How to Become a Pro at Finding Safe + Non-Toxic Personal Care Products

There are a lot of marketing and formulation secrets the personal care industry doesn’t want you to know. 

From fertility issues and the blatant greenwashing of personal care products to the growing debate over essential oils in skincare – how do you tell the truth from a marketing gimmick or scare tactic? How do you know which products are safe?

On this episode of Grounded Wellness, Bethany and Courtney sit down with our in-house formulator, Tommi Hutchins. Tommi is a formulation chemist who’s been working and consulting on natural and non-toxic personal care products for over 20 years. 

With additional expertise as a fertility care provider, Tommi deeply understands the formulator’s responsibility to create clean and effective formulations and how this impacts health. In this conversation, we discuss the impact your products have on fertility, rumors around essential oils, and some of the sneakiest greenwashing tactics only a chemist would catch.

In this conversation, you’ll learn: 

• The reason most companies don’t even want to try to formulate with natural ingredients + why Tommi embraces this challenge as her life’s purpose 

• The sneaky loopholes mainstream brands use to make claims about natural or non-toxic personal care products (many of these were even new to us!)

• Tommi’s top secrets for identifying greenwashed labels – without having to memorize a long list of chemical names

• The shocking moment Tommi heard a respected industry leader blatantly tell chemists to greenwash their products

• Why many “dangerous” essential oils aren’t actually dangerous in the appropriate context + use

• The role ingredients are playing in rising infertility rates + how to avoid hidden endocrine disruptors

• The missing link Tommi believes is a key piece in fertility and reproductive health

• The harmful (but natural) ingredients Bethany sees many natural companies use in large quantities in their formulations

• Tommi’s take on the biggest myths around essential oils, and why there’s so much misinformation on this topic

• The rigorous checks and balances Tommi uses to create safe and effective non–toxic personal care products

This conversation lays out the facts you need to know to identify truly safe and non-toxic personal care products. From fertility issues to the widely debated controversy around essential oils in skincare, this episode’s got you covered. Regardless of your experience level, this deep dive provides easy-to-implement hacks and tips to shop smarter.

XO

*If you enjoyed this post, check out the full episode of Grounded Wellness to hear them cover other topics like: