Top 5 Non-Toxic Skincare Brands to Reduce Inflammation
Reducing chronic inflammation means reducing exposure to inflammatory substances, and one major cause of exposure to inflammatory ingredients is our skincare.
If you’re new here, let me take a moment to introduce myself. I’m Nicole, the founder of Nicole Renee Health and a Certified Holistic Nutritionist whose specialty is helping others live anti-inflammatory, immunity-boosting, low-toxin lifestyles. If this resonates with you, then keep on reading.
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If you’re familiar with my content, you know that I believe there are three main drivers of chronic inflammation: what we eat, what we breathe, and what we put on our skin. Your skin is your body’s largest organ. It helps with the detoxifying process by allowing the body to sweat out toxins. For this reason, you want to make sure you’re not clogging pores and preventing toxins from leaving your body through the skin. Releasing toxins through the skin is one of the most efficient ways for your body to detox. But the skin doesn’t just push the bad out, it also absorbs everything you put on it – the good and the bad. Because skincare practices are a daily routine – often twice daily – it’s important that the products being used don’t contain highly toxic compounds and allow the skin to breathe and detox as needed.
Unfortunately, there’s a very long list of toxic ingredients that often end up in skincare products and cause all sorts of harm overtime. While I can’t list them all, we will talk about a few of the big ones.
Sulfates – These are chemical compounds often found in personal care products that can cause problems such as reduced lung function and have been linked to asthmatic symptoms.
Phthalates – These chemicals are also frequently found in personal care products. We want to be careful of these because they’ve been linked to hormone dysregulation. Hormonal imbalances and fertility issues are on the rise among men and women, so avoiding hormone disrupting ingredients like these is crucial.
Parabens – Like phthalates, parabens are also commonly found in personal care products and have also been linked to hormone dysregulation.
Fragrance – The term ‘fragrance’ is a blanket term that can hide a multitude of harmful, synthetic ingredients. Many synthetic fragrances are derived from petroleum, but regardless of the ingredients used, they do not have to be specifically listed in the ingredients’ list as long as the term ‘fragrance’ is present. Depending on what they are derived from, synthetic fragrances have been linked to skin reactions, hormonal disruption, and some have even shown to be carcinogenic.
Formaldehyde – Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing ingredients are often found in the preservatives used in personal care products. Formaldehyde is known to cause skin irritation. It’s easily absorbed by the skin and a known carcinogen.
So, we have some key terms to avoid when searching ingredient labels, but what should we be looking for? Some things I recommend looking for are words like ‘organic’ and ‘natural’. Verifications, such as the EWG verification will also indicate that a product is free from harmful ingredients. Let’s dive deeper into what these mean.
Organic Standards
When you see the word ‘organic’ on a label, it can mean a few different things. Sometimes it means every ingredient is organic while other times it can mean that the majority of the ingredients are organic. Here’s how to tell:
100% Organic – This means that every single ingredient in the product is organic.
Organic – The word ‘organic’ without the ‘100%’ means that at least 95% of the ingredients in the product are organic.
Made With Organic Ingredients – This phrase means that at least 75% of the ingredients in the product are organic.
No matter how you look at it, a product that is listed ‘organic’ in some capacity is going to signal to you that it’s using high quality, clean ingredients.
Natural vs. Organic
To understand the difference here, we must understand what organic means. Organic ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or other harmful chemicals. These chemicals are used to prevent plants from being eaten by insects or being taken over by unwanted weeds. The problem is that these chemicals are toxic and so if ingredients in our skincare products have been sprayed with them, there is then the potential for us to absorb them through the skin. Organic products should be free from these chemicals.
So, what does natural mean? Natural ingredients are derived from nature, not created in a lab. Think of it like this: all apples are natural because they are found in nature. However, some apples are sprayed with pesticides while others are not. The apples sprayed with pesticides are natural but the apples not sprayed with pesticides are natural and organic. This is the difference between natural and organic products in skincare.
EWG Certification
There are many great seals and certifications that products can hold, and I encourage you to explore them all. The EWG certification is one of my favorites, though. The EWG, Environmental Working Group, evaluates the ingredients in food, household cleaners, and personal care items. They rank products based on how harmful their ingredients are to human health and the planet. In order for a product to hold an EWG certification, the product must contain high quality ingredients and be free from ones that can harm you or the planet.
So, with all of this being said, let’s take a look at my top 5 favorite clean and anti-inflammatory skincare brands.
Founded by Jessica Alba, the Honest company offers a wide range of affordable products for baby, bath and body, skincare, makeup, and cleaning. I love their skincare products because they’re made without parabens, phthalates, SLS, dyes, PEGs, and synthetic ingredients. In fact, they have over 3,500 ingredients on their banned ingredients list. The Honest Company never tests on animals. Their products are My Green Lab Certified and toxicologist audited. Some of their products also hold EWG certifications and are certified by the National Eczema Association! Transparency in their ingredients’ list is one of their core values, so you don’t have worry about dangerous synthetic fragrances, and they offer a wide range of fragrance-free and organic products. The Honest Company does their part for the environment by prioritizing sustainable packaging and remaining focused on environmental responsibility.
Founded in 1984, Burt’s Bees holds the seal for #1 Dermatologist Recommended Natural Skincare Brand. They use real ingredients from nature and their products are formulated without parabens, phthalates, petroleum, and SLS. They are Leaping Bunny Certified (cruelty-free!) and Carbon Neutral Certified. They do their part for the planet by using recyclable packaging. Their philosophy is that they take from the earth to make their natural products, so they must give back to it. Burt’s Bees is not only natural and cruelty-free, but also very affordable.
Osea is female founded and embraces the ocean by creating clean, seaweed-infused skincare products. They prioritize naturally derived ingredients that are chosen for their safety, efficacy, and backed by scientific research. Their favorite ingredient, seaweed, is a superfood rich in vitamins, minerals, and nutrients – everything you want in a nourishing skincare product. Their products are vegan, cruelty-free, and free from questionable ingredients. They never use animal-derived ingredients, benzene, coal tar ingredients, formaldehyde, gluten, heavy metals, PEGs, parabens, phthalates, or synthetic fragrances. They are Climate Neutral Certified and Ocean Positive Verified. They’re doing their part for the planet by partnering with Terracycle to provide a recycling program for all their skincare packaging.
Primally Pure has a wide range of non-toxic skincare and wellness tools. Their products are formulated with real ingredients from nature. They use Certified Organic ingredients that are sourced from family-owned farms whenever possible. Primally Pure never uses artificial ingredients. They always ensure their products are sustainably sources and ethically processed. Keeping the planet in mind, they have a recycling program that allows you to mail back empty packaging to be recycled.
Juice Beauty uses antioxidant-rich, Certified Organic ingredients. They are Certified Cruelty-Free, Certified Vegan, Leaping Bunny Certified, and USDA Organic. They also carry products that are EWG Verified. Their products are free from chemicals such as sulfates, talc, dangerous preservatives, PEGs, parabens, mineral oil, microbeads, formaldehyde, GMOs, phthalates, artificial fragrances, and more. The founder was a passionate environmentalist before creating Juice Beauty and continues her commitment to preserving the environment by focusing on sustainable sourcing, packaging, and manufacturing.
So, there you have it. These are the top 5 clean skincare brands that I recommend for reducing inflammation. You can learn more about fighting inflammation with your personal care products here and be sure to subscribe below for all the latest anti-inflammatory hacks.
Until next time…
- Nicole