Nourish No-No List

The Nourish No-No List

At Nourish Clean Beauty, we believe that beauty shouldn't harm our health, our integrity, and our environment. Each product featured and offered at Nourish Clean Beauty is carefully selected to be free of any the harmful ingredients that may cause issues to your health or the environment. And we ensure and insist on integrity and transparency in the products we present to you.

Every product is cruelty-free. We ensure that our carefully selected brand partners do not sell in China, which requires animal testing.

These No-No ingredients include:

Ingredient Name Function Concerns
Parabens (including methyl-, ethyl-, butyl-, propylparaben) Preservative Linked to hormone disruption, reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, and skin irritations.
Phthalates (including DEP, DBP, DEHP) Skin conditioner, plasticizer Linked to hormone disruption. May be harmful to reproductive organs.

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole)

BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)

 Preservative Linked to cancer (possible human carcinogen) and hormone disruption. May cause skin irritation. 

Phenoxyethanol

** Acceptable if under 1% of total formulation.

 Preservative May cause skin irritation. 

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives

(Including 
Quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea, polyoxymethylene urea, sodium hydroxymeth-ylglycinate, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bromopol) and glyoxal)

 Preservative

Known human carcinogen. Linked to organ toxicity, and a known respiratory toxicant. May cause skin irritation.

Colorless, strong smelling gas. Commonly found in nail polish, nail glue, eyelash glue, hair gel, hair-smoothing products, baby shampoo, body soap, body wash, color cosmetics.
Synthetic Fragrance / Parfum Fragrance

Long term exposure may contribute to increased immunotoxicity and allergic reactions. May cause skin irritations, especially for sensitive skin. 

* Any fragrance you see listed on our website will be identified as either natural, organic, and/or essential oils based.

Ethanolamines

MEA, DEA, TEA

 Emulsifier Linked to cancer (possible human carcinogen). Can bioaccumulate in the upper layers of the skin after exposure. Can affect reproductive health.

Microbeads

(Including 
Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Nylon (PA))

 Exfoliator Environmental issue (very hard to break down), and can have ability to absorb toxic chemicals.

Oxybenzone 

(Including 
Avobenzone,
Benzophenone-3)

 Chemical Sunscreen

Commonly used in chemical sunscreens to protect skin from UVA/UVB sun damage. However, it can cause skin allergies, disrupt hormone and reproductive systems, and has shown to contribute to killing of coral reefs.

For a safer alternative, we recommend physical (mineral) sunscreens with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide as the main ingredient(s).

Hydroquinone

(Including Benzene-1,4-diol, Quinol)

 Skin bleaching / lightening

Can irritate and sensitize skin.

For a safer alternative, we recommend niacinamide, salicylic acid, and/or Vitamins A or C to help treat and fade hyperpigmentation.

Lead

 Color additive

Known carcinogen and can bioaccumulate on the top layers of your skin. Can affect reproductive systems.
Selenium Sulfide Anti-infective agent This is an antifungal medication that can lead to skin irritation and hair loss. It has been linked to cancer.

Last updated June 2021.