part 2 – how to read labels
How to read Labels on personal care & cosmetics products
a) the bio-chemist rule of thumb 1/3 1/3 1/3 = 90-95% 5-8% 1-3%
Look at the ingredients labels of personal care and cosmetics products you use at home, you’ll probably see that it lists quite a number of ingredients.
Example label ingredient list:
Top third of listed ingredients = 90%-95% of contents in bottle (blue in example)
Middle third of listed ingredients = 5%-8% of contents in bottle (red in example)
Lower third of listed ingredients = 1%-3% of contents in bottle (green in example)
b) Not all ingredients are necessarily shown
- If ingredient is less than a certain % (eg EU Directive allows nondisclosure of chemicals below certain %s)
- when trade secret
- on contaminants (eg nitrosamines)
c) Words ‘Organic’ ‘Natural’ on a label
- Can be misleading. ‘Organic’ Personal Care industry uses dictionary definition (any compound containing carbon). ‘Natural’ has no meaning.
- No advertising & labeling controls on use of words.
- Organic percentage & content misleading. Some examples:
- many products add minuscule amount of aloe vera to water content that makes up the bulk of the product & then call it 70% organic.
- ‘Aqueous blend of ‘…some herbs Like dunking a tea bag in 200L. of water. Not much.
- ‘derived from coconut’ … no longer coconut. (eg vodka is derived from potato, but would you feed your child vodka?). Toxic chemicals involved in the processing. Derived from a natural substance is not the same as the natural substance.
next miessence post on beauty and health – part 3 Are there any safe products?
read part 1 of this post here
