It’s always important to wash your hands. Keeping your hands clean helps prevent the spread of germs and decreases the chances of you getting any diseases yourself. However, not all hand soaps are created equal. As it turns out, there are some that experts say you shouldn’t be using in the first place.
Method Pink Grapefruit Hand Soap
This hand soap includes multiple skin and respiratory irritants. Despite its good reviews, it shouldn’t really be trusted. Especially considering that one of its ingredients is just the blanket term “fragrance”.
Nature’s Gate Liquid Hand Soap In Oatmeal
On top of the catch-all chemical Fragrance, this hand soap includes Phenoxyethanol and Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate. If you don’t know what that is, the only thing you need to know is that they’re skin irritants and potential neurotoxins.
Source Aloe Vera Moisturizing Hand Soap
There are nice ingredients in this one like aloe, but it gets worse the deeper you look into it. Of course there’s Fragrance, but there’s also DMDM Hydantoin. That’s another respiratory and skin irritant, and it can possibly cause cancer.
Lysol No-Touch Hand Soap Refill in Grapefruit
Another hand soap with Fragrance, this one’s main danger is Lauramide DEA. It’s another material that can cause cancer.
Equate Liquid Hand Soap With Milk & Honey
Milk and honey sounds safe, but this hand soap contains Fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin. Just another hand soap you shouldn’t risk touching.
Bath & Body Works Endless Weekend Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
This product is labeled with the blanket terms for both Fragrance and Parfum. This soap contains the irritants Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, and Triethylene Glycol. In the case of the last one, that one also shouldn’t be absorbed into the body when pregnant.
Softsoap Rich Shea Butter Moisturizing Liquid Hand Soap
Shea butter’s a nice moisturizer. However, Fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin. You’re probably going to see a lot of hand soaps with these ingredients in them on this list.
Bath & Body Works Sea Island Cotton Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Liquid Hand Soap
Bath and Body Works seems to have a trend of using dangerous materials. Many of the irritants in their Endless Weekend scent are in this brand of hand soap as well.
Bath & Body Works White Citrus Deep Cleansing Hand Soap
Another Bath & Body Work product, this one contains the earlier mention Fragrance and Parfum. In addition to those, it also has BHT, a possible allergen carcinogen. So in addition to your allergic reaction to this, it could also give you cancer.
Dial Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap in Spring Water
The “spring water” moniker makes this hand soap sound safer than it actually is. It has Fragrance and BHT in it again, but also Triclocarbon. That’s a hormone disruptor that can cause thyroid problem, impaired muscle function, and infertility.
Yardley Liquid Hand Soap in Oatmeal & Almond
Oatmeal and Almond sounds like such a safe combination. Well, it is, the problem is the rest of the junk thrown in there. There’s Fragrance (again), Lauramide DEA, and DMDM Hydantoin, Triclosan. That’s two carcinogens and a chemical that can cause infertility.
Dial Hand Soap in White Tea & Vitamin E Pearls
White tea sounds pretty good. And vitamin E, that’s great too! Unfortunately, another good pairing is ruined by Fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin. It’s just a better idea to put this one back on the shelf you found it on.
Jason Lavender Hand Soap
Jason has a better record for hand soap than most other brands on this list, but it is by no means perfect. However, this product includes Fragrance, as well as Retinyl Plamitate and Hydroxycitronellal. The former complicated chemical is an irritant that increases sensitivity to the sun. The latter complicated chemical is an irritant as well, but specifically for your respiratory system and skin.
Dial Vanilla Honey Hand Soap with Moisturizer
Dial really isn’t as clean a company as people expect. The questionable ingredients in this “vanilla honey” product happen to be good old Fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin.
Bath & Body Works Winter Cranberry Antibacterial Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
It shouldn’t be too surprising to see Bath & Body Works on this list again. And it still won’t be the last. Fragrance is back, and it brought its friend Triclosan. Since the latter’s appeared less in this list, it would be a good idea to remind you that it can cause infertility.
Bath & Body Works Anti-Bacterial Gentle Foaming Hand Soap in Kitchen Lemon
Kitchen Lemon? And it’s antibacterial? Sounds too good to be true. Well, it is. This has one of the largest lists of harmful ingredients so far. Fragrance is back and its brought several irritants, including Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, and Triethylene Glycol. In the case of the last chemical, that one should not be used while pregnant.
