Newsweek online has a great article right now: Cancer: How Dangerous Are Our Cosmetics? Good introductory article on how to become more wary of what is present in personal care products, especially those marketed towards children.

The Environmental Working Group goes into even more detail: EWG Research Shows 22 Percent of All Cosmetics May Be Contaminated With Cancer-Causing Impurity. EWG is based in the the US.

(I have no idea if Singapore has more American-made products or European. Possibly the most common ones in the pharmacies and supermarkets are from Japan or Southeast Asia.)

The chemical highlighted in these articles is 1,4-dioxane or para-dioxane, which I have to admit I haven’t read about before, but they appear to be closely tied to SLES and SLS in products (sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate respectively). For a while now I’ve been wary of parabens and SLS, and my mum actually suffered bad eczema on her hands until she found better soaps and dish detergents from organic stores. Personally my skin has been happier since I’ve learned to avoid products with long ingredients lists, but it’s still hard to find stuff that is completely free of chemicals on the “to-watch” list.

In the US, the use of the word “organic” in cosmetics and personal products is not regulated as it is in food. As such, products with parabens and SLS can be found even in Whole Foods personal care section (and in their house brand shampoos, for that matter, as I was quite dismayed to find out). Shopping for organic or safe products in the US can be a minefield, and it’s going to be even harder in Singapore, I suspect (although Singapore probably has more access to European and Australian organic products than in the US). I may just give up searching for new products altogether and hope that Dr. Bronner’s can be found in Singapore organic stores, since their one liquid soap can be used as soap, shampoo, toothpaste (reportedly), as well as cleaning, laundry and dish detergent! And the ingredients are completely free of petrochemicals, so it’s healthier for humans and the environment.

I just hope I will really like all that smell of peppermint…