PARABENS, PHTHALATES, FRAGRANCES, EXPLAINED 

You've likely heard a lot of hype about safety in the skin care ingredients we use on our skin. Which product ingredients are good and which are bad? Let's talk about which to avoid, starting with parabens.  How bad are they? Parabens are believed to disrupt hormone function by mimicking estrogen.  A British study found traces of five parabens in the breast tissue of 19 out of 20 women studied. When in a product, it's a very small amount, but still. If you want to avoid it, you'll have to find a different preservative to use in a product... or, leave it out altogether if it's not necessary (that's what we do!)

Here are 5 ingredients to avoid, what they're used for, and why we don't need to use them:

1. PARABENS: a preservative that extends the shelf life of products to months and even years. MadeOn doesn't use preservatives. Why not? We don't have water in our products... just beeswax, butters and oils. 

2. PHTHALATES: a group of chemicals that helps the skin care product stick to the skin. Congress has actually banned several types of phthalates already from children’s products, so let's just go ahead and avoid those altogether, shall we? We use coconut oil instead, which softens with the warmth of our skin. It helps the lotion (and other products we make) absorb right in on contact.

3. FRAGRANCE: Companies are allowed to keep the exact collection of ingredients used in this a trade secret. So, you don't really know if this is what caused your allergic reaction to a new product you just tried. For the few products that we sell that have a scent, we only use essential oils (and we tell you what they are!)

4. SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE AND/OR SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE: This is a foaming agent. It's not necessarily dangerous, but it can be a skin irritant/allergen. Our shampoo bars do not contain it and you'll find that they foam up just fine!

5. FORMALDEHYDE: Sometimes, although formaldehyde is not used, substances that release formaldehyde are. These have been found in cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, lotions and sunscreens as a preservative. We don't need preservatives in our products, so we can safely stay away from this.

This can be frustrating to have yet another list to monitor. We believe that rather than live in fear, just know that if you find products that do not contain these ingredients, you're not going to miss them! In all of these cases, if you find skin care that doesn't depend on the above ingredient to make it work, you'll be fine! 

Rest assured, our products do not need any of the above in order for our products to "work." No need for fragrances to get you hooked on the scent, or foaming agents, and best of all, no need for harmful preservatives.