March 07, 2011

Skin Deep - Database to Check Product Safety

Again, I wrote about this in several articles on the internet but wanted to share one of my favorite sites for those who may not have heard of it - Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. (and I'm determined to keep my promise of keeping the blog up-to-date :o)

With so many products on the market today proclaiming to be ‘natural’ it can be very confusing determining which ones are truly natural versus those that contain a few natural ingredients.

And when it comes to reading ingredient lists, it seems like you need to be a chemist to understand them. For example, the average consumer might not know off hand that simmondsia chinensis is actually Jojoba.

Before experimenting with an igredient or even when I'm thinking about buying a product and I'm not too sure what a listed ingredient is - I look up the ingredient on the database. For me, the best way to determine what an ingredient it and whether or not it's safe is to research it.

Research may sound like a long, tedious undertaking, but with the database it's pretty simple.

According to the website, Skin Deep gets about 1 million page views per month, and is the world’s largest and most popular product safety guide. Skin Deep is an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products that was launched in 2004 by the Environmental Working Group.

Skin Deep’s database provides safety ratings for nearly a quarter of all products on the market; 62,551 products with 7,644 ingredients. According to the site, it gets about 1 million page views per month, making Skin Deep the world's largest and most popular product safety guide.

Skin Deep ratings are on a 0 to 10 scale; 0 being low hazard and 10 being the highest. You can search ingredients, product brands, and even get a shopping list of low hazard products.

Just simply type in the entire product name (exact brand) or ingredient and you will get facts on the product/ingredient i.e. what it’s used for, its rating, toxicity stats, as well as government and other agency studies performed.

In a matter of minutes you will have all the information you need to determine whether or not you want to purchase a product, or stop using one you already have

More information:
Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database

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