Our Standard: Beyond Clean Beauty

240+ banned ingredients and counting. When it comes to better beauty and body care, we go above and beyond.

We believe what goes on your body is as important as what goes in it. That’s why our beauty and body care standards go beyond typical “clean beauty” claims:

We Care About Organics

In our Beauty and Body Care department, we're strict about organic labels. There are no mandatory government standards for organic label claims on beauty and body care products, so we’ve created our own:

  • Personal care products making an organic claim on the front label must be third-party certified to either the USDA National Organic Standards opens in a new tab or the NSF/ANSI 305 Organic Personal Care Products standard opens in a new tab.

  • If the product does not have certification to one of the above standards, the product cannot have an organic claim on the front label of the packaging.

  • Products labeled “organic” are required to contain at least 95% organic ingredients and be certified to the USDA National Organic Standards.

  • Products labeled “made with organic X” must be certified to the USDA National Organic Standards and include at least 70% organic ingredients.

  • Products labeled “contains organic X” must be at least 70% organic and certified to NSF/ANSI 305, a consensus-based private standard for organic personal care products.

240+ Banned Ingredients and Counting

Our experts review the latest research on beauty and body care ingredients for many factors including possible impacts on the environment and human health. We’ve banned more than 240 typically used ingredients, including parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde donors, oxybenzone, PFAS and EDTA.

Below are many of the ingredients we’ve banned.

Banned Ingredients

1-Methoxy-2-propanol

2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1(and) 3-Diol

2-Propenoic Acid, 2-Menthyl-Methyl Ester, Polymer with Ethenyl Acetate and 2-Ethylhexyl 2-Proponeate

4-Hexylresorcinol

Acetyl trifluoromethylphenyl valylglycine

Alcloxa

Alkanna Tinctoria

Aluminum chloride

Aluminum Chloride Hexahydrate

Aluminum Chlorohydrate

Ammonia

Ammonium C6-16 perfluoroalkyl ethyl phosphate

Ammonium nonadecafluorodecanoate

Ammonium pentadecafluorooctanoate

Ammonium perfluorononanoate

Ammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate; ammonium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate

Ammonium polyacryloyldimethyl taurate

Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate

AMP-acrylates/vinyl, isodecanoate crosspolymer

Beheneth-25

Benzalkonium Chloride

Benzethonium Chloride

Benzisothiazolinone

Benzocaine

Benzophenone

BHA (Butylated Hydroxyanisole)

BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene) Butoxyethanol

Butoxyethanol

C12-13 Pareth-23

C12-13 Pareth-3

C9-15 fluoroalcohol phosphate

Cetylpyridinium chloride

Chlorhexidine digluconate

Chlorotrifluoropropene

Chlorphenesin

Cloflucarban

Coal tar

Cocamide DEA

Cocamidopropyl dimethylamine

Colloidal silver

Copper Disodium EDTA

Decylene glycol

DEET

Diacetone alcohol styrene

Diazolidinyl Urea

Dibutyl Ethylhexanoyl Glutamide

Dibutyl Lauroyl Glutamide

Dibutyl Lauroyl Glutamide/ Dibutyl Ethylhaxanoyl Glutamide/ Octyldodecanol

Dibutyl phthalate

Didecyldimonium chloride

Diethanolamine (DEA)

Diethanolamine perfluorooctane sulfonate

Diethoxyethyl succinate

Diethylhexyl phthalate

Dihydroxyacetone

Dimethyl phenylbutanol

Dimethylmethoxy Chromanyl Palmitate

Dioxolane

Dipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate

Disodium EDTA

Divinyldimethicone/Dimethicone Copolymer

DMDM Hydantoin

EDTA

Emu Oil

Equine Oil

Ethyl 2-cyano-3,3-diphenylacrylate

Ethyl trimethylbenzoylphenylphosphinate

Etocrylene

Fluorosalan

Formaldehyde

Glyoxal

Hexachlorophene

Hexylresorcinol

Human placental protein

Hydroquinone

Hydroxyacetophenone

Imidazolidinyl Urea

Iodine complex with ammonium ether sulfate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate

Iodine complex with phosphate ester of alkylaryloxy polyethylene glycol

Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

Isobutylparaben

Isododecane

Isoeicosane

Isopropylparaben

Lead acetate

Lidocaine

Lithium perfluorooctane sulfonate; lithium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate

