A short history of nasties

Skincare is constantly evolving. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks used a variety of natural products to maintain their skin and keep them beautiful. Fast forward to the renaissance and we find a troubling fascination with makeup containing nasty ingredients like lead and arsenic. While modern safety standards have done away with some obvious poisons, many skin care products continue to contain harmful ingredients that have a dizzying array of negative effects on your health. Worse still, many manufacturers continue to use nasty ingredients they know to be harmful. Often, but not always, this is because a change in formulation comes at a great cost.

Separating the good from the ugly

It can be difficult to keep up with the research on what the nasty ingredients are. While sticking to natural ingredients is a good rule of thumb, is does not provide a complete answer. Synthetic is not always bad and natural is not always good. After all, lead is a naturally occurring metal. So how can you know?

Enter the Environmental Working Group, a consumer watchdog organization established in 1993. The EWG specializes in research and advocacy in areas of toxic chemicals and corporate accountability. The EWG maintains a database known as Skin Deep, which analyses thousands of products against toxicity and regulatory databases. The associated app allows consumers to check the safety of ingredients in products they are intending to use by placing them on a scale of 1-10. Ingredients in the 1-2 range are classed as “low hazard”, 3-6 are “moderate hazard” and 7-10 are “high hazard”.

At Ao Skincare we use this database to ensure that all the ingredients we use are as low hazard as possible and use no high hazard ingredients. We call this our commitment to “no nasties”. In addition, we are committed to continuing research and development in formulation so as to reduce the risk profile of what you put on your skin.

Ao Skincare’s nasty hit list

There a series of ingredients used in many skin care products that are known to be very harmful to the body. While other manufacturers feel comfortable using these ingredients out of tradition and lack of appetite for change, we do not. These common ingredients were placed on our hit list and are and will never be found in Ao Skincare’s products:
   - Parabens
   - Sulfates
   - PEGS
   - TEA
   - DEA
   - Mineral oils
   - Nanoparticles
   - Phthalates
   - Petrochemicals and
   - Artificial fragrances.

Ao Skincare’s commitment to no nasties means you can have confidence in what you put on your skin. Beauty without the ugly.

Image source: Berkeley News

Our products that include Vitamin A & Vitamin A substitutes

Retinal Rewind
Retinal (Retinaldehyde) is a powerful form of Vitamin A with known anti-aging benefits, including helping to reduce the appearance of hyperpigmentation, fine lines and wrinkles. 
Find out more

Repair Night Treatment
Antioxidant and nutrient-rich, this hydrating night cream repairs, restores and conditions the skin. 
Find out more