Guidance for living well,
not perfectly.

The five most common endocrine-disrupting chemicals in U.S. personal care are parabens, phthalates, oxybenzone, triclosan, and synthetic fragrance. Each can interfere with how the body’s hormones signal — estrogen, thyroid, and androgen pathways most often — and most are still legal in conventional skincare, deodorant, sunscreen, and perfume. The fastest way to clear them out of your routine is to inventory the five products you use every morning, in order: cleanser, deodorant, lotion, sunscreen, and perfume.

On a skincare label, the word “fragrance” — or its alias “parfum” — is a legal catch-all that can hide more than 3,000 undisclosed ingredients. U.S. and EU regulations let brands list every component of a scent under that one word, which means the compounds linked to hormone disruption, asthma, and skin sensitization rarely have to appear by name. The fastest way to find out what your products actually contain is to flip a bottle over and check the ninth ingredient.