Banned skin care ingredients

There are a lot of good skin care ingredients.  Others are banned but not in the USA.  What are some banned skin care ingredients to watch for.

Banned skin care ingredients

Everything we put on our bodies can have an effect on our overall health.  As we lather with soap or slather on lotions, any of the ingredients in those products can be absorbed into our bodies.  It’s only concerning when the ingredients have a negative effect on our lives.  That is why it is important to pay attention to banned skin care ingredients.

The problem is that skin care products aren’t regulated in the US so we need to look to sites like the Environmental Working Group for help.  One of these ingredients to watch out for is lilial.

What is lilial?

Lilial is also known as buylphenyl methylpropional.  Products may label it as p-BMHCA.  Just looking at all those letters can get overwhelming.  I don’t know about you but when I’m looking at a product label with a ton of ingredients and most of them are unpronounceable or a bunch of letters like p-BMHCA, my eyes glaze over.  The reason is because it doesn’t make any sense to me or means nothing.  This is your first clue, though.

But, what is lilial?  Over 1,000 products use lilial in their formulas, according to EWG.  It provides products that smell nice.  When products smell nice, we want to buy them and use them.  Hair and body products are the main sources but this ingredient is also used in cleaners for your house.  The list of clean products you can use just keeps getting smaller but knowing what you are using can have dramatic effects on our lives because lilial, as well as countless of other ingredients, are endocrine disruptors.

If you have issues with fibroids, infertility, or very heavy periods, you’ll want to start listening and looking.  Unfortunately, lilial is an ingredient that is toxic but it is still allowed in products in the US.  Europe has banned this ingredient.

Take charge of your health

This is why it is important to know your products.  If you have a product you use regularly, I would go through the ingredients to figure out if they are harmful.  You can use our skin care ingredient checker to help.  Then, once you have gone through that laborious exercise, you can feel confident about using it.  If the ingredients check out, great.  If they don’t, start looking for a new product that is cleaner.

Be aware, though…some ingredients like lilial might be grouped into one category:  Fragrance.  If it’s not listed out, the company probably hiding something.  Again, this is because skin care products aren’t regulated in the US and banned skin care products are hard to spot.  They may be banned somewhere else, for good reason, but it’s hiding in the product on your shelf – the one you use everyday.

I know it can take some time but isn’t it worth it?