5 Skin Care Ingredients to Avoid

Skin care is available everywhere now. What was once only accessible through department stores and Avon ladies has boomed into one of the largest industries for cosmetics and beauty products. However, while convenience plays a large part in how people buy skin care these days, there are ingredients you should know about and avoid. 

Knowing the Ingredients Going into Your Skin

It can be easy to not realize that some ingredients in skin care products are bad for you. It should be normal for beauty brands to put only good, beneficial ingredients in their products; that is not the case, unfortunately.

Most beneficial ingredients in skin care have been diluted down or are masked by fillers and preservatives that make their benefits obsolete when applied to your skin. How is your skin supposed to be protected and receive what the product is promoting that it does, when it has damaging ingredients in it that do more harm than good?

Here are 5 skin care ingredients to watch out for, (even from high-end brands):

1. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). Is found in shampoo, body wash, foundation, and face wash. SLS has been shown to cause or contribute to skin irritation, canker sores, disruption of skin’s natural oil balance, and eye damage. It is also widely believed to be a major contributor to acne (especially cystic acne) around the mouth and chin.
   
   
2. Parabens. Which can be found in makeup, moisturizers, shaving gel, shampoo, and spray tan products. The FDA acknowledges several studies linking parabens, which mimic estrogen, to breast cancer, skin cancer, and decreased sperm count - but it has not ruled that it is harmful. Look for ingredients with the suffix “-paraben” as well. 
   
   
3. Fragrance. This one might come as a shock. Found in: moisturizers, deodorant, lotion, face cream, shampoo, and conditioner. Federal law doesn’t require companies to list on product labels any of the chemicals in their fragrance mixture. Recent research from Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found an average of 14 chemicals in 17 name-brand fragrances, with none of them listed on the label. Fragrances can contain hormone disruptors and are among the top 5 allergens in the world. Stick with fragrance-free products instead.
   
   
4. Polyethylene/PEGs. These are found in scrubs, body wash, and makeup. They are tiny plastic beads in face or lip scrubs and exfoliating washes; made from polyethylene (used because they’re gentler on the skin than natural exfoliators, like walnut shells). Polyethylene has been found to irritate skin and should never be used on broken skin. Polyethylene beads in scrubs and body washes end up going down our drains and travel into waterways, where they’re consumed by fish and marine animals.
   
   
5. Petroleum ingredients in cosmetics can cause contact dermatitis (eczema) and are often contaminated with cancer-causing impurities. They are produced in oil refineries at the same time as automobile fuel, heating oil, and other chemicals.  Petroleum and mineral oil (a petroleum derivative) are both heavily used in products meant to help relieve the effects of eczema and psoriasis - which is so unfortunate.

All of our Wild Naturals products are SLS-free, paraben-free, fragrance-free, PEG-free, and petroleum-free!