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:
Bold Standards, 215+ Banned Ingredients
We ban 215+ ingredients commonly used in beauty and body products. We believe some things simply don’t belong in the products you use on your body.
Organic. No Guessing.
Organic claims on our body care products are required to be backed up by third-party certification.
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.
215+ 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 215 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 | Acetone | 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 |
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 | Synthetic Fluorphlogopite |
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.
