I looked up Cetaphil moisturizing lotion and Paul Mitchell's tea tree special shampoo. I've used the Cetaphil lotion for many years now (probably 6 years) because it's a gentle and non-irritating lotion that is easy to get and cheap. I believe it's a dermatologist recommended brand as well. I'm not surprised to see that it scored an overall low-medium, 3 point hazardous score. The second product is the Paul Mitchell's tea tree shampoo, which I've recently started using. It scored a moderate, 5 hazard score. I think hair products tend to have more chemical agents, at least the ones people know about. It takes some research to find ones that have less harmful additives and of course those are way more expensive. I'll definitely be continuing to use the Cetaphil lotion. I've been looking into clean hair products and the tea tree shampoo is not one so I will probably move on with it after I finish using the product.
I believe we should all be aware of what's in the products we put on our body. I struggled with severe acne so I'm especially conscious about what I put on my face. Not everyone knows about the risks because many times we believe what's on the shelf in stores should be tested and safe. Another reason is that it may take years for the risk to manifest visibly so people are not aware.
On a related note, I use these two websites to check the safety of my skincare/makeup ingredients:
https://www.paulaschoice.com/ingredient-dictionary
http://www.cosdna.com/ (this one's recommended by one of my dermatologists)
Great point about how much time it takes for health problems to manifest. Trace amounts of chemicals in these products won't show up right away, so they often get neglected. Good call on looking for a different hair product; I hope you can find something that works well for you while exposing you to less harmful agents! (Please share if you do find a better product!)
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad to see the Cetaphil lotion has such a low hazard score because I used it for a while and I know a lot of my friends use it. I'm on a prescription acne face wash so I know how hard it is to find face products that are good for my skin. I've heard tee tree oil is a highly recommended cosmetic product, so I'm disappointed to see it burns and has harmful chemicals in it; I'm also going to be on the hunt for a new shampoo!
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