A Savvy Consumer

In a poll of 1,000 women in Oregon, respondents said they used, on average, 10 personal care products in a day, some using up to 50! Unfortunately, many personal care products are replete with chemicals or other ingredients hazardous to human health. I like to use EWG's "Skin-Deep" cosmetics database to compare products before I buy.

Here is a short list of what to look out for:

fragrance - innocuous-sounding, but associated with neurotoxicity and allergies

parabens - listed as methylparaben, propylparaben, or similar; may cause endocrine disruption

formaldehyde - I know you're thinking, "Preserved frogs in bio class -what is that doing in my facial cream?!"; unfortunately, a product that contains quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate or diazolidinyl urea can be indicative of formaldehyde in a product

oxybenzone - also linked with endocrine disruption and often found in sunscreens; sunscreens with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are a better choice

Link to the article: http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2011/11/survey_asks_1000_portland_wome.html

/edit
Update in 2012!
Here are additional ingredients to watch out for when buying cosmetics,

• DMDM hydantoin
• Diazolidinyl urea
• Imidazolidinyl urea
• Ceteareth
• Polyethylene glycol
• PEG

Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIB9JHZ4Jts