Products

How many products do I use a day? I suppose I use at least 10 products a day. I'm going to start listing all of the products that I use/have used and list all of the ingredients so that I have idea of what I'm exposed to on a daily basis.

Before I became more aware of the ingredients that are used in personal care products, I used a wide variety of products on my face and body. I changed brands frequently based on how well the products seemed to work.

Morning routine

I would wake up in the morning and then wash my face. I've used a range or product lines, from Clinique to Shiseido.

But let's start with some products that I've used more more recently. Dermalogica was a brand that I used before I started reading the ingredient list.

Facial Wash

Dermalogica's Ultracalming Cleanser - This is touted as a gently cleaning gel-cream that "combats environmental assault with [its] exclusive Anti-Ozonate Complex," which contains extracts that have anti-inflammatory, calming and healing properties. I like that it doesn't contain any artificial colors or fragrances. Sounds good, but let's look at the ingredients (in order of appearance)*:

• Lavandula angustifolia (lavendar) extract - so far, this ingredient has not been assessed for safety in products.
• cetearyl alcohol - this is a common ingredient that is used in moisturizers, conditioners, sunscreens, cleansers, hand creams and styling products. So far, this ingredient hasn't been assessed extensively for safety.
• hydrolyzed wheat protein - this ingredient has possible skin allergy effects.
• citrus media limonium (lemon) extract - so far, this ingredient has not been assessed for safety in products.
• fumaria officinalis extract - so far, this ingredient has not been assessed for safety in products.
• fumaric acid - this ingredient may have organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), is classified as an irritant (skin, eyes or lungs) by the EU, may be possibly carcinogenic (in vitro tests on mammalian cells showed positive mutation results according to the Japanese Journal of Cancer Research), and may be neurotoxic in high doses.
• cucumis sativis (cucumber) fruit extract - so far, this ingredient has not been assessed for safety in products.
• cocamidopropyl pg-dimonium chloride phosphate - so far, this ingredient has not been assessed for safety in products.
• sodium cetearyl sulfate - this ingredient may have sense organ toxic effects (non-reproductive) at low doses.
• cetrimonium bromide - this ingredient has been deemed safe to use in products, but is subject to use limits, this may have sense organ toxic effects (non-reproductive) at low doses, causes irritation to the skin in high doses, and is considered to be a skin toxicant.
• acrylkates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolimer - so far, this ingredient has not been assessed for safety in products.
• butylene glycol - animal studies have shown reproductive effects in high doses.
• aminomethyl propanol - this ingredient has been deemed safe to use in products, but is subject to use limits, may have brain and nervous system effects at moderate doses, may have endocrine system disruption effects at high doses, may have broad systemic effects at high doses, is toxic to the environment, is known to be an irritant (skin, eyes or lungs), and there are contamination concerns (nitrosamines and oxazolidines).
• methylparaben - this ingredient may be possibly carcinogenic (in vitro tests on mammalian cells showed positive mutation results), there is strong evidence that it is a skin toxicant, it may have broad systemic effects on the organs at low doses, may have weak endocrine disruption, may have brain and neuro system effects at low doses, may have biochemical and cellular effects and is known to be a skin irritant.
• propylparaben - there is strong evidence that this ingredient is a skin toxicant, it may have developmental and reproductive effects at low doses, there is limited evidence of endocrine disruption effects, there is limited evidence of sense organ toxicity, and it is toxic to the environment.

*Source: Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.

I understand that dosage matters in some of these studies and that the concentrations of some of these ingredients are not high enough to cause effects, but what about the use of multiple products that may contain the same ingredients? I not only wash my face, but I also use a toner and a moisturizer. I use shampoo and a conditioner on my hair and use a body wash and sometimes apply a moisturizer on my body afterwards. Could the combination of products over time cause these potentially toxic ingredients to accumulate in my body such that I could be exposed to toxic doses? This was a sobering thought.

Next, toner and moisturizer.....