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What Is EWG Skin Care and How Can It Help Me?

Words By Martina

We all want skin care products that are safe and effective for our skin but how do we even know if our products fit the bill? I mean, if we’re honest, when we read an ingredients list on the back of skin care products, half of the words mean nothing to us unless you walk around with a scientific dictionary in your back pocket. Do you? For most of us the answer is ‘No’ so what should we do if we want a product that we can feel good about using but have no idea how to make this decision? This is where EWG skin care enters the room!

The Labels on Products

Canned tuna has its ‘blue tick’ label from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to tell us that it has been sustainably sourced. OK, I get that. Cosmetics have the ‘leaping bunny’ label that tells us it’s free from any animal testing.1 Yep, got it. Vegan foods have the ‘green vegan flower’ logo verified by the Vegan Society that tells us that the product has absolutely no animal-derived ingredients in it.1 Ok, that also makes sense. But what about skin care and the actual goodness and safety of the ingredients?

EWG Rating System

Yes, we can see on a label that something is ‘organic’ but that doesn't necessarily mean the product is safe or good for your skin. Poison ivy can be organically harvested. (I’m just saying!) That doesn’t mean I want to smear it on my face! This is where the EWG Skin Care rating system comes in handy. EWG, which stands for Environmental Working Group, has come up with a system to rate the safety of products on a scale of 1 to 10 based on the ingredients it contains. The lower the number, the better the rating. You want to aim for products with a 1 or a 2 to feel like your skin is in very safe hands. You definitely don’t want to take any risks with a 10! 

There are many skin care ingredients we should avoid and what EWG looks and tests for are chemicals and possible toxic ingredients that could pose a threat to your health – what they call their list of ‘chemicals of concern’.2 (I wonder if poison ivy is on that list?) They look closely for ingredients that have possible links to cancer, asthma, birth defects or even fertility issues so that you are aware of what risks you are taking when using a particular product. Yikes! I’m cringing about what might have been inside all those cheap skin care products I used in my earlier life! 

It’s great news that after going through the EWG testing system, Gloves In A Bottle Shielding Lotion came out with a brilliant low rating number 2! This means that it stands up to their ‘safe’ product expectations and comes with very low risks in terms of looking after your skin and overall health.

With any skincare product there is always a minimal risk because products react differently for different people since we all have different skin types and every person’s skin is unique. But knowing that a respected testing system like EWG has labeled Gloves In A Bottle Shielding Lotion as a safe product lets you know that your skin – and your health – are in great hands!

1 https://ethicalelephant.com/cruelty-free-vegan-labels-logos/

2 https://www.ewg.org/ewgverified/

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