Europe leads the way - look for the label

The European Union Cosmetics Directive bans the use of chemicals that are known or suspected of causing cancer, reproductive scrambling and birth defects.
Hmm you're thinking already.. if a US company wants to sell in both the US and Europe we'll end up with safe products right? Not necessarily, since we export many chemicals that are banned for use in the US, turnabout is fair play. We also have US companies creating a EU version and a more toxic US version. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has a compact of companies who agree to apply these EU Cosmetic Directive principles worldwide. The world’s largest cosmetics companies, including L'Oréal, Revlon, Estée Lauder, Gap, Avon, OPI and Proctor & Gamble have refused to sign the Compact (as of 2007).
Read your labels and look for EU Cosmetic Directive Compliant

Label Reading 101

Methylparaben in a carcinogenic so if you read the labels you ought to be able to avoid it right?

Here are all the possible aliases:
BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY-, METHYL ESTER; P-CARBOMRYHOXYPHENOL; 4-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID, METHYL ESTER; P-METHOXYCARBONYLPHENOL; METHYL 4-HYDROXYBENZOATE; METHYL P-HYDROXYBENZOATE; METHYL PARAHYDROXYBENZOATE; METHYL ESTER BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY-; METHYL ESTER 4-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID; 4-HYDROXY- METHYL ESTER BENZOIC ACID; METHYLPARABEN

I guess at this point I also wouldn't underestimate the cosmetic companies stealth, they could even create a name like Daisy juice -
D= detrimental
A= alarming
I= insidious
S = substances
Y= you can't find cus we renamed it Daisy juice - ha

The Collection

I've collected all our shampoos and conditioners and some makeup. I'm going to use a list from Environmental Working Group and the Skin Deep Cosmetic Database to see how many ingredients are toxic. It looks like a pretty typical collection, a few organic, upscale- looking brands, lots of CVS purchased name brands, a couple that you gotta know are going to be bad.