Ongoing exposure to toxic chemicals in our daily lives is doing harm to our bodies. And these toxic chemicals aren’t just in our food supply. What goes on our bodies goes in our bodies, so the exposure to toxins means our personal care and beauty products matter too. Therefore, we should all be looking for ways to use eco-friendly beauty brands in our daily routines.

The Consequences of Chemical Exposure

While other countries are more likely to make the health of their people a priority, around here we are left to do our own homework. In fact, more than 1,300 ingredients that are banned across Europe are “generally recognized as safe” here in the United States.

A recent study from the University of California at Berkeley found that when teen girls stopped using conventional cosmetics and personal care products, the levels of known hormone-disrupting chemicals found in their bodies dropped substantially.

There is enough reason for concern to avoid using chemical-laden products, especially when there are ethical alternatives available to us. See what we’ve selected as some of the top eco-friendly beauty brands.

Five Transparent and Genuinely Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands

1. Beautycounter

The folks at Beautycounter are committed to a health and safety standard that goes well beyond what’s required by U.S. law. They are an active member of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), which works to advance public policies that foster a vibrant, fair, and sustainable economy.

Beautycounter has banned the use of more than 1,500 questionable or harmful chemicals, including the over 1,400 chemicals banned or restricted in personal care products by the European Union, plus additional chemicals found to be of concern. The vast majority of their product packaging and shipping materials is recyclable and made with post-consumer recycled content. All of this is great but how do their products perform? Trust us, they are comparable to any other luxe shampoo, lipstick, or oil on the market.

2. Violets Are Blue

Violets Are Blue makes its Signature Line products with no chemicals or fragrances and uses premium ingredients, such as rich shea and kokum butters, as well as nourishing and essential oils, including evening primrose, jojoba, argan, rosehip, carrot seed, lavender, avocado, sesame and more. Their tea tree and lemongrass deodorants are aluminum free, naturally scented, and meticulously formulated to achieve high effectiveness. The line focuses on mature/aging skin and helps retain the youthful glow using only the best natural ingredients.

This new paraben, toxin, and cruelty-free skincare line is packaged in Miron Violet Glass, which actually serves as a natural preservative for the products. Egyptians originally used Miron Violet Glass to preserve their products and food. It has a unique property of filtering out the damaging range of light, allowing only the beneficial light to penetrate. Thus, this type of glass lengthens the durability and potency of premium and sensitive products without the addition of preservatives.

Violets Are Blue donates skin care packages to women on their first day of chemotherapy at Mount Sinai in New York City, and 10% of the Signature Line product purchases support this cause. The Signature Line products range in price from $16.00 to $48.00.

3. 100% PURE

100% PURE® is an organic cosmetics beauty firm that provides healthy skin care, color cosmetics, and bath and body products. They formulate their personal care items with only the highest quality ingredients that are completely free of harmful toxins. All products are 100% natural and 100% cruelty-free. They are also 100% free of artificial colors, artificial fragrances, synthetic chemical preservatives, and all other toxins. You’ll smell divine too using 100% PURE’s products. The aromas derive from real fruits, pure essential oils, and pure absolutes.

4. Alima Pure

At Alima Pure, they believe in minimal ingredients for maximum impact. In fact, you’ll find a list of all the ingredients used in Alima Pure cosmetics right on their website. Their products are free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic dyes, phthalates, dimethicone, petroleum, talc, bismuth oxychloride, and nanoparticles. You can easily change the magnetic pans in their refillable compacts for a new one when your product runs out.

A certified B Corporation, Alima Pure is dedicated to corporate responsibility with a commitment to people, profit, and planet. They just celebrated seven years of being carbon neutral. What does this mean? Well, they were able to offset 100% of their corporate carbon emissions. Since their first year in business, Alima Pure has been a member of 1% for the Planet. They donate 1% of annual gross revenue to grassroots environmental organizations dedicated to protecting our planet. Plus, they never their products on animals.

5. Juice Beauty

Juice Beauty offers award-winning skin care, makeup, and hair care products that meet rigorous organic regulations supported by solid eco-values. They use ingredients from USDA-certified organic farms. Their formulations contain no parabens, petroleum, pesticides, propylene or butylene glycols, silicones, talc, carbon black, phthalates, sulfates, PEGs, TEA, DEA, GMO, silicones, artificial dyes or synthetic fragrances.

Juice Beauty never uses animal byproducts and has even received the PETA Courage in Commerce Award. They also source as many ingredients as possible from the Western United States. Why does that matter? The headquarters is in California so sourcing ingredients locally limits fuel waste and controls quality. Additionally, boxes and labels are made with recycled or FSC-certified paper, printed with soy ink, and sourced in the United States.

Now more than ever, transparency is key to finding genuinely eco-friendly beauty brands and personal care products. We want to purchase from companies such as the ones mentioned here—companies that are authentic and transparent in their quest to provide eco-friendly products. After all, our health is at stake.

Jessica Cohen is a health coach, a greener living enthusiast, and an advocate of social good. On her website, EatSleepBe.com, she provides tips for being kinder to yourself, to others, and to the planet. Additionally, Jessica enjoys consulting with like-minded companies to create site concepts, develop editorial and social media calendars, ghost write, publish press releases, and run successful outreach campaigns. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram at EatSleepBe.

What are some of your favorite eco-friendly beauty brands? Let us know below or share on Facebook and Twitter.