan the barcode of your products and it will give you a comprehensive list of any ingredients that you might want to look out for. It explains why these ingredients can be harmful and also provides you with alternative products that have better ingredients. Another website that is helpful is called EWG’s Skin Deep database. It is similar to Yuka, but contains some products that are different.
Once I started researching ingredients, I realized that most of my products were potentially harmful. Of course, each person will have different opinions when it comes to what ingredients they are comfortable using. However, if you are interested in researching products, some of the ingredients that I choose to avoid if possible include BHT, phenoxyethanol and polyethylene.
It takes time to figure out what ingredients you want to avoid. Sometimes ingredients are more or less harmful when they are in different forms such as in a power to a liquid. Some people want to use products with completely clean ingredient lists while others don’t worry about the ingredients. If it sounds like something that interests you, Yuka and EWG are a great place to start!