Best Non Toxic Mascara

Last Updated on March 20, 2025 by NonToxicSwaps

Switch to a non toxic mascara to eliminate harmful chemicals from your makeup bag!

Table of Contents

Toxic Ingredients to Avoid in Mascara

Mascaras often include toxic ingredients that are classified as irritants, have contamination warnings, or are straight up carcinogenic.

These toxic ingredients are often included in mascaras:

Butylated compounds (BHA/BHT): linked to endocrine disruption at high doses, developmental & reproductive toxicity (PubChem CID: 31404); BHA is a known carcinogen, developmental & reproductive toxin (PubChem ID: 24667)
Parabens: preservatives linked to endocrine disruption (PMID: 29596967), known to be carcinogenic due to endocrine disruption (PMID: 36746253) Parabens may be listed as methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, and benzylparaben.
Dyes: can be carcinogenic, genotoxic and offer no benefit to the product other than color (example: Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5) (PMID: 23026007)
Phenoxyethanol: deemed generally safe at a 1% concentration, however it’s production process, ethoxylation, can potentially contaminate phenoxyethanol with 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide (see above for ethoxylated ingredient description) (PubChem CID: 31236)
Propylene glycol: penetration enhancer (PMID 31786711), bioaccumulative, can impact the nervous system (PMID: 25762872)
Potassium sorbate: skin, eye, respiratory irritant, (PubChemID: 23676745); caused DNA damage when combined with ascorbic acid and Fe-salt (PMID: 12176085) and deemed genotoxic to human lymphocytes by this study (PMID: 20036729)
Sodium benzoate: study has shown to be mutagenic and cytotoxