The innovative app, Think Dirty is making clean beauty incredibly simple. No more reading impossible to understand ingredient labels and being green washed by beauty companies still using toxic ingredients. This app makes cleaning up your beauty routine a snap! It’s never been easier to make an informed decision on what goes on your skin!
Life just got a whole lot easier for those of us trying to rid our beauty counters of harmful products! This innovative app is going to be your new best friend. In a nutshell, you scan the barcode of a product or search the data base and find the score or a particular product on a scale from 1-10. 1 being clean and 10 being toxic. Using this app is absolutely the easiest way to make sure you are using clean products minus dirty ingredients! It’s a game changer in the world of natural beauty.
Think Dirty has been around for quite some time now and has grown substantially since I originally wrote this article in 2015.
The mobile app launched in Summer 2013 with more than 68,300 products listed. According to their website, currently Think Dirty now has evaluated 9.54 brands, with 2.5 products submitted and 26.2 unique scans. Not to mention the 5.62 “dirty thinkers” that are loving the app.
Using the dirty meter, you can quickly and easily identify potentially toxic ingredients in your beauty routine, find out detailed information about products and replace dirty products with ease. Read on to find out why I have just recently rediscovered the Think Dirty app and how I’m using it to keep my daughters and I free of harmful chemicals.
What is Think Dirty?
Think Dirty is an app that helps consumers evaluate the health and safety of beauty, personal care and household products.
Think Dirty evaluates products based on the ingredients listed on the packaging itself or via websites like non profit websites as well as government agencies.
“We assess the overall risk of a given product based on the potential health impacts of its published ingredients. Each ingredient listed on the product label or manufacturer’s website is evaluated for documented evidence of carcinogenicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, or allergenicity and immunotoxicity.”
The founder and CEO of Think Dirty, Lily Tse is literally leading the cause to take back our control of our beauty products. Seriously think about it-The bigger this app grows, the less skin care and makeup companies can continue to label their products “natural” even though they contain harmful ingredients. The more the public boycotts toxic products, the more truly safe products will be available. We have to do our part to let the beauty industry know that toxic ingredients are no longer acceptable.
Not only does Think Dirty rate a product based on researching ingredients, they also allow users to leave reviews on products. Think Dirty users can create their own profile where they can save their favorite products they’ve used for other’s to consider.
Related Post: Benefits of a Skincare Fridge
Why Clean Skincare Should Be A Priority:
- There are 80,000 synthetic chemicals that are not fully tested (Sources: Natural Resource Defense Council). In the US, the cosmetics industry has reviewed just 11 percent of the 10,500 cosmetic ingredients cataloged by the FDA (FDA 2000)
- Only 11 chemicals are banned in the US. The U.S is incredibly behind safety standards compared to other countries. Canada has a guideline for just over 650 and The European Union Health Commission has restricted over 1,300 chemicals.
- There are outdated government regulations regarding cosmetics that haven’t been updated since 1930. Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act of 2013 was finally introduced and awaiting voting. But there’s no pre-market approval requirement for cosmetics to be on sale in US and Canadian markets.
- There are no legal definitions of “Natural” and Organic. The use of words like “Natural” and “Organic” on cosmetics and personal care products can be used by anyone without proper proof.
- Fragrances are considered a trade secret and do not have to be listed on a product. Manufacturers are not required to label fragrance ingredient lists on the product label. Instead, the generic term “parfum” is listed, representing a mixture of potentially dozens of chemicals.
Related Post: Benefits of Sheet Masks and How to Make Them At Home!
How Products are Rated:
According to Think Dirty’s website:
Our ratings are determined based on publicly available data released by non-profit and government agencies in North America regarding the health and safety of the individual components found in your personal care products. A list of our data sources can be found in Appendix A.
We assess the overall risk of a given product based on the potential health impacts of its published ingredients. Each ingredient listed on the product label or manufacturer’s website is evaluated for documented evidence of Carcinogenicity, Developmental & Reproductive Toxicity and/or Allergenicity & Immunotoxicity, as show in the table below.
Evaluations are performed by Think Dirty’s Founder and Advisory Board, all of whom have extensive experience in relevant fields such as Medicine, Biochemistry, Biology, Physiology, Environmental Toxicology, Environmental Health & Safety and Chemical Engineering, and a track record of working with Health Canada, the US Food & Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, Environment Canada, the US Environmental Protection Agency and other related government and not-for-profit agencies.
One thing you might want to know is that Think Dirty automatically rates any product with fragrance a 9 or higher. Fragrance is one of the most toxic ingredients. All though some fragrances are naturally derived, it is difficult to differentiate between different kinds of fragrances.
Related Post: Beginner’s Guide to DIY Skincare + 30 Highly Effective Recipes!
How I Use the Think Dirty App:
I pay $2.99 a month for Think Dirty. I’m not one to pay for an app but I have found this app to be incredibly helpful. There is a free version that I found to be completely useless.
To be transparent, having 2 daughters at the age of wearing makeup and needing skincare, I have really slipped on my skincare values. I’ve purchased a few makeup items for convenience and price range hoping they wouldn’t be too toxic. Turns out a few are fine and 2 are really bad choices.
First, I added all our products to my profile (or bathroom shelf as the app calls it) by either using the search bar at the top of the home page or using the barcode feature. I was able to see their ratings and ingredients. I could also look at each individual ingredient and the potential risks of the ingredient that was listed.
Once I identified the products that were “dirty”, I was able to again use the search feature to find safer alternatives. For example, I typed in “blush” in the search. Then I used the “Sort & Filter” to only show me items that had a score from 0-3. Be aware that if a product is rated a 0, it very likely has been uploaded to the app but ingredients have not been added. You can click on the product and easily view it’s list of ingredients. If it has 0 or 1 ingredient, it’s not been properly uploaded to the app. If this is the case, I move on and find an item that has. Once you find a promising product, you can actually push the “SHOP” button at the bottom of the item and go directly to the website (often it’s Amazon unless there’s a website) and buy products right then and there!
In minutes I was able to find cleaner options for mine and my daughters makeup and skincare items! Not to mention, you can also find product reviews to help you weed through items.
I also will use the app when exploring brands at retailers such as Target, Ulta and Sephora. I can use the product barcode feature and quickly find the scoring of a particular product before purchasing.
Related Post: Benefits of Himalayan Sole Water
Think Dirty Beauty Box Subscription:
Think Dirty now offers a monthly beauty box. These make the perfect gift and also help you obtain safer products in the easiest way possible! Unlike other beauty boxes, you can buy 1 box or subscribe to receive them on a regular basis. Think Dirty partners with clean 0-3 beauty brand sponsors to offer 8-10 hand-picked clean products in each box. Boxes are valued well over $200+ but are offered for $129 each.
Subscribe for 3, 6, 12 months to save more! 10% of all Beauty Box proceeds will go to a charity of your choice.
Get Think Dirty for Free!
To get your 1 week free trial of the Think Dirty app head to the App Store. I highly recommend giving this app a try. Give it a week and see if you find it helpful. You might only need a week to clean up your beauty counter and find cleaner alternatives! You can cancel your subscription before your card is charged or at any time after.
This is genius, right?! You’ll be surprised at which “natural” products score high-It’s scary. So, download this app and go crazy! Finding clean beauty products has never been easier!
xx, Jenni