Yuka app - I wish I hadn't found it (only slightly joking!)

[AbbyGal]

It scans the barcodes of health and beauty items and then shows which chemicals etc are in them and how harmful they are.

I'm shocked at some products which I thought were ok, really are not.

Useful information but I've a feeling it's going to cost me to replace things!

I was shocked too.
It doesn’t suggest an alternative you could use instead though, which would be really handy, although I do understand why they don’t.
I actually stopped using it, it seemed like everything was bad!

There is nothing harmful in beauty products. This is "clean" beauty nonsense!

Can I ask why you say that? The picture is,a screenshot of a chemical that is in Olaplex conditioner - doesn't look good to me?

I'm not a chemist or a pharmacist, but I think you should do some more research before getting freaked out. A chemical is not either "harmful" or "safe" like black and white - it's not that simple. I mean, water is good for you, but it can kill you if you drink too much (by diluting the sodium in your blood to an unsafe level).

A quick google shows that the chemical you list above is "safe as used in cosmetic formulations". It caused harm to rats when it was fed to them, in large doses. But when applied to the skin, it stays at skin level (according to the linked study in the Int'l Journal of Toxicology) and doesn't get absorbed into your bloodstream - or if at all, then only in amounts small enough to have no effect.

If you're putting a dollop of conditioner on your hair, the chance of the BHT making it all the way inside you, at concentrations high enough to be harmful, must be vanishingly small.

So - I wouldn't trust an app that simply said "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to any ingredient. You need the context.

Hurrah! Common sense! :)

OP, that app is basically like saying you shouldn't have paracetamol because overdosing might kill you.

I wasn't panicking and my original post was a little tongue in cheek but I am generally trying to be healhhy and reduce the chemicals I put in and on my body.

I know that they need to put preservatives in but it's just interesting to know what the abbreviations and long chemical names mean.

I'm afraid products applied to skin do eventually find their way into your bloodstream and body. It's a myth that they stay at skin level.

If someone claims a substance is 'toxic' but doesn't mention the dose, they are bullshitting. Even water is toxic in certain quantities.

www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/health-and-safety/the-dose-makes-the-poison/

I'm afraid products applied to skin do eventually find their way into your bloodstream and body. It's a myth that they stay at skin level.

The extent to which they're absorbed depends on a lot of variables - which chemical, its concentration, the other chemicals it's paired with, the state of your skin, and so on. Look up "topical medication" on wikipedia for a full explanation.

The point is that you can't look at the side effects of a drug swallowed in relatively large quantities and assume that they'll be the same for the same drug applied topically (on the skin) in small quantities.

The pharmaceutical companies will have tested all these ingredients and ensured that any amount that does make it through the skin barrier will be safe for you. (The sector is pretty highly regulated, so they have to do a lot of tests.)

Tea tree oil is "natural" and plant-derived, and found in plenty of skincare products, but it would make you very sick if you drank it down!

Yuka is a VC backed business. VC backed businesses don't care about people's long term health or wellbeing, they are interested in making short term money. If they can exploit women's health anxieties around what they buy and put on their faces and bodies, it's an excellent business idea. I'm sure the more you use Yuka, the more you will depend on it to make recommendations for you.

Nice bit of advertising by the way OP 👍

Yes it does. If you scroll down it gives you loads of alternatives.

I think the yuka app is amazing. It's changed my life. It's all very well saying a small amount of this chemical won't harm you in food but if everything you are eating contains it it soon builds up in your system. Why is there such a vast increase in allergies, diabetes, neurodivergency, heart disease, obesity, cancer. I'm pretty sure it's food and chemicals we are putting on our skin.

My disabled adult DD has terrible PMS. The only thing I've changed is to move away from a shower gel which Yuka said was poor, containing endocrine disrupters (ie messes with hormones) to one without additives or colourings, and there's a vast improvement. Coincidence? Maybe but I'll stick with Yuka for food and toiletries.

Yuka hates most suncreams, I moved to one with a better rating but it didn't work well as a suncream🤷🏼‍♀️!

Maybe it's about reducing than completely removing all "baddies" if that feels impossible.

These ingredients certainly do have an impact. This is what worries me about children using skincare from such a young age.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/14/kids-sunscreen-lotions-phthalates-study

Yes and through packaging (plastics) and the environment - pollution.

Air pollution has been linked to increased likelihood of autism and ADHD.

That's not (always) true. The VCs who back them may be into money but there will be specific types of VCs investing in companies like this and the people who actually start them up still run them and have a lot of control. I know of many VC backed women's health startups and they are certainly working to be a force for good.

At the moment Yuka is not monetised; so it's probably as objective as it will ever be.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting this information nor with taking a precautionary approach to the products you use 🤷‍♀️ Clearly there are additives which are now considered safe which will in future be found to be unsafe (just as there were things considered safe in the past which we now know not to be).

Same for food additives. Plenty of stuff that’s officially “safe” in our food but which does you no good at all.