Your Bathroom Cabinet Breakdown

Difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to decipher, the labels on your family’s day-to-day products could be hiding a wealth of scary secrets. We consult the experts and set about decoding your daily regimen...

- Sheila Deocareza

So, you eat organic, buy eco-detergent and try to avoid toxins wherever you can. But if your bathroom cabinet looks like that of the average family, the chances are it’s hiding a wealth of chemicals you’d rather avoid.

Eliminating toxins in our homes, and reducing our children’s exposure in particular, is a minefield at the best of times, and the problem is exacerbated here in the UAE, where the products we’re buying are imported from so many different countries that understanding what they can contain is near impossible – what is banned in Europe may well not be in the USA, for example.

“For years, our most trusted brands have contained harmful ingredients, which are only now coming to light,” explains Gemma O’Dwyer, brand manager for UAE-based natural beauty e-store Beautiful Brands. “In recent years, research has uncovered more dangers, but the truth is the beauty industry is a multimillion-dollar business and to uncover these alarming ingredients can damage a company’s reputation overnight. The good news is that we are starting to see more and more ethical brands eliminating these ingredients from their products, but until regulations are tightened, we are still exposed to the risk of finding these in our everyday products.”