Up & Up Milk And Honey Hand Soap
This brand has certainly not be on the up and up with this hand soap. The catch-all Fragrance is back, along with several other irritants and allergens.
Eskbiochem Hand Sanitizer
This commercially available hand sanitizer contains methanol. Experts say that if methanol’s absorbed into the skin in ingested it could literally poison you. In other words; do not use this product!
Softsoap Black Raspberry & Vanilla Hand Soap
This delicious sounding product is just as dangerous as the other soaps on this list. Fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin are back, but now Sodium Laureth Sulfate is also here. This is a skin irritant that just so happens to make the liquid soap foam easier.
Dial Pomegranate Tangerine Hand Soap
Pomegranate’s are seeming less and less appetizing as this continues. Fragrance, Triclosan, and DMDM Hydantoin are in this hand soap, as well as other irritants. The unnatural color of the product should’ve tipped people off to its toxicity. Everything in nature that shade is poisonous.
Dial Seasonal Winter Frost Liquid Hand Soap with Moisturizer
This one just looks like mouthwash. But if you don’t want this on your skin, you definitely don’t want it in your mouth. This product also has Fragrance, Parfum, and DMDM Hydantoin.
Jason Purifying Tea Tree Hand Soap
Fragrance seems to be the common denominator among all these hand soaps. When a product has three essential oils listed in the ingredients, check the rest of them anyway.
Softsoap Coconut & Warm Ginger Hand Soap
Coconut and warm ginger sound like such soothing materials. Unfortunately, it’s far from it. Fragrance is still there, and DMDM Hydantoin is as well. Just as a reminder, the latter can cause cancer.
Bath & Body Works Apricot Mango Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
Nath & Body Works has a knack for making new and interesting scents. That knack just happens to always be using synthetic chemicals like Fragrance and Parfum.
Bath & Body Works Provence Garden Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
The particularly dangerous chemical in this product is just Fragrance, but seriously, how is Bath & Body Works still in business. Your soap isn’t really doing its job if it’s constantly giving people hives.
Bath & Body Works Japanese Cherry Blossom Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
Fragrance and Parfum, again. This doesn’t just go for the cherry blossom-themed soaps by the way, but their lotion as well.
Jergens Tropical Vanilla Hand Soap
You’d just be better off using regular hand soap and rubbing vanilla on your pulse points. This has Parfum and DMDM Hydantoin in it. It looks nice, and even smells nice, but it just doesn’t feel nice.
Bath & Body Works Caribbean Escape Anti Bacterial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap
How often do you see soaps this shade of pink? Well, they certainly seem off-putting. If you guessed there was Fragrance in this soap, you’d be correct. There’s also Lauramide DEA, which has proven to be a carcinogen in lab studies.
Bath & Body Works Lemon Meringue Cheer Anti Bacterial Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
At this point, just looking at the soap bottles might be setting off your danger alarms. Bright colors just mean toxic. This one contains Fragrance (of course) and Triclosan, that hormonal disruptor that was mentioned earlier.
Bath & Body Works Gingered Peach Deep Cleansing Hand Soap
The list of dangerous chemicals in this one are incredibly high. There’s Fragrance, Parfume, Propylparaben, BHT, and Diazolidunyl Urea. These are some new chemicals, so let’s break them down. Propylpareben is an endocrine disruptor, which influences the reproductive system. BHT is an allergen and possible carcinogen. And Diazolidinyl Urea is a formaldehyde releasing agent that causes allergy and skin irritation. Oh yeah, and formaldehyde itself is also a carcinogen.
Jergens Lotion Enriched Cream Hand Soap
This Jergens brand hand soap is actually one of the few products on this list that doesn’t have Fragrance in it. However, it’s still more toxic than most of the others. It contains Propylparaben, an endocrine disruptor that’s been found in breast tumors. And of course, let’s not forget about DMDM Hydantoin, a Formaldehyde-releasing possible carcinogen.
Bath & Body Works Fresh Picked Honeycrisp Apple Antibacterial Gentle Foaming Hand Soap
And of course, it is a brightly-colored Bath & Body Works product that makes the top of the list. This product actually has a 10 (the max score) on Think Dirty’s toxicity scale. It’s got all the goodies, Fragrance, Parfum, and Triclosan, but also at least seven other known irritants and allergens. The operative word there is “known”. How many other irritants and allergens could be in there that scientists just haven’t discovered yet.
