Let’s do some dirty talk. Great, now I got your attention!
Today I am talking about dirty things in our cosmetic products. Or to be precise, how to spot them and make informed decisions about what to put on our skins and hair. Let’s get into it.
You know that silky feeling in your hair after using a conditioner? I recently bought a new conditioner stated as a professional product for salons and containing marula oil. Must be good, eh? Yes, my hair felt absolutely luscious and silky after using it. So I wanted to know what else was in that conditioner and downloaded an app to get insight of the ingredients.
I was shocked about the results; the app rated my precious conditioner with the worst possible grade. What I thought was a great product with lots of goodness was actually containing ingredients related to severe health concerns. All scientifically proved. That silky feeling in my hair? Silicone, of course. So my hair is basically coated with that stuff. Lo and behold, there came the inspiration for this blog post and a YouTube video (scroll at the end of the blog post to find it).
For an average consumer it is nearly impossible to know what hides behind those cryptic-sounding ingredient names, unless you’re a cosmetic toxicologist or similar who’s familiar with the global INCI names used in the ingredient lists. Day after day, week after week we slap on our skin or hair those products which we know very little about in terms of their possible effects on our long-term health.
How do we know what’s ‘clean’ and what’s not? Thankfully clean beauty movement has brought up some technological solutions for aid. Apps! There are apps like Think Dirty, Inci Beauty, and Yuka, which all have a free basic version and have extensive databases of cosmetic products. Each ingredient is assessed and rated by their carcinogenicity, developmental & reproductive toxicity and/or allergenicity & immunotoxicity. Assessments are done by professionals from the fields of medicine, toxicology or similar, so the app user can be at ease in knowing that the assessment is done professionally. The rating scale varies a bit between the apps, but the principles and hence the assessment results are same.
Users can also add new products to the databases. All this works by scanning the product barcode with the chosen app and adding photos of the labels and ingredient list. Beware, sometimes you may also need to type in the whole ingredient list! Unfortunately there are many user-added products with inaccurate or inadequate ingredient lists. Incomplete ingredient list means the assessment result is not reliable.
So which one of the clean beauty apps to use? It could depend on your geographic location, albeit all the apps cover some globally known common brands too. I have tested and used Think Dirty and Inci Beauty, so here are my thoughts about these apps.
Disclaimer: this is not paid promotion and I don’t have any connections to the app makers mentioned here. All opinions are my own.
Think Dirty is Canadian so expect to see lots of products and brands from the North American continent. They have multi-disciplinary independent assessment team behind the product evaluations. Part of their funding comes from the beauty sample boxes the app users can subscribe to. Beauty box is a great idea if you’re just taking the steps towards cleaner beauty regime and want to explore different brands, but in my opinion if you’re not a mass consumer in the long run you may find your vanity unit overflowing with cosmetics and skincare you’re never going to be able to use. Think Dirty also has verified brand partners, which means the app has sponsored content. Think Dirty has a vibrant, modern landing page with loads of content and their premium version has some great features, like TikTok dupes – wish that was free! You can also browse the products based on your needs or ethos (like women-owned brands, yay!), not just by the usual body-part based categories.
Inci Beauty in turn is based in France, so it has a vast database suited well for the users shopping in the UK and European markets. Note that many reviews and comments in Inci Beauty may be in language other than English. There’s lots of French ones (should I say obviously?) but also in other European languages. Their website is still kind of work in progress when it comes to full English content, as of 7th April 2024. Inci Beauty as well has an independent assessment system but it’s not completely free from ads. However I haven’t experienced much nuisance from the ads, so far it’s been just one pop-up when starting a new session. Part of the Inci Beauty’s funding comes from the premium app version. In terms of usability I like the simple, clear landing page of the app. Yes, it doesn’t look as fun as Think Dirty, but for me it gives a feeling of serious and scientific approach. Unlike Think Dirty, Inci Beauty lists the products only by their category (eyes, face, mascara etc.).
The biggest learning from this experience was the position of essential oils. Basically they are good as they are derived from plants, but many essential oils naturally contain allergens. Hence, they trigger penalty points, as the allergens are a health risk. Since I don’t have any allergies, I consider the products with essential oils safe and healthy for myself – but don’t apply my words to your reality without doing your own research, or by consulting your GP/doctor in case of any sensitivities/allergies.
After the shocking conditioner discovery I went through some other things in my vanity cabin. Shocking revelations continued; although I’m using mainly my own vegan and organic face products and my own vegan and organic soaps, there were quite a few things ready for flying into bin. I’m swapping the products little by little (cost of living crisis, you know), but first things in my list were deodorant and shampoo. Watch this space to find out how organic reetha (soap nut) powder works as a shampoo!
With love and lots of goodness of Mother Nature,
Lulu
Casa De Luluel 