Sites You Should Know - Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database

Every week, GreenPeaches brings you a very useful site that you can use to help green your lifestyle. Our picks may or may not relate directly to Atlanta but they will always be great tools. We hope that you add these to your bookmarks and visit them in the future.

This week, our choice is the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database (www.cosmeticsdatabase.com)that is maintained by the Environmental Working Group. There are so many chemicals and compounds that are recklessly added to hygiene products. Without a PhD in chemistry, it’s difficult to tell how these chemicals interact with each other and even more difficult to tell how they interact with the human body.

The Cosmetics Database has done exhaustive research to help you make a more educated decision on what you purchase. You can find info on makeup, skin care, hair care, eye care, nail care, baby care, oral care and fragrances. They score products on a one to ten scale with one being the least risky. It will show you a percentage of products measured that score better than the product you are looking at. The research also gives you the detailed ingredients from the packaging and any warnings that are on the package. It will break down rank products based on their risk. It also breaks down the specific issues that the ingredients have been linked to like cancer, reproductive issues and many more.

The database is a very useful tool that may or may not make you feel much better about the products you buy. From my personal experience, I was able to find a deodorant that achieved the highest score and that actually works. I’ve also found many so called green or healthy products that score very poorly. Do an inventory of your products. You might be surprised or even scared by what you find.