You watch tutorials, research products and read all of the posts in the Beauty section on Daily Mom. By now, you’re probably a pro when it comes to health and beauty product knowledge, right? We’ve compiled a list of 5 random things you probably don’t know about your health and beauty products, but should!
1. Fragrance is a dangerous generic term.
“Fragrance” is a generic term that you can find on the ingredients list of anything and everything from scented candles to perfume and body wash. But does anyone actually know what goes into a fragrance? The International Fragrance Association does. According to them, there are approximately 3,163 ingredients that can make up any given fragrance. And of all those ingredients, the Environmental Working Group found nearly 1 in every 20 to be “highly hazardous.” And guess what? Not one of those ingredients is required to be listed on a product’s ingredients list as long as the word “fragrance” is used. That’s food for thought.
2. There is a right and a wrong way to use bobby pins.
You’ve probably been using bobby pins wrong your entire life and never even knew it. While the longer, straight side of the bobby pin naturally falls into the underside of your hand while you slide it into your hair, it’s actually the wavy, shorter side that’s supposed to be against your scalp. Bobby pins were specifically designed for this placement to hold your stray hairs more securely than the other way around. If you find it difficult to break an old habit, Vera Bradley has a line of beautifully patterned hair pins that will encourage you to keep the flat-sided design on the top of your hair.
3. Organic cotton swabs exist – and you should be using them!
Organic cotton swabs… who would have ever thought? While the idea behind these might seem a little over-the-top, it’s important to remember that inorganic cotton is grown using more chemical pesticides than any other crop. Think about what you use your cotton swabs for: Applying makeup to your absorbent skin, removing makeup from sensitive areas like your eyes, cleaning the insides of your ears and applying ointments to open wounds. The cotton swab is coming into contact with very sensitive, absorbent areas of your body in every one of these situations. Looking at it that way, perhaps the bigger question should be: Why aren’t more companies making organic cotton swabs?
4. Nail Polish doesn’t have a very long shelf life.
We’re all guilty of opening our makeup drawers and finding piles of abandoned nail polish bottles, some possibly decades old, that we just can’t seem to part with. That bottle of neon purple you bought in high school might come in handy next… Halloween, right? While it’s easy to become a nail polish hoarder, the truth is, most nail polish only has a shelf life of about a year. That’s right, ONE YEAR! After that, the consistency, color and overall quality starts to drastically fade.
5. You might not actually need to use toothpaste.
While there are more and more companies marketing all-natural, healthier toothpaste options, the truth is, most of the ingredients in toothpaste are unnecessary in order to achieve the simple goal of cleaning your teeth. Some dentists suggest that you can achieve this goal with or without some main toothpaste ingredients. By simply brushing your teeth thoroughly with a wet toothbrush, or adding a little bit of baking soda to it, you can clean your teeth just as well as if you were using a name-brand toothpaste. If you like the fresh-breath feeling you get from the flavoring in toothpaste, try adding a little peppermint oil to your brush.
Photo Credit: With A Red Bird On My Shoulder
Source: www.ewg.org. “3,163 ingredients hide behind the word ‘fragrance’”
