What are phthalates?

Over the last few years, we have experienced a large push to stay away from parabens. As consumers and manufactures, we have been educated on how to spot these parabens on labels and how to avoid them. With our society moving toward organic, natural and green products, our choices are growing everyday on many items that used to contain these nasty chemicals. Since Shea & Company has been in business, our entire collection has never contained parabens!

Now in the cosmetic industry, we are hearing a lot of coverage about phthalates. What are phthalates? What should you be looking for on manufactures' labels? Shea & Company wants to educate our customers on these ingredients and help you recognize the warning signs.

According to the website Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (http://www.safecosmetics.org/),
Phthalates (pronounced THA-lates) are plasticizing chemicals that are probable human reproductive or developmental toxins and endocrine disruptors. Phthalates cause reproductive birth defects in laboratory animals, particularly males.Two phthalates often used in cosmetics (dibutyl and diethylhexyl) have been banned in the European Union. Unfortunately, phthalates are still found in some nail polishes and hair sprays, and are commonly hidden on ingredient labels under the term “fragrance.”

The Mayo Clinic suggest checking the product labels on your cosmetics. But other products, such as perfume, are not required to do this. You can contact the manufacturer, if you have questions about the phthalate content in a specific product. There are Web sites that claim to provide lists of products that contain phthalates, but the accuracy of such Web sites isn't known.

While this information can seem scary, you probably want to raid your bath room cabinets to start looking for these pesky ingredients. I don't blame you. Since I have become more educated about these ingredients, I have been searching for fragrances and ingredients that do not contain phthalates. Our Spring & Summer collection is set to debut very soon. With the impending collection about to take center stage, we are proud to announce that two of our fragrances do not contain phthalates. Plus, our labels will announce, easily & clearly, which fragrances will not contain these ingredients.

Like the Mayo Clinic suggest, for questions, please contact us. We would love to speak with you via phone or email and answer any questions about our fragrances. Stay tuned to this blog page and our web page for more information on the release date of the new collection.