Ever wonder what exactly is in the personal care products you use? As I’m finding out lately, the answer is rarely as straightforward as one might hope. Thanks to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep project and their cosmetics database, you can find out exactly how your favorite brands measure up for toxicity and animal testing. Wanna know more? Read on . . .

This database takes popular name brand cosmetics and rates them on a scale of zero to ten in terms of toxic safety risk. Just enter a search based on product category, and the site will index the results from the lowest risk to the highest. Nail polish, shampoo, fragrance, basic skin care and cosmetics are all among the categories of products available to generate a report on.

Got a product that’s not in their database? No problem. You can submit the product and they’ll put it on the list to be checked out. How does it work? They have an additional database of ingredients known to be allowed by the government to be included in various personal care products. When a product is added to be analyzed for a safety percentage rating, it’s ingredient list is used to help determine the result.

They are also apparently working to change the laws about what the companies are allowed to do with labeling and ingredient inclusion. Currently there’s also an interesting You Tube video on fragrance embedded in the home page on the lower right. It covers what’s in fragrance, what’s allowed through the labeling loop holes and what risks go along with certain allowed ingredient items.

Want to check it out for yourself? Click here.