January 18, 2025 4 min read

Understanding Ingredient Safety in Baby and Personal Care Products

Choosing safe, effective personal care products for yourself and your family can feel overwhelming when faced with ingredient lists full of unfamiliar terminology. But knowledge is power! By learning which ingredients to avoid and why, you can confidently select products without falling into fear-mongering or false proxies like "pronounceability."

This guide breaks down the key ingredients to avoid in baby and personal care products while highlighting safer alternatives.

A Note on Risk Tolerance

When it comes to ingredient safety, everyone has a unique level of risk tolerance. At Bright Body, we choose to err on the side of caution, particularly when the data surrounding an ingredient is unclear or mixed. Our philosophy is simple: when safer alternatives are available, the performance benefit of a questionable ingredient rarely justifies its risks.

To guide our formulations, we use only ingredients rated the safest by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). In addition, our ingredients meet the strict standards of ECOCERT and Whole Foods, reflecting our commitment to creating products that are both effective and responsibly sourced.

Remember, your risk tolerance may differ from ours, but this guide outlines the ingredients we recommend avoiding based on our research and approach to ingredient safety.

Ingredients to Avoid

Here are six categories of ingredients we recommend steering clear of, especially for babies and people with sensitive skin, along with safer alternatives to consider.

1. Harsh Surfactants

Surfactants are cleaning agents that help remove dirt and oil, but many commonly used options are overly harsh and strip away moisture—especially on baby skin.

Avoid these surfactants:

  • Cocamidopropyl betaine
  • Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)
  • Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)
  • Sodium coco sulfate

Why they’re harmful: These surfactants can disrupt the skin's natural barrier, leading to dryness, irritation, or allergic reactions.

Look for instead: Gentle, plant-based alternatives like decyl glucoside or sodium lauroyl isethionate, which cleanse without over-stripping.

2. Silicones and Irritating Detangling Agents

Silicones coat hair and skin to create a smooth texture, but they don’t nourish or support long-term health. Many common detangling agents are also known irritants.

Avoid these ingredients:

  • Silicones: Anything ending in -cone or -siloxane
  • Detangling agents: Behentrimonium methosulfate, behentrimonium chloride, cocamidopropyl betaine, distearoylethyl dimonium chloride, and cetrimonium chloride

Why they’re harmful: Silicones provide only a superficial effect, while irritating detanglers can lead to allergic reactions or skin sensitivity.

Look for instead: Gentler detangling agents like lauryl lactyl lactate, which gently condition and nourish.

3. Highly Drying Ingredients

Babies’ skin loses water and oil much faster than adult skin, making it especially vulnerable to drying ingredients.

Avoid these drying ingredients:

  • Disodium EDTA and tetrasodium EDTA
  • Simple alcohols: Alcohol, alcohol denat., isopropyl alcohol, SD alcohol

Why they’re harmful: These ingredients dehydrate the skin and can weaken the skin barrier, leading to irritation.

Note: Not all alcohols are harmful—fatty alcohols like cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol are moisturizing and perfectly safe.

Look for instead: Hydrating ingredients like aloe vera, glycerin, or hyaluronic acid, which lock in moisture and support the skin barrier.

4. Synthetic Fragrances

Synthetic fragrances are the number one allergen for both babies and adults. They often contain phthalates and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Avoid these fragrance labels:

  • Fragrance
  • Parfum
  • Perfume

Why they’re harmful: Synthetic fragrance is considered proprietary information, meaning brands don’t have to disclose what’s inside. This lack of transparency leaves room for hidden allergens and toxic compounds.

Look for instead: Products scented with essential oils (in safe concentrations) or labeled as “unscented" or "fragrance-free" which indicates the absence of synthetic fragrances.

5. Harsh Preservatives

Preservatives are absolutely necessary to prevent microbial and fungal growth, but some commonly used options are linked to health concerns.

Avoid these preservatives:

  • Parabens: Methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben
  • Isothiazolinones: Methylisothiazolinone
  • Aldehydes: DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea
  • Phenoxyethanol: many brands switch to phenoxyethanol when moving away from parabens. While it's better than some of the most harmful parabens, its risks are on par with several other parabens.

Why they’re harmful: These preservatives have been associated with skin irritation, hormone disruption, and the release of formaldehyde—a known carcinogen.

Look for instead: Organic acid preservatives like gluconodeltalactone, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate, which are safe and effective.

6. Other Petroleum Derivatives

Petroleum-derived ingredients can be contaminated with toxic by-products like 1,4-dioxane and nitrosamines during manufacturing.

Avoid these petroleum derivatives:

  • PPGs and PEGs: Any ingredient with PEG or PPG in the name
  • DEAs and TEAs: Any ingredient with DEA or TEA in the name
  • Propanediol (propylene glycol)

Why they’re harmful: These contaminants pose risks when absorbed through the skin or combined with other ingredients.

Look for instead: Plant-derived emulsifiers like glyceryl stearate.While emulsifiers are a necessary ingredient for any product that contains a mix of water and oil-based ingredients, many petroleum alternatives are used as cheap fillers, so the alternative is to not use them at all!

Learn More About Our Ingredients

At Bright Body, ingredient safety is at the core of everything we do. That’s why we use only the safest ingredients rated by the EWG. All of our formulations also meet the rigorous standards of ECOCERT and Whole Foods, ensuring a balance of safety, performance, and sustainability.

Curious about what goes into our products? Click here to explore every ingredient we use and why we’ve chosen it.

Conclusion

Ingredient safety isn’t one-size-fits-all, but by understanding which ingredients to avoid and why, you’re empowered to make decisions that align with your values and health priorities.

At Bright Body, we believe that safer ingredients and high performance go hand in hand. By choosing products formulated with care and backed by science, you can protect your family’s health while supporting a more sustainable, transparent beauty industry.

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