I read this blog post by Grace from Pure & Green Organics with great interest as it outlines some great Shopping Guides that help you to navigate your way through the maze of ingredients on cosmetic labels. I have personally used all of these guides and found them excellent. I particularly like the phone apps as they are portable.

Grace from Pure & Green writes: The good news is there are guides already in existence and most of them very reasonably priced, and some are even free.  I have broken the options down to the ones I have used and feel comfortable recommending &  also into three formats (1)  PC downloads you can print out (2) apps for your iphone or (3) apps for your android phone

Cosmetic Dictionary

While most cosmetic dictionaries are so bulky you couldn’t possibly bring them to the shops with you, one very clever lady named Ruth Winter has prepared her dictionary in multiple formats making life a little easier.  The book is titled “A Consumer’s Dictionary of  Cosmetic Ingredients – 7th edition” .  Here is a blurb from her about the latest edition

“Everything you need to know about the safety and efficacy of cosmetics and cosmeceuticals. Is it a cosmetic? A drug? A nutrient? Its becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference with the cosmetic companies combining the three. …. . So before you slather on that wrinkle-reducing cream or swallow a skin-rejuvenating vitamin, find out whats in your health and beauty products with A Consumers Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients.”

I bought her dictionary in e-book form and it does the job although the focus is on explaining the ingredients, not emphatically stating avoid this or that.

You can buy the book as an e-book or  in hard cover  (which is probably easier to navigate than the e-book) both versions cost $17.99

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307459862

or as an iphone app – also $17.99

http://www.butterscotch.com/preview/692868/A-Consumers-Dictionary-Of-Cosmetic-Ingredients-7th-Edition-By-Ruth-Winter

nothing available for android phones at the moment

If $17.99 is outside your budget you could print out the free shoppers guide from the David Suzuki Foundation.  This little guide is well,  little, so it focuses on what they have called the dirty dozen, the top 12 “families” of chemicals to avoid.  It’s not as comprehensive as Ruth Winter’s book but it’s free, easy to carry and a good start.

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/downloads/2010/whats-inside-shoppers-guide.pdf

Update: readers have recommended “The Chemical Maze Shopping Companion 4th edition: Your Guide to Food Additives and Cosmetic Ingredients”.  Author – Bill Statham.  This book is very small – compact enough to fit into your handbag while shopping, and is available through online booksellers for approx $16.00

Sunscreen Guides

For help in choosing a sunscreen, there is a free guide available from Friends of the Earth which you can print out.  It’s focus is on nano-free products not the overall toxicity.

http://nano.foe.org.au/safesunscreens

Environmental Working Group have produced a report into the toxicity of sunscreens, which you could access free with an iphone  app

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ewg-sunscreen-buyers-guide/id378866183?mt=8

I find a combination of the two guides is useful as they each have a different focus, it’s only by combining them that you get the whole picture.

Ed. note: Do you know of any great cosmetic resources. If so please share the love so we can all benefit! Thanks.

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