Poll: Do you look at the ingredients first?

[TreeHugger]

Do you look at a product's ingredients list before you buy it? I was the complete opposite of what one would call a "hippie" in terms of products, but I recently did a complete 180.

I figure that we're using shampoo, shaving creams/soaps, and body products every day of our lives which will turn out to be at least 60-70 years, and that it has to add up somehow over the course of our lives.

Plus, I don't think it's a matter of trading in the great for mediocre to be healthier as most reviews on here for natural products are right up there with the others (see Speick, Kirk's + Dr. Bronner's soap, etc..). I would hate to end up some years down the road having a condition that may have possibly been caused by skin products that I could've easily been swapped for something more natural.

What are your thoughts?

 

[gixxer]

Just recently I have started looking at what goes into stuff. I mean, come on who wants to put UREA on their face? I really have no idea what it does and it probably has no relation to human waste but it just sounds nasty. I was gonna buy some Head Slick to use on my face just to try it and I saw it had urea in it, put it back.

 

[sanuginz]

I'm a big reader of ingredients. If I don't understand what something is I'll type it in google and find out. It's not just 60 years of exposure that can lead to cancer with some of these chemicals but also hormonal changes and other health effects. Some people in the store think I must be crazy to look for parabens, sulfites, alcohols, active ingredients, etc. on products, but it really helps me get past the marketing and closer to a better product.

 

[LinuxMintyFresh]

I always read ingredients to find out what kind of things are going to end up in my system one way or another. Reading ingredients lists can also be beneficial if you are looking for a product to do something and know which ingredients will get that done- for instance if you can read OTC drug labels you can save yourself from buying overpriced conglomerates of other products like Tylenon PM or Advil Cold. I also read nutrition facts when I shop and that helps to keep me from buying a ton of junk.

 

[Barbarian]

Need a 'Sometimes' choice. Since I fit into that category, I marked No.

 

[Lusitano]

I always read the ingredient list, and I'm trying to get mostly organic healthcare products. I already have organic shampoo, soap and moisturizer.

 

[Dyl]

Just recently I have started looking at what goes into stuff. I mean, come on who wants to put UREA on their face? I really have no idea what it does and it probably has no relation to human waste but it just sounds nasty. I was gonna buy some Head Slick to use on my face just to try it and I saw it had urea in it, put it back.

Urea is apparently extremely moisturising for the skin. It is now made artificially (ie not extracted from urine) but is identical to the urea found in urine. It is naturally found in skin as a moisturiser and its moisturising capabilities are comparable to glycerine.

 

[Bluebeard]

I read the ingredients, but I don't think it matters as much as the ingredients found in food. It's still pretty important though

 

[ru06]

It might be slightly biased, as you are asking this question in such a forum, but yes. Ask the general public and it will probably be no.

 

[finnmcool]

I am allergic to lanolin of all things so I have to look at the ingredients of anything that goes on my skin.

 

[PhxPhin]

getting more active .... started with sunscreen and that kind of opened my eyes a little bit .... my wife thinks I'm kinda nuts though

 

[plpenn]

sometimes

 

[Catalin]

I always look at ingredients. I don't like parabens and lauryl sulphate.

 

[davros]

I look at ingredients more now than before I got into all this wetshaving madness, but I don't do it religiously, especially with non-shaving related goods. For the most part, I'm interested in things like the proportions of ingredients - in the case of soap, whether or not it has tallow, how much glycerin, etc. There are a few things I like and look out for in shampoos etc., such as tea tree, but you don't generally need to look at the ingredients to know they're in there.

If I have a choice of two different products which I know nothing else about and have no experience with, and which seem equivalent in other respects, I probably tend to incline towards the one with fewer ingredients, but it's not a situation that comes up very often.

Tbh, when I look at ingredients, mostly I see things which I have no idea what they are, and I'm largely content in my ignorance. Finding out about ingredients properly is hard work, even for reasonably literate and intelligent people. It's made considerably harder by the fact that a huge chunk of the easily available skincare information is advertising in one form or another, and like most advertising, it's a minefield of male bovine excrement, designed to lead people to make uninformed and irrational decisions. In economics jargon, there are opportunity costs to doing such work, and there are better, or at any rate less tedious things I'd rather be doing. As far as I can see, credible reports of substances that can cause a serious health problem through chronic application in small doses to the skin without causing prior symptoms are thin on the ground.

 

[ZJ68]

I'll look at the ingredients, there are some I favor over others.

I do not automatically veer towards the "more natural" products, I do not believe natural is necessarily better and I do believe the appeal to nature is frequently a marketing gimmick to get people to overpay for underperforming products.

 

[bobfarvour]

I don't think I ever have.

 

[oscarbowman]

I have noticed of late I don't go shopping without my glasses! Some of that small prints a B*%ch!!

 

[Geordon]

Need a 'Sometimes' choice. Since I fit into that category, I marked No.

Same here. "sometimes" is my answer. But, I'm usually looking for something in there that I want, rather than something that I DON'T want (e.g. I don't give a rat's about parabens, but I <3 tea tree oil)

 

[Dalejr]

Nope, as long as I like it I don't care whats in it....

 

[JimT]

I always read ingredients before I buy.

JimT