07.27.23
The average adult man in the US uses 11 different personal care products each day—that’s nearly twice as many as 20 years ago.
The data comes from a new survey by Morning Consult commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The watchdog group commissioned the independent research company to survey 2,200 adults in the US about their use of personal care products. The results were analyzed by EWG and compared to its 2004 study of cosmetics product use.
The new survey revealed that the average adult uses 12 personal care products in a day. The survey also showed that on average, women use 13 products daily, up from 12 in 2004. And the average man uses 11, up from six in 2004.
“Our concern is that the safety of ingredients is still assessed one at a time, which doesn't match how consumers are exposed to consumer products, dozens at a time and over a lifetime,” said Homer Swei, Ph.D., EWG senior vice president, Healthy Living Science.
According to EWG, the analysis showed that US consumers are exposed, on average, every day to two ingredients linked to cancer and to two linked to what EWG is calling "chemicals that can harm reproductive and development systems." EWG also said that “consumers are also exposed to 15 fragrance chemicals a day, and that seven "could cause an allergic reaction.”
EWG found that the number of "unique chemicals" consumers are exposed to has decreased. The 2004 survey found people were being exposed to 126 individual chemical ingredients in personal care products a day, 14 more than in the new survey this year.
Sydney Swanson, EWG healthy living science analyst, called it a “positive finding.”
“But one positive finding of our analysis is that the number of chemicals in personal care products seems to be trending down.” The survey found that 85% are concerned about the safety of ingredients across all product categories included in the questions.
Additionally, EWG says many are doing their own independent research to find better products for themselves and their families. According to EWG, its Skin Deep database has seen 41,375,816 page views so far this year compared to just 33,199,322 in the entirety of 2007.
The data comes from a new survey by Morning Consult commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The watchdog group commissioned the independent research company to survey 2,200 adults in the US about their use of personal care products. The results were analyzed by EWG and compared to its 2004 study of cosmetics product use.
The new survey revealed that the average adult uses 12 personal care products in a day. The survey also showed that on average, women use 13 products daily, up from 12 in 2004. And the average man uses 11, up from six in 2004.
EWG’s Analysis of Ingredients
EWG’s also notes that its analysis of the data found that “these 12 products could be made with as many as 112 unique chemical ingredients, some of which may pose serious health risks.”“Our concern is that the safety of ingredients is still assessed one at a time, which doesn't match how consumers are exposed to consumer products, dozens at a time and over a lifetime,” said Homer Swei, Ph.D., EWG senior vice president, Healthy Living Science.
According to EWG, the analysis showed that US consumers are exposed, on average, every day to two ingredients linked to cancer and to two linked to what EWG is calling "chemicals that can harm reproductive and development systems." EWG also said that “consumers are also exposed to 15 fragrance chemicals a day, and that seven "could cause an allergic reaction.”
EWG found that the number of "unique chemicals" consumers are exposed to has decreased. The 2004 survey found people were being exposed to 126 individual chemical ingredients in personal care products a day, 14 more than in the new survey this year.
Sydney Swanson, EWG healthy living science analyst, called it a “positive finding.”
“But one positive finding of our analysis is that the number of chemicals in personal care products seems to be trending down.” The survey found that 85% are concerned about the safety of ingredients across all product categories included in the questions.
Additionally, EWG says many are doing their own independent research to find better products for themselves and their families. According to EWG, its Skin Deep database has seen 41,375,816 page views so far this year compared to just 33,199,322 in the entirety of 2007.