EXCLUSIVE: People — Especially Men — Are Using More Personal Care Products, Survey Shows
A report released Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group‘s (EWG) and Morning Consult suggests that personal care product usage is up — especially for men.
The companies’ personal care product usage survey showed that since 2004 (when a prior survey was done), personal care product usage has increased significantly. On average, men currently use 11 products a day in comparison to six in 2004, while women use 13 products a day in comparison to 12 in 2004.
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“The number of products has increased since our 2004 original report incrementally for women but almost double for the men,” said Homer Swei, EWG senior vice president, healthy living science. “Clearly, the views for personal care in men has shifted over the two decades.”
With the increased use of product, there is an increased possibility for exposure to toxins, EWG contends. However, the report suggests that use of unique ingredients has gone down, which would ultimately decrease the potential risk of toxin exposure.
“It does seem the combination of clean beauty, retailer and manufacturing stewardship programs, state regulations and consumer information has fundamentally shifted and made an impact across the board,” Swei told WWD.
Today, the average adult is still exposed to an average of 112 unique ingredients daily compared to 126 in 2004. Furthermore, in comparison to 2004, this report is showing fewer ingredients that have been linked to potential health concerns and many of the 112 score Green on the EWG’s Skin Deep database, which the group says is indicative of product safety. Through the database, customers can also find EWG verified products, which the group says are fully transparent and don’t include any known harmful chemicals.
However, the report suggests that on average, a U.S. consumer uses two ingredients linked to cancer and two linked to potential reproductive harm daily. Other ingredients include skin irritants and endocrine disruptors. Potentially harmful ingredients often seen in personal care products include dyes, parabens, fragrance and lilial, which was recently banned in the European Union, after animal studies suggested it may cause fertility issues. While the EWG is using this survey to educate consumers and ideally prompt them to use healthier products, the team recommends using leftover product prior to switching to avoid waste.
As the use of multiple products with toxic ingredients can multiply the harmful effects, the EWG is aiming to create a Skin Deep analysis of a consumer’s entire routine in addition to individual products.
“[There’s] a need to understand total exposures for consumers, an ability for us to make it easier to find products within Skin Deep, improve the way we can identify potential overexposure news from combinations of products, improve the functionality of our systems and then also maybe even to help personalize alternative ingredients and product recommendations,” Swei said. “I think that’s the future, instead of looking at one at a time, a whole bathroom at a time.”