Buying a good moisturizer is a quest that involved multiple tabs on Google, crosschecking ingredient lists, potential health implications, product reviews from your favorite influencer, company brand image. However, more often than not, the chemical jargon leaves us feeling more confused than ever. (RIP mental health)

Glycolic acid. Titanium dioxide. Niacinamide. These are some common ingredients in skincare products but what do they mean? It feels like we need a degree in chemistry just to understand the ingredients in our everyday beauty products. Why make it so complicated? The cosmetic line makes it compulsory for products to label their ingredients according to the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI) system to standardize the naming of ingredients globally. The results? It makes no sense to shoppers.

If we are allergic to eggs, it is easy to avoid all products with eggs on their ingredient label, but for skincare products, it is much more complicated than that. What’s the purpose of having chemical compounds on a tiny ingredient label if we do not understand them?

You have the right to know what’s in YOUR products

Consumers have the right to know and understand individual contents of products they purchase. There is a need for complete ingredient transparency to raise awareness around consumer rights in the blur of marketing hypes and ambiguous labels. This is crucial as consumers need to be able to understand what’s in their products in order to choose the least harmful products.

How do we decode cosmetic ingredient labels?

Health apps and websites. Fortunately, there are many apps that function as ingredient analyzers to determine the components of your product and a thorough analysis and summary of its ingredients. They do the hard work for you of looking into science journals to come up with a paragraph long summary explaining the functions and features of the ingredient/ product.

Jump to:

1Source

Ingredient analyzers have popped up over the years to accumulate a database of products and ingredients to breakdown the ingredients into lay man friendly, bite sized factoids.

With a database of 500,000 ingredients and consumer product data, 1Source breaks down complicated chemical jargon into page long summaries about main features of ingredients, and backs it up with links from medical and scientific journals for those who intend to have a deeper understanding of the ingredients. Product can’t be found on the database? Just take a picture and upload the product to our website / app in just a few clicks!

Other Features:

Potential Risk Index

Furthermore, 1Source curated its very own potential risk index to determine the harmfulness of a product. An ingredient will be assigned a level 1 rating (green) to level 10 rating if it has been banned or classified as a carcinogen by the IRAC. The rating of green, yellow and red make it easy to determine the safety of the product.

Health Filter

Besides being an ingredient analyzer site, 1Source is the only site in the world that screens products based on personal health conditions. Our app also allows users to quickly scan barcodes of products and alert them if any hazardous chemicals are found. Simply by inputting your own health profile our website, the app can help filter and find products which will not trigger your health conditions and warn you of those that do.

INCIDecoder

This soft purple and white color scheme with simple infographics is cute and easy on the eyes. The website contains basic functions, making it user friendly and easy to navigate. Highlights of its functions include searching for a product or ingredient, showcasing products and cute infographics featuring different chemical compounds.

Product / Ingredient Ratings

INCIDecoder contains rating system from ” no rating” (functional ingredients) to “superstar” ingredients which does good things for the skin and is backed by research. After looking at this rating, INCIDecoder makes it possible to look for products with or without certain ingredients. Product not in the system? Create an account and upload it.

Code Check

Code Check is an app only platform that scans product barcode and rates ingredients based on scientific sources. The app is first ever ingredient analyzer in the industry and aims to help people discover cleaner and healthier product alternatives. Ratings can be adjusted according to preference. However, the rating system is a little impractical and hard to decipher as the overlapping ratings make it hard to understand at one glance.

Think Dirty

This app only platform contains over 850,000 cosmetics from Canada and the US. They have a rating called Dirty Meter which comprises of ingredient information, certifications and health impacts.

My Bathroom Rating:

Keeps track of what you already have in your bathroom. Figure out your current bathroom rating, and track your process on “cleaning” it up.

Shopping lists:

Identical to Amazon or other E-commerce websites, save products to a basket to make shopping easier.

Shop now:

Want a particular product? Buy them directly from Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Well.ca, Sephora.com and more!

UPC Submission: Can’t find your product on the database, scan the barcode of the product and submit it to the app.

Courtesy of Think Dirty on google app store

A more sustainable world

If consumers were to understand individual components in their products and its toxicity, consumers will start making smart, informed decisions and choose less harmful and toxic products. The whole cycle changes.The supply chain and the environment becomes cleaner. What we need for a more Eco friendly and sustainable world is lesser marketing hypes, smarter consumer choices and a world of ingredient transparency.

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