Throw Out Expired Products
You know that serum you bought a year ago or the well loved liner you can’t remember the shade of because the packaging has faded? It’s probably time to toss it. Expired products not only lose their efficacy, but they can cause a whole host of side effects. Using cosmetics and skincare past their lifespan can grow bacteria and lead to infections as well as irritate your skin and clog pores.
“The shelf life of a beauty product is determined by lab tests ensuring the physical, chemical, and microbial quality of a formula. Once a product passes the date it's supposed to be used, the quality and efficacy can no longer be supported and a formula can spoil. Using products within the verified shelf life ensures you are applying a safe and effective product to your skin.” - Delise Martire, Director of Product Development
Ditch Fragrances
Those synthetic fragrances with the scent of nostalgia are wreaking havoc on your hormones. Phthalates are used in formulations to hold the scent of products and are also one of the top culprits for hormone disruption and fertility related issues in America. The term “phthalates” may not make it directly on your ingredients label, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t made it into the formula. The term “fragrance” can mask a host of toxic chemicals, because “fragrance” is deemed proprietary and is not required to be disclosed to consumers. This is the case for natural fragrances, too. If you review every compound in a natural fragrance, they can also contain irritating chemicals.
“The trick with fragrance in general, synthetic or not, is transparency. Knowing what chemicals make up a fragrance and whether they may disrupt your hormones or irritate your skin” - Delise Martire, Director of Product Development
Or to be on the safer side, document the mems and ditch the fragrance.
Get Smart About Your Packaging
It’s not just what’s on the inside that counts. Even if your product is “clean”, BPA in the plastic it’s packaged in can leach into your formulas and impact your hormones and irritate your skin, but it also contains compounds that kill your cells (hello premature aging). But watch out for BPA replacements, like BPS and BPAF. Just because they are substitutes doesn’t necessarily make them less harmful. Throw out your plastic packaged beauty products and opt for glass as much as you can.
“BPA replacements are in some cases 1,000 times more potent and more toxic and have more devastating effects than its parent compound BPA itself.” - Dr. Sonya Schuh, PhD
