Have you ever tried to read a soap or shampoo label at the store and notice all of the weird ingredients? Some ingredients are quite a mouthful like “sodium laurel sulfate”, “ethylhexylglycerin”, and even worse sounding ingredients like “disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate”. These names do sound scary – and definitely are not organic, naturally occurring ingredients that you may want to be putting on your skin!
Many popular ingredients in cosmetic products will contain these chemicals, which are not organic, and these ingredients can be harsh on your skin or hair. Some of these popular ingredients, such as sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) or derivatives of SLS, cause many people’s skin to dry out to cause itching, redness, etc. Many people also try to avoid anything dealing with parabens (unnatural preservatives) since parabens have been linked with skin issues with people and parabens are being researched for being linked to hormone levels in the body.
The safest bet when researching labels is to look for the word “organic” and see if there are any organic certification seals on the cosmetic product. The most popular and most well-known mark/logo that you want to find on a cosmetic product is the USDA Organic Seal. This is an official seal that shows that the product has at least 95%+ of organic ingredients and a good indicator of high-quality ingredients. Remember to always read the ingredients and become knowledgeable of what is good and bad on the label. Knowing what is a “good” ingredient versus a “bad” ingredient can be critical in giving your skin the best treatment.
Check out our white paper on this very subject: Decoding Organic Skincare Labels