2 Free Beauty Apps You Need
Two free apps recently launched to make your trip to the drug store easier and healthier: the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep app and the independent Canadian app Think Dirty. Just scan the barcode or type in the name of the beauty product you’re curious about, and the apps will flag any potentially toxic ingredients on the label.
Here’s how the two apps stack up:
App: Think Dirty
Products in database: 12,000
Rates: Potential links to cancer, reproductive or immune system toxicity, and allergens
How it works: Think Dirty will pull up a “dirty meter,” which gives you a health impact rating between zero (harmless) and 10 (serious health impact) on each rated category. From there, you can check out the ingredient list on a particular product, and find out what each is used for and why it’s a threat to your health.
Sources: International government warning lists, peer-reviewed studies, and nonprofit health and science agencies like the European Union Health Commission and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Highlight: Think Dirty’s founder is a designer by trade, so the app is sleek and chic, gives several product recommendations, and makes it easy to keep track of your most (and least) wanted cosmetics in easy-to-use lists.
For: iPhone
Cost: Free
App: Skin Deep
Products in database: 78,000
Rates: Potential links to cancer, developmental or reproductive toxicity, and allergens
How it works: Each product gets an overall rating of how much of a health threat it’s considered to be (zero being harmless and 10 being a serious concern), and a low, medium, or high label for each of the three categories of cancer, allergens, and developmental or reproductive toxicity. It’ll also pull up a quick-hit list of the worst ingredients in question, or let you sort them by low, moderate, or high concern level.
Sources: The Environmental Working Group’s database of potentially hazardous ingredients and products that contain them, which the organization has been building for the past decade.
Highlight: Their huge database means you’ll be likely to find the product you’re looking for.
For: iPhone and Android
Cost: Free
The bottom line: Because the two apps have different product databases, use both for best results.