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Safer Skin Care: How Far Do You Go?

By Kristie Turck •  Published 01/30/10 •  3 min read

Last updated on August 19th, 2022 at 10:28 pm

When I have some extra cash (which is not often) I sometimes go through our list of Safer Skin Care and purchase a sampler set of something I haven’t tried yet. It gives me a chance to try something new first hand as well as keep up with any reformulations that might occur as time goes on.  Recently I decided to buy a sample gift set from Mama Rose’s Naturals.  Their brand has been on our cheat sheet for a while since their website touts natural and lists the ingredients for each item.

I was dismayed to discover that a few of their basic baby skincare contains a little propylene glycol.  It has been a while since we’ve discussed ingredients on SafeMama so let me refresh our memory of why we try to avoid it.  Propylene Glycol is a penetration enhancer that is basically a vehicle to bring other materials into your skin. It’s also a suspected immune system toxin, neurotoxin, reproductive toxin, respiratory toxin, and skin toxin.  I should also mention its a chemical (classified as a hazardous material) they use to de-ice planes.  My go-to gal, Stephanie from Bubble & Bee, for ingredients has a better explanation of why it should be avoided on her Chemical of the Day blog.

I’m not sure what bothered me more… that it was in the products (even in a tiny amount) or that they don’t list it on their website in the ingredients.  I purchased a few items based on the ingredients they list on their website only to find out that its more of a “generalization” of the ingredients rather than an exact list.

So how safe is safe enough? Maybe there is trace amounts of it in a few products.  Is that ok?  Here at SafeMama, I try to find the safest of the safest but I am also realistic.  Not everyone wants to drop a wad of cash on organic skincare.  Or do they?

When it comes to my kids I try to find the safest stuff I can (that works) but I want to also consider skin care that may be free of the biggest threats (parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, etc) and not 100%  chemical free… because I am not everyone and I recognize that.  Some of you want something cheaper and “safer” and some of you want the “safest”.   My personal conflict lies in where to draw the line here on SafeMama.com.  The more I learn about ingredients, the more natural and organic I demand for safety.  Unfortunately, that leaves less to select from as my list of requirements grows.

Is there such thing as too safe? Some kids have allergies to natural ingredients or terrible eczema that can only be controlled with mainstream synthetic creams or prescriptions.  What then? Are we all taking it too far?

What do you think? Readers… how safe is safe in your eyes? Would you rather see SafeMama put on the full-throttle of safety in our skin care recommendations or do you want more options? Would you prefer a rating system? I’ll be releasing a new cheat sheet for baby skin care this year and would love some input from our loyal readers.  How far is far enough? I give the floor to you… I’ll be interested to hear everyone’s perspective.

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