The Skin Deep website has a list of essentially all the personal hygiene products you might use, and rates them based on ingredients. You may not want to know what’s in your soap or your deodorant, but if you do, this site has all the details. It has moisturizers, soaps, deodorants, sunscreen, toothpaste, shampoo, and almost anything else you use in the bathroom. I thought it was easiest to search for a specific product. If you want to browse through a list of items, it can get a bit tedious since there are so many. The site is a little tough to use, but if you find your product, it gives you a lot of information about it (usually). While they do have some links to Amazon or other places you might find it online, it’d be nice if you could filter things by price or availability so you could find “good” product close by without paying a fortune. More pictures would also be helpful. Their rating system is easy to follow and color coded. 0-2 is good (green), 3-6 is less good (yellow), and 7-10 is bad (red). The score is supported by research and they tell you if any has been done, ranging from none to very thorough.
I’ve been using Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 liquid soap for a couple years now and have been happy with it. I use it as shampoo, body soap, and shaving cream. In a pinch (or camping) you can use it as toothpaste and laundry soap or dish washing soap. Personally, I’m a fan of the Almond scent as the Peppermint one was a little too tingly for me in the morning.
As far as deodorant is concerned, I’ve taken a liking to the Thai Deodorant Stone. For me, it seems to work better than either of the “natural” deodorant sticks (Tom’s, Jason’s) I’ve tried, and it has less chemicals and ingredients. It’s basically a salt stick which inhibits bacterial growth which causes odor. You can use it on your feet too if you have foot odor problems. I recently heard of Primal Pit Paste and would be interested to try it out if I get a chance.
I used coconut oil as lotion for a little while, and then got sucked back into the standard moisturizers because of price, and convenience, but I have been looking for a good replacement to the regular grocery store lotions. Dr. Bronner’s makes a coconut based lotion, but it’s pretty watery, absorbs (or dries) really quickly (too quickly in my opinion), and is a lot more expensive than other brands. I will try EO Everyone Lotion here in the near future and see how it is. It’s a bigger bottle and not too expensive so I hope I’ll like it, since it’d be a good alternative to the store brand lotions.
What do you use for skin care? Do you read the ingredients, like you do with food? Let us know how you stay clean and healthy!