Skin Care and Cleansers: Reading the Label Actually Matters

The skin care industry has a marketing language problem. Terms like "natural," "clean," "green," and "pure" have no regulated definition in the US. Any brand can put any of those words on any product regardless of what is in it. This means the label on the front tells you almost nothing useful. The only thing that matters is the actual ingredient list on the back.

PEGs, or polyethylene glycols, are used in a lot of moisturizers and creams as emollients and thickeners. They are generally considered safe themselves but can be contaminated during manufacturing with 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide, both known carcinogens. The FDA has been monitoring this but contamination testing is not uniformly required.

Chemical sunscreen filters like oxybenzone, octinoxate, and avobenzone absorb UV radiation and convert it to heat. A 2019 FDA-funded study published in JAMA found that oxybenzone and three other chemical sunscreen ingredients were detectable in blood after just one day of use, reaching concentrations above what the FDA considers acceptable without further testing. This does not mean stop wearing sunscreen. It means mineral sunscreens using zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are worth considering as an alternative.

Ingredients to Avoid or Minimize

• Synthetic fragrance (listed as "fragrance" or "parfum")
• Oxybenzone and octinoxate in sunscreens if you prefer to avoid chemical filters
• Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives: DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, quaternium-15
• PEG compounds if contamination is a concern