Hey Beauties,
When I first started living low-tox, I carried a little ingredient guide in my handbag. I'd stand in the aisle for ten minutes turning bottles over, squinting at words I couldn't pronounce. It took me forever. But the more labels I read, the faster I got.
Here's everything I learned, in about a 60 second read.
Second 0–10: Ignore the front
"Natural." "Pure." "Clean." "Dermatologist tested." None of these words have a strict legal definition in Australian cosmetics; some companies use them more for marketing than truth. They're also subjective. What's 'clean' to one brand might not be 'clean' to another.
Second 10–25: Read the first five
Ingredients are listed from the highest concentration to the lowest. The first five make up most of what's in the bottle. If the star ingredient on the front is at the very bottom of the list, there's probably not much of it in there.
Second 25–40: Hunt for "fragrance" or "parfum"
It's one word that can legally cover dozens of undisclosed ingredients. It isn't automatically a dealbreaker, but it's a question mark for everyday products. We don't allow synthetic fragrances in the products we stock and prefer full transparency. Brands that use essential oils often list them by name, which is more transparent.
Second 40–55: Check for the aliases
The tricky ones hide under other names. The quick scan:
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Ends in -paraben? Raised eyebrow.
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Has fluoro in it? That's likely PFAS.
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DMDM hydantoin or quaternium-15? Those are formaldehyde releasers.
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Methylisothiazolinone? A common irritant.
The full list, with aliases, lives on our BO No List.
Second 55–60: Trust your gut
If a brand makes it hard to find the full ingredient list, that usually tells you something too.
