Smarter shopping

Back during the summer I signed up to be 'one of the first' to find when the new mobile app for EWG's Skin Deep database would be ready. We're still waiting for it, but a couple other similar apps have caught my attention in the meantime: Think Dirty and GoodGuide.

I downloaded them both and have been trying them out over the past few days, both at home and on the fly at the store, and wanted to share my thoughts.

But first let's take a second to note that the very fact these consumer product ratings exist is GREAT. We're doing it! Forcing change, getting smarter, taking control of what we buy and use. But there's still a lot of work to do, and these apps can help us along the way.

First we're looking at Think Dirty. The fledgling app was launched just a few months ago and already lists more than 12,000 products. Here's some verbiage from the app's website: 

"Think Dirty(TM) empowers and educates the consumer on the cosmetics ingredients by allowing them to make an informed decision on what products to purchase...[It] is more than just a mobile app - it's a consumer revolution for safer cosmetics by learning one ingredient at a time, changing to cleaner options, one product at a time."

Couldn't be more on message, if you ask me.

What I like most about Think Dirty is the level of consumer involvement. Very, very interactive. Users can scan product UPC codes to learn more about the shampoo or deodorant they'd like to buy (so easy!) and if the product doesn't appear in TD's database, users have the option of submitting it themselves. 

It's bloody genius. The app grows and improves simply by being used as intended. I've already submitted a few products from my own bathroom, and also used the app to look at some of the 'natural and organic' shampoos that my local supermarket sells. The scanning feature is so easy it's ridiculous. I'm resisting the urge to kill a day in Target, wandering the aisles and scanning with abandon.

(I hear that collective sigh you're all letting out, and no, I don't need to get a life, but thanks)

Until now I've been using the Skin Deep database pretty exclusively to rate health and beauty and home products. I was definitely curious to see how the Think Dirty ratings stack up against EWG's.

I used Jason Natural Tea Tree Normalizing Shampoo as a test subject. What does that even mean, 'normalizing'? Anyway, both databases use a color-coded 1-to-10 scale: green for lowest toxicity, yellow for moderate and red for high. Here we go.

EWG gives the product a '6' rating and calls out retinyl acetate, or Vitamin A, as the culprit behind the rating. Think Dirty rates the same product a '9' using a similar scale. Ouch. 

But what's interesting is that Think Dirty attributes its high -- and therefore 'dirty' -- rating to dimethicone, NOT vitamin A. Think Dirty gives vitamin A a nice green '3' as an ingredient, where Skin Deep does nearly the same for dimethicone.

Confused? Good. Me, too.

But wait, it gets better! After reading more about the Think Dirty app and parent company, I was connecting some dots and realized this:

Last month Think Dirty partnered with the Breast Cancer Fund and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to promote safer personal products. One of the Campaign's four co-founders is Jane Houlihan, a longtime leader at -- you'll never guess -- Environmental Working Group. She counts among her professional accomplishments the creation of -- you guessed it this time -- the Skin Deep database. 

So how does that work? The organizations are so closely linked, but Think Dirty has already come up with a number of differing opinions from EWG and Skin Deep about products and ingredients. That ensuing confusion isn't good for consumers who are already overwhelmed trying to make good choices. Not only that, but how does the launch of Think Dirty impact EWG's own mobile app, which is already overdue?

Soooo, which is it, Jazzy? Do we download the app or not?

Yes, definitely, download the app. Add your products. See for yourself how they rank, and how EWG ranks them over at Skin Deep. And then tomorrow I'll throw in yet another ranking database to make this even more craptastically confusing.

Love, love!
-- Jazzy