Mandatory ingredient lists - Cosmetics

The following is a photo of the ingredients list for tube of hand lotion. It is manufactured by Crabtree and Evelyn, a reputable English brand.


My question is why would anyone need to have so many ingredients in a simple hand lotion and how would the average user who might be looking for a known allergen. make sense of such a list. There are probably over 100 items. I am increasingly seeing such lists on cosmetics but not on food. We would never accept this number of ingredients in a food - why do we accept it in cosmetics?

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I believe also the words used for the ingredients are slightly different from the normal English words we would use for the same chemical, isn’t it something the cosmetic industry does?
I had downloaded an app called think dirty which has a data base on ingredients and the good and bad ratings on products. Unfortunately many I had in Australia didn’t work but you can scan and ask them to add.

It is a worry with all the ingredients in these products, we tend to not use shampoo now, great book on being shampoo free and natural alternatives (also archivist I saw last year regards an item that got shampoo damaged said it is one of the worst chemicals). We also use just normal soap none of that liquid stuff anymore, particularly after the news article on it earlier in the year. Cleaning products are just as bad.

Going back to ‘basics’ not only seems a trend but safer for your health from the added chemicals we have. Don’t get me started on fire retardants in fabrics!!

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That’s a jolly good question!

I stick with Lush, principally because they are actively against animal testing, but also because they are beautiful, simple products which work well.

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I start sneezing when I walk past the open door of a Lush store, I would never dare to venture inside. For that reason I would never buy their products, but seventeen ingredients in their hand cream sure beats the Crabtree and Evelyn product…

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Hi, I have written articles to help people decipher skin care ingredients lists, find the report here: http://bit.ly/2xS2lFV … apologies for the fluro in some of the text, I am in the process of editing!
A rule of thumb, the first 4 ingredients make up 90% to 95% of the entire product… mostly water!
If the beneficial ingredient is at the end, then it will be of little value.
During manufacture, some ingredients could be contaminated with 1’4 dioxane or formaldehyde, known to cause cancer. As a contaminate, and not an intended ingredient, and not listed!
Here is the link for contaminates …http://bit.ly/2xI5wh3

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Thanks, Karen for the list. Yes, I also have found Aveeno a nasty one. My skin itched all over until two showers were needed to calm me down!

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Hi, Just checked out the Crabtree and Evelyn bottle and note that they use palm oil, so I wouldn’t be buying it anyway. But I’m glad they do list everything, even if it’s ridiculously over the top as in this product. What I look for before the list of ingredients is whether the company tests on animals. and don’t buy if I can’t find a statement that they don’t.

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my pleasure … here is my report on Aveeno! …http://bit.ly/2qQ4LPr

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