Better products meet their claims and are free of ingredients that could harm our health or the environment. Labels might claim that a product is “gentle” or “natural,” but with no required safety testing, companies that make personal care products can use almost any chemical they want, regardless of risks. So, always read product labels – especially the ingredient list - before you buy.

How to read a label

Every personal care product on the market must list the ingredients on the label. Label reading can be confusing - here are some tips to help you wade through the chemical names. You can approach ingredient lists in 3 parts:

1. Start at the end where preservatives are listed. Try to avoid:

    

   • Words ending in “paraben”
   • DMDM hydantoin
   • Imidsazolidinyl urea
   • Methylchloroisothiazolinone
   • Methylisothiazolinone
   • Triclosan
   • Triclocarban
   • Triethanolamine (or “TEA”)

      

2. Next, check the beginning of the ingredients list. Here you’ll find the soap, surfactant, or lubricant that has been added to make the product work. Try to avoid ingredients that start with “PEG” or have an “-eth” in the middle (e.g., sodium laureth sulfate).

    

3. Finally, read the middle ingredients. Here you’ll look for some common – but not essential - additives that may bring excess hazard: fragrance and dyes. On the label look for “FRAGRANCE,” “FD&C,” or “D&C.”

For the grown-ups in the house

While many parents pay more attention to their kids’ environmental health than their own, your body can be affected by toxic chemicals, too, especially if you’re breastfeeding, pregnant, or planning to be pregnant. EWG’s Safer Shopping List has 9 common-sense tips to reduce your own exposures, like buying fragrance-free, skipping the nail polish and using fewer products. You can also download our handy wallet guide, which lists some products and ingredients to avoid.

Use EWG’s Cosmetics Database to choose safer products. In addition to generating a hazard score for your product (on a 1 to 10 scale), it allows you to search by brand and for products without certain ingredients or health effects. You can enter products that aren’t included, and create personal shopping lists – among other tricks.

Just for kids

Extra caution is in order for kids because they receive greater exposures by weight than adults to contaminants in air, water, food, and everyday products. In addition, their immature metabolism and organ systems are typically less capable of fending off chemical assaults. Subtle damage to developing bodies that does not trigger immediate health effects may lead to disease later in life.

Follow EWG’s top 6 tips for kids:

1. Use fewer products and use them less often.
2. Don’t trust the claims. Check ingredients.
3. Buy fragrance-free products.
4. Avoid the use of baby powder on newborns and infants.
5. Do your homework at EWG's Cosmetics Database
6. Always avoid EWG’s top 7 chemicals of concern for kids:

    

   • 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3 Diol
   • BHA
   • Boric acid and sodium borate
   • Dibutyl phthalate & toluene
   • DMDM Hydantoin
   • Oxybenzone
   • Triclosan
   •  
7. www.ewg.org/kid-tips01