Have you heard of the “Think Dirty” app? I’ve been using it for a few months and it has totally opened my eyes to the harmful ingredients lurking in my everyday personal care and beauty products.

This app has saved me both money and time, by cutting through misleading advertising of “natural” products to give me real facts on what I see in my bathroom and on the store shelves. I plan to expand later about specific products and brands, but many of the so-called “natural/green” brands out there actually have plenty of harmful ingredients.

Check out this short video about the app:

The app allows you to either scan the barcode or manually look up thousands of personal products to see how their ingredients rank in terms of various measures of harm, from their likelihood of causing cancer to their ability to cause allergic reactions.

You can save your “bathroom shelf” list for future reference and even get an overall rating for your shelf. My favorite feature is the “You May Also Like” button, which suggests cleaner replacements for your current items.

A few major eye-openers (sorry!) were: mascara, eyeshadow and eyeliner!

Sadly, I found that many of the products women put on and around our eyes are the most dangerous!

• Most mascaras rank 7/10 (10 being worst)
• Major disappointment: The Urban Decay “Naked” palettes rank 8
• Even Bare Minerals Ready Foundation (which you would think is safe) has a rating 7
• Lush’s Celestial moisturizer (a brand that markets itself as very clean) is 7/10.

On the bright side, here are a few winners that I found through the app or was already using:

• Pretty much everything from the “100% Pure” brand ranks as a 5 or better (with many even lower than that) – I’m now using their eye cream, mascara and eyeliner
• Dr. Bronner’s Castile Peppermint Soap: *1*
• Acure Organics brightening facial scrub
• Good old coconut oil (0!) and Bragg’s raw, organic, apple cider vinegar (2)

The app has also made me wear makeup less in general. I now think twice about whether it is really worth it to wear mascara or eyeliner on any given day, and the answer is more frequently no. And if you ask me, that change in lifestyle has been the biggest benefit of the Think Dirty app.

In the future, I would like to dive deeper into not just the physically harmful aspects of these products, but the environmental impact as well. Just because a product doesn’t harm your face doesn’t mean it was sourced or packaged sustainably. This is a big concern for me, which is another reason I’ve been trying to use less products in general.

Have you used the Think Dirty app yet? What are some of your most disappointing or exciting discoveries?