Melanin

Mercury

Methacrylic Acid

Methoxyisopropanol

Methyl Nicotinate

Methyl perfluorobutyl ether

Methyl perfluoroisobutyl ether

Methyl Trimethicone

Methylbenzethonium chloride

Methylchloroisothiazolinone

Methylene bis-benzotriazoyl tetramethylbutylphenol

Methylene glycol

Methylisothiazolinone

Microbeads

m-Phenylenediamine and its salts

Myristamide DEA

Nano silver

Nature identical flavors

Nicotiana Benthamiana Hexapeptide-40 sh-Polypeptide-76

Nonadecafluorodecanoic acid

Nonylphenoxypoly (ethyleneoxy) ethanoliodine

Octafluoropentyl methacrylate

Octinoxate

Octyl methoxycinnamate

Oleamide DEA

o-Phenylenediamine and its salts

Oxybenzone

Paraformaldehyde

PEG/PPG/Polybutylene Glycol-8/5/3 Glycerin

PEG-30 Dipolyhydroxystearate

Pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propionate)

Pentafluoropropane

Pentapeptide-34 Trifluoroacetate

Perfluorodecalin

Perfluorodimethylcyclohexane

Perfluorohexane

Perfluoroisohexane

Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)

Perfluorononyl dimethicone

Perfluorononylethyl carboxydecyl PEG-10 dimethicone

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS); heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonic acid

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)

Perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane

Perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene

Phenol

Phenylethyl resorcinol

Phthalates

Picaridin

Piroctone Olamine

Placental protein

Poloxamer 188

Poloxamer 338

Poloxamer 407

Poloxamer—iodine complex

Polybutylene terephthalate

Polyester-8

Polyethylene Terephthalate

Polyimide-1

Polyoxymethylene urea

Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy Difluoroethyl Peg Phosphate

Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy PEG-2 phosphate

Polyperfluoromethylisopropyl ether

Polyurethane-14

Polyurethane-33

Polyurethane-62

Polyvinyl chloride

Potassium perfluorooctanesulfonate; potassium heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonate

Povidone-iodine

PTFE

Salt of Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate

Secondary amyltricresols

Sh-oligopeptide-1

Silver

Silver chloride

Silver Citrate

Sodium Bisulfite

Sodium coceth sulfate

Sodium heptadecafluorononanoate

Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate

Sodium magnesium fluorosilicate

Sodium nonadecafluorodecanoate

Sodium Oxychlorosene

Sodium xylene sulfonate

Soyamide DEA

TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone)

Tetrafluoropropene

Tetrasodium EDTA

Tetrasodium Etidronate

Toluene

Tosylamide epoxy resin

Tranexamic Acid

Tribromsalan

Triclocarban

Triclosan

Trideceth-6

Triethylene glycol

Trifluoroacetyl tripeptide-2

Triple dye

Trisodium EDTA

Undeceth-5

Undeceth-11

Undecoylium chloride iodine complex

Vanillyl Butyl Ether

Whale oil

Zinc pyrithione

Note to product suppliers: This list is intended for our shoppers. It’s not for use in formulating products as it doesn’t include all Whole Foods Market requirements and ingredient restrictions. Creating a product with no unacceptable ingredients does not guarantee that we will sell it.

Supplier Spotlight: Beauty Products With Purpose

We engage with many of our beauty and body care suppliers and participate in the journey with them. We help make alliances with our foundations, advise on our ingredient standards to improve formulations, onboard smaller regional and local suppliers to help them grow their brands and help showcase innovative ingredients and formulations. Learn more about some of our suppliers who are doing more below.

Alaffia

Profits from Alaffia body care products help raise funds for community projects in Togo, such as maternal health programs, building schools and planting trees.

Pacha Soap Co.

Pacha Soap is sold in bulk in our stores, reducing the need for packaging. Every bar that we sell benefits clean water initiatives and economic ventures in developing countries. Pacha has visited Africa to see the impact of these initiatives first-hand in Burundi — and they’ve also traveled to Peru to observe the unique practices used to harvest the plants that produce essential oils.

Good Soap

Available exclusively at Whole Foods Market, Good Soap is available in bulk and can be purchased without packaging. Proceeds from Good Soap help build kindergarten schools in Togo, Africa, where the ingredients for this soap are sourced. Proceeds from Good Soap help support families and communities around the world.

Cocokind Skincare

Cocokind founder, Priscilla Tsai, empowers women through the Cocokind Impact Foundation, her nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance and mentorship to women entrepreneurs.

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