Thinking Dirty

I follow the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics in my FB newsfeed, and I've noticed a bunch of plugs for the mobile app Think Dirty, which lets consumers scan product bar codes to find ingredients and toxicity ratings. Looking into it, I saw that the Campaign has, on three separate occasions in the same week, promoted the Think Dirty app.

Huh. I only bring it up because Environmental Working Group, which as we all know operates its own Skin Deep database of personal products, is a founding member of the Campaign.

So why the extra love for another, competing rating system? Not sure. Has me wondering what the relationship between all the companies is, though. 

I have both apps downloaded to me phone, and I remember when they were first available having difficulty finding products. The data just wasn't robust enough, and didn't anywhere compare to the 80,000 products listed in Skin Deep's full online database. I haven't used with app in a while, but maybe it's worth a revisit. 

I'll also keep my eyes peeled for anything indicating why the Campaign would be pushing one mobile app over another, rather than just encouraging consumers to get in the habit of using their smart phones to make smarter, healthier purchases from the beauty aisle. 

Yours in investigative blogging,
Jazzy