Ingredients to avoid in cosmetics

Now that I renewed my Netflix subscription, I have been watching documentaries like crazy.  Today I am watching one about America’s obsession with beauty entitled America The Beautiful.  There are so many points I could make from this documentary.   However, there was one point that really stuck out to me.  At the time of the taping of the video, there were only a few chemicals banned in the United States.  Less than a dozen.  However, in the European Union it was more than 400!  What?!  I did some internet research and found the Cosmetics Directive for the European Union from 2003.  I want to share with you some of the ingredients that are banned (at a certain level) in Europe so you can hopefully avoid them.

Here are ingredients I found listed in the document:

Amyl cinnamal

Benzyl alcohol

Cinnamyl alcohol

Citral

Eugenol

Hydroxy-citronellal

Isoeugenol

Amylcin namyl alcohol

Benzyl salicylate

Cinnamal

Coumarin

Geraniol

Hydroxy-methylpentylcyclohexenecarboxaldehyde

Anisyl alcohol

Benzyl cinnamate

Farnesol

2-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl)
propionaldehyde

Linalool

Benzyl benzoate

Citronellol

Hexyl cinnam-aldehyde

d-Limonene

Methyl heptin carbonate

3-Methyl-4-(2,6,6-trimethyl-
2-cyclohexen-1-
yl)-3-buten-2-one

Oak moss extract

Treemoss extract

Note that in the United States, companies do not have to list all of their ingredients because they are considered trade secrets.  As a result, you may never know that some of the products you use contain some of these.