Limit exposure to harmful chemicals in personal care products : NPR

Researchers and experts share safety tips to make your skin care and beauty regimen leaner and cleaner. Beck Harlan/NPR hide caption

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Beck Harlan/NPR

Do you know what's in the lotions, creams and gels you use on your hair and skin every day?

Research has shown that some of the ingredients found in personal care products may be harmful to your health.

Phthalates and parabens, which can be found in everything from makeup to shampoo, are known hormone disruptors that have been linked to poor reproductive health. Chemical hair straightening and smoothing treatments often contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and can cause lung and eye irritation. And 1,4 dioxane, a contaminant that can show up in trace amounts in some cosmetics, has been identified as a potential carcinogen by the Department of Health and Human Services.

It's tricky to connect the dots between exposure and outcome with these chemicals, says Emily Barrett, an epidemiologist at the Rutgers School of Public Health. They may not cause "an obvious outcome you can detect right away, like a rash," she says. "Instead, it might mean 20 years from now, you're at a greater risk of breast cancer or fertility problems."

Still, over time, these exposures can add up, says Barrett and other scientists who study these chemicals. So consider limiting your use of potentially unsafe personal care products — and swapping them out for healthier alternatives.

Researchers and experts share safety tips to make your skin care and beauty regimen leaner and cleaner.

📋 Audit your medicine cabinet, shower shelf and makeup bag. 

You may be wondering: if these cosmetic ingredients are so concerning, why hasn't the Food and Drug Administration banned them?

The agency can ban or restrict chemicals in cosmetics, but the banned/restricted list is a short one, with only 11 ingredients, including chloroform and mercury compounds.

But the process of adding chemicals is long and bureaucratic, says Linda Katz, the former director of the office of cosmetics and colors at the FDA who retired from that role in January. The agency's position is that there isn't enough scientific evidence to show these ingredients, as used in cosmetics, are harmful.

That means we as individuals have to look closely at the ingredient list on each of our personal care products and make those decisions for ourselves, Barrett says.

Read the ingredients list on your go-to items and look for any chemicals of concern. This will be easier for some chemicals than others. For instance, parabens will generally be listed in the ingredients and contain the word "paraben." Phthalates will likely not be listed — we'll talk more about how to avoid them below.

Some chemicals may be present under a different name. The FDA says 1,4 dioxane, for example, may be present in ingredients that contain the prefix, word or syllables "PEG," "Polyethylene," "Polyethylene glycol," "Polyoxyethylene," "-eth-," or "-oxynol-."

💐 Watch out for products with "fragrance" in the ingredient list.

"Fragrance" can include hundreds of different chemicals, and it's hard to say whether those ingredients are safe, says Melanie Benesh, an attorney and vice president for government affairs at the research and advocacy nonprofit, Environmental Working Group. That's because fragrance is considered a trade secret under federal law, which means product manufacturers aren't legally required to disclose what's in it.

Phthalates are often used in fragrances, says Barrett, who studies environmental chemicals and their impact on pregnancy and child development. "They're very good at carrying scent and color in products." But they have been linked to preterm birth in pregnant women with high levels of the chemical in their bodies.

So one way to cut down on your phthalate exposure is to steer clear of products with fragrance, unless they say "phthalate-free" on the label, Barrett says.

But keep in mind even fragrance-free products can contain phthalates for other reasons, so in general, it's a good idea to look for products labeled "phthalate-free," she says.

✂️ Cut back on how many products you use on a daily basis.

You may be using more products in your everyday life than you realize. A study published in 2023 found that women use an average of 19 products daily and men use an average of seven.

When Barrett, one of the study's authors, counted the number of products she used, it was above average.

That made her want to cut back, she says. She started by asking herself, "Are all these things I need to make me feel my best? What's essential? What are the extras I could scale back? Why am I putting so many products on my body every day?"

Take stock of your beauty, skin care and hygiene regimen. Instead of using a hair gel and mousse, can you use one? Is there a step you can skip in your makeup or skin care routine?

Barrett decided to eliminate perfume to minimize her exposure to "fragrance." "I didn't feel like it was essential to my life. So I cut it out. That was a very easy fix," she says.

🔀 Look for alternatives to products you can't live without. 

You've done an audit of your personal care products and identified your essentials. But now you have a conundrum. That wonderful leave-in conditioner that you've been using to de-frizz your curls contains chemicals you want to avoid. What do you do?

• Research similar products that don't include any ingredients of concern, says Benesh of EWG. Look for labels that say "phthalate-free" and "paraben-free." You may find a safer conditioner or hair oil that works just as well.
  
• Be wary of marketing. Just because a label says "green" or "all natural" doesn't mean it's safe, Barrett says. If you're not sure, look up the ingredients. 

• Keep in mind that not all synthetic chemicals are bad, Barrett says. Some of them work well and aren't known to cause health problems. The Environmental Protection Agency maintains a list of chemicals deemed "verified to be of low concern," including cetyl acetate, used in lip balms and exfoliants, and polyglycerin-3, found in lipstick and facial moisturizer.
  
• Consider products made with ingredients you can eat, says Adana Llanos, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who researches what contributes to and causes cancer. That includes avocado, coconut oil, olive oil, papaya and shea butter. 

🐢 Slowly phase in cleaner products. 

You don't need to throw out every potentially harmful product you own right away, say our experts. Instead, Barrett recommends making swaps when you run out of a product.

"It's hard for people to give up all the products they love cold turkey," Llanos says. "It's much more sustainable to do it slowly."

This episode was produced by Clare Marie Schneider. The digital story was edited by Meghan Keane. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

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