Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

This is a great eye opener because we just had a women come and talk to us about some safety issues involving cosmetics in my Women's Health Issues class. 

This kind of website sparks a lot of curiosity, so naturally I tried out a number of the products I use.  I tried eye shadows, concealers, lotions, and hair products.  The one I want to talk about though is the shampoo I use.  I use a shampoo (and conditioner) from the John Frieda collection.  Although I'm sure it switches, the exact one I'm using right now is called "John Frieda Sheer Blonde Lustrous touch Strengthening Shampoo".  This one was rated a 6, but other very similar shampoos of the same brand were more like 8s.  The only difference would be something like "Highlight Enhancing" or something like that and it would be an 8 and linked to cancer, so at least the one I'm currently using isn't linked to cancer!  When the ingredients were broken down fragrance was at the top with a score of 8 and a 100% data gap.  That really sucks because the main reason I buy the shampoo isn't because I think it does wonderful things for my hair, but because I like the smell!  I also learned that this product tests on animals because towards the end of the page under the section about cancer and developmental concerns they would list a substance and then say something like "One or more animal studies show reproductive effects at high doses."  There are so many things that don't even go through my head as a consumer when I'm at a store picking out shampoos, or eyeshadow. 

What was also really interesting was how they told you what percentage of the same type of product had lower concerns.  Between the handful of products I typed in all of them had a score at a 6 or above and had 60% of products with lower concerns.  How does that happen?  It appears that everything I choose is toxic!  Either I have bad luck, or I'm shopping in the wrong places!  I guess I can no longer be a blissfully ignorant consumer.  At least now with this website I can look into the safety of products before I buy them.