Natural Is Not Always Better: The Prevalence of Allergenic Ingredients in "Clean" Beauty Products

Consumers seek "clean" and "natural" products based on their perception of safety. However, there is no standard, scientific basis, or regulatory oversight in the marketing or ingredient use for "clean" products.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of allergenic ingredients in "clean" products.

Target and Walgreens Web sites were queried for "clean" products with inclusion of 1470 products. Ingredient lists were analyzed for potential allergens. Analysis included descriptive statistics and χ2 test.

The most common allergens were fragrances/botanicals (1218/1470, 82.9%), phenoxyethanol (591/1470, 40.2%), tocopherol (545/1470, 40.2%), benzoic acid and benzoates (434/1470, 29.5%), propylene glycol (369/1470, 25.1%), alkyl glucosides (305/1470, 20.7%), ethylhexylglycerin (304/1470, 20.7%), cetyl alcohol (282/1470, 19.2%), cocamidopropyl betaine (258/1470, 17.6%), and benzyl alcohol (232/1470, 15.8%). Among fragrances/botanicals, the most common ingredients found were fragrance/perfume/aroma (911/1470, 68.2%), citrus derivatives (375/1470, 25.5%), linalool (305/1470, 20.7%), limonene (279/1470, 19.0%), and benzyl alcohol (231/1470, 15.7%). A total of 93.8% of the products (1379/1470) contained at least 1 potential allergen.

Most "clean" products contain a potential allergen, predominately fragrances and botanicals.