Expert Article: The Best Beauty Products That Won’t Cause Health Issues!

The Best Beauty Products That Won’t Cause Health Issues!

My five favorite clean beauty products and why you need them

Did you know that the beauty, skin, hair, and wellness products you have been using your whole life from some of the most well-known and trusted brands, could actually be causing more harm than good to your body? The beauty industry will strongly refute these claims because if they did admit that they were using harmful chemicals and ingredients in their products, no one would buy them. It is a similar situation in a way to the tobacco industry where for such a long period of time, the tobacco industry said that smoking was not harmful but we now know that tobacco is a leading cause of cancer and other health issues. An increasing number of studies are coming out looking at ingredients and their links to cancer and other harmful diseases. 

Risky Ingredients 

Talc, a common ingredient in most makeup products first, started to be linked to cancer in a 1982 study (Cramer et al). Mega-companies like Johnson & Johnson have “paid billions in punitive damages'' (Ellis) to women across the U.S. who “claim that long-term use of its asbestos-contaminated talc caused ovarian cancer” (“Endocrine Disruptors in Perfume, Carcinogenic Baby Powder? A New Documentary on the Beauty Industry”). Popular documentaries exploring the dangers of what is hidden in our beauty products, like Not So Pretty and Toxic Beauty interview and consult with various scientists, lawyers, regulators, politicians, and women who believe they have gotten cancer from the long-term use of certain products. 

While many will say that their products only contain certain ingredients in trace amounts, these trace amounts build up overtime.  A professor of environmental, reproductive, and women's health at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health said that while not all chemicals are harmful even “low doses of iffy chemicals can add up over time and with exposure to multiple products”. The beauty industry is known to be under-regulated and testing to check if products have harmful contaminants like mercury, lead, and heavy metals is limited and expensive and not many companies are willing to do so. 

How to protect yourself from toxic beauty

There is a long list of detrimental and risky ingredients that are in our hair, skin, makeup, and wellness products which can be extremely overwhelming and hard to keep up with. However, there are ways that you can check to ensure that the products you are using are not using these chemicals and ingredients. Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a website and app where you can search up or scan a product and it will give you a hazard score, 10 being the worst and products with a 1 or EWG verified stamp being the safest. Think Dirty is another app that allows you to learn about potentially toxic ingredients in products. Other ways you can be extra cautious about what you buy is by reading the product labels, and checking if they are third-party tested. Sephora actually has a seal that says “Clean at Sephora” on all of their products that are deemed clean which means that they don’t have any parabens, sulfates SLS and SLES, phthalates, mineral oil, formaldehyde, and more. 

Photo Source: https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Over the years I have become more and more aware of what I put into my body, including the food and drinks that I consume and the products that I use on my hair, skin, and body. It has become quite a passion of mine actually, learning about health, wellness, and beauty and what products, foods, and supplements can greatly improve our lives and improve our appearance, hair and skin and which can have negative effects. I actually have a long multi-page Google document with all of my favorite clean products and health gadgets and supplements, but here are just a few of my favorite clean beauty essentials at the moment coming from a certified wellness, beauty, and health fanatic. 

Megababe Smoothie Deo Fruit Enzyme Daily Deodorant 

Photo Source: https://megababebeauty.com/products/the-smoothie-deo 

Finding a deodorant without aluminum and parabens that actually work took me a lot of trial and error until I found the perfect one! Mega Babe is a clean and cruelty-free deodorant brand that comes in a variety of different scents and beneficial properties like “Rosy Pits” which is rose-scented and happens to be their best-selling deodorant, “The Green Deo” which has a light geranium and lemon scent and features the ingredient chlorophyll which is antioxidant-rich and odor-neutralizing, “The Glow Deo” which brightens discoloration and improves skin tone and texture and then my personal favorite “The Smoothie Deo” which is scented with lemon, bilberry, and orange extracts and is made with pH balancing fruit enzymes. Many natural deodorants contain baking soda which can cause a lot of irritation for some people. I love that Megababe has both deodorants with baking soda and deodorants without it so that people can use what works better for them. 

Blue Lizard Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen with Zinc Oxide SPF 50 

Photo Source: https://www.amazon.com/BLUE-LIZARD-Sensitive-Mineral-Sunscreen/dp/B0862Q6BV9 

My grandmother is still praised to this day for her beauty and youthful looks well into her 80s. One of her tips is that she uses sunscreen on her face every day and has always kept her skin out of the sun. For years now, I have been wearing SPF every day on my face, neck, and hands, however, after researching more about skincare, I found that many experts said that the ingredients in chemical sunscreen are very harmful and seep into the skin and bloodstream. Mineral SPF, also known as a physical sunscreen, is a great, natural alternative to chemical sunscreen as it doesn’t have those harmful ingredients. Still, some mineral SPF brands add in other ingredients that are not so great so you still have to be wary. My favorite mineral SPF that doesn’t absolutely break the bank like some do is the Australian brand Blue Lizard’s mineral SPF. I love how clean it is, that the price is relatively low for what else is on the market, that it is designed for sensitive skin, and that it contains zinc oxide. Mineral SPF has also been found to be more effective than chemical sunscreen because chemical sunscreens only block UVA or UVB rays whereas mineral SPF blocks both types of rays. Mineral SPF also last longer on the skin whereas chemical sunscreens must be reapplied every few hours (Adams).

Pacifica Beauty Eyeshadow 

Photo Source: https://www.pacificabeauty.com/products/animal-magic-eyeshadow-palette 

One of the most common products that talc is found in is eyeshadows, bronzers, blushes, and any “powder-like” products. There is definitely a shortage of good clean eyeshadows, but Pacifica Beauty has a good line of various eyeshadow palettes both matte and shimmery in a variety of shades and colors. It is also not too expensive compared to other makeup brands.

Kosas Revealer Super Creamy + Brightening Concealer with Caffeine and Hyaluronic Acid 

Photo Source: https://www.sephora.com/product/kosas-revealer-concealer-P456151 

One of my favorite clean makeup brands is Kosas which has a wide range of clean makeup products from foundations and concealers to brow gels and lipsticks and more. This particular concealer goes on really smooth and doesn’t crease like many others tend to do. It also features beneficial ingredients that your skin will love like hyaluronic acid, peptides, caffeine, pink algae, arnica, and panthenol which have a long list of benefits for the skin.

Saie Sun Melt Natural Cream Bronzer 

Photo Source: https://www.amazon.com/Saie-Melt-Natural-Cream-Bronzer/dp/B0BGKWG71K 

Like a good clean eyeshadow, there is also a shortage of good clean bronzers. Many of the more “natural” bronzers on the market just don’t work as great as the ones with less clean ingredients do and they also often cost more. I am not the biggest fan of cream bronzers however, the Saie Sun Melt Natural Cream Bronzer is my favorite bronzer with good ingredients overall, more than any clean powder bronzer so it has been my go-to as of lately. I like how natural the bronzer looks on the skin and how buildable the formula is so it’s hard to make it look too dark or cakey on your skin.

Works Cited

Adams, Molly. “Mineral or Chemical Sunscreen: Which Should You Choose?” MD Anderson Cancer Center, 30 June 2022, www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/is-mineral-sunscreen-better-than-chemical-sunscreen.h00-159540534.html.

Cramer, Daniel W., et al. “Ovarian Cancer and Talc. A Case-Control Study.” Cancer, vol. 50, no. 2, 15 July 1982, pp. 372–376, https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0142(19820715)50:2%3C372::aid-cncr2820500235%3E3.0.co;2-s.

“Endocrine Disruptors in Perfume, Carcinogenic Baby Powder? A New Documentary on the Beauty Industry.” Goop, goop.com/beauty/skin/toxic-beauty-documentary-and-clean-swaps/.  

Not so Pretty. Directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, Jane Doe Films Entertainment One, 14 Apr. 2022.

Sheikh, Knvul. “Many Personal Care Products Contain Harmful Chemicals. Here’s What to Do About It.” The New York Times, 24 Feb. 2023,

www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/well/live/personal-care-products-chemicals.html?bgrp=c&smid=url-share. 

Toxic Beauty . Directed by Phyllis Ellis, White Pine Pictures, 28 Apr. 2019.