Cleaner Creams: What You Don't Know About Your Skin Products That May Hurt You

Credit: Mark Wagoner

Lip balm, moisturizers, shaving cream, and mouthwash: The products you use every day are supposed to make you feel, smell, and look better. But between germs (yours and others'), product breakdown, and toxic ingredients, your medicine cabinet could make you sick.

Contaminated makeup can lead to infections like pinkeye and cold sores. So no sharing. Otherwise, keeping your cleaners clean is pretty easy. Stop swigging mouthwash straight from the bottle. Your mouth is full of bacteria whether or not you brush, floss, and gargle compulsively. Lower the germ count in other products by keeping your fingers to yourself and using cotton balls or swabs instead.

No matter how sanitary you are, though, you can't prevent the ravages of time. "Chemicals can change when exposed to extremes of heat and cold, which can cause a breakdown in preservatives, making it easier for bacteria to grow," says Timothy Kropp, senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group [1] (EWG), a public health advocacy organization. Replace personal-care products before they start to break down and decay -- every three to six months. This applies even to items like shaving cream and moisturizers. Watch for changes in smell and consistency; the extremes of heat and cold that products are often exposed to can age them fast, especially if they are all-natural.

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Click to enlarge picture [2]Credit: BWG database

Great excuse to go shopping, right? Yes, but read the labels. Personal-care products can contain butylated hydroxytoluene (a suspected human carcinogen), glycolic acid (which increases the risk of skin cancer), and potassium lactate (which may increase sensitivity to sunlight).

So do your homework first. The EWG [1] publishes safety ratings of personal-care products. (It produced this information because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Cosmetics and Colors allows manufacturers to use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market their product without approval from the FDA.) Products rated as "high hazard" may cause skin sensitivity, breast cancer, skin cancer, allergies, blood poisoning, and risky pregnancies. And lest you contend that you're not eating the stuff, after all, note that luxury and bargain brands alike contain penetration enhancers that cause products meant only for external use to find their way into your bloodstream when applied to the skin. Eeewwww.