Beauty can be expensive, but should it cost you your health?

Unfortunately, many of the beauty products we slather on our faces, swab on our eyes and paint on our lips contain toxic chemicals linked to breast cancer. Some of the companies that sell these products even have the audacity to slap a pink ribbon on their product and claim that it supports breast cancer awareness! Thankfully, safer alternatives are available and there are steps you can take to reduce toxic exposures in your home and protect the health of your family.

Here are our top five beauty tips to rethink the Pink this Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

1. Simplify
   Choose products with simpler ingredient lists and fewer synthetic chemicals. Avoid synthetic fragrance by skipping products with “fragrance” on the label, and use fewer products overall.
2. DIY
   some personal care products are easy to make yourself, and this can be a great project for a party. Make your own sugar or salt scrubs or body oils, using simple, organic ingredients.
3. Research Products yourself
   since the beauty industry is largely unregulated, it’s up to you to do your own research to find the safest products. There are no legal standards for personal care products labeled as “pure,” “natural” or “organic,” so look beyond the marketing claims and read labels carefully.
   To find out whether your go-to products are safe or not, try Think Dirty’s shop clean app. This easy-to-use resource ranks the safety of specific products on a scale of 1-10 and offers up cleaner solutions.
4. Read labels: Avoid these chemicals linked to breast cancer, which are found on product labels:

• Avoid in anti-aging products:
  polyperfluoromethylisopropyl ether
  polytetrafluoroethylene
  DEA-C8-18 perfluoroalkylethyl phosphate 
  Teflon 
• Avoid in shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.
  Sodium laureth sulfate
  PEG compounds
  Chemicals that include the clauses xynol, ceteareth, and oleth
  Triclosan
  Coal tar
  Petrolatum
  Isobutane
• Avoid in makeup
  Titanium dioxide in powders
  PTFE
  Carbon Black
  Benzophenone
• Avoid in nail polish
  Benzophenone
  Formaldehyde
  Quaternium-15
  DMDM hydantoin
  imidazolidinyl urea
  diazolidinyl urea
  sodium hydroxymethylglycinate
  2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bromopol)
• Fragrance ingredients to avoid:
  Fragrance
  Perfume
  Parfum
  Essential Oil Blend
  Aroma
• Avoid in UV Filters, which are used in moisturizer, skin cream and makeup.
  Oxybenzone
  Octinoxate
  Homosalate
  3-(4-methylbenzylidene)-camphor
  Octyl-dimethyl-PABA

1. Get Involved
   While it’s possible – and becoming easier – to reduce toxic exposures in your home by buying safer products, it’s not possible to shop our way out of this problem. Even if they’re not in your home, toxic chemicals from personal care products can still end up in our air and drinking water, and in the homes of people who don’t have access to safe products.

The solution: help us change the rules of the game! It shouldn’t be legal to sell cosmetics that contain dangerous ingredients. We’re working to pass new laws that protect our health and give consumers better information to make smart choices.

Article written by:

Jessica Smith-  Breast Cancer Fund's Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. 

Stay informed, speak up and spread the word—www.safecosmetics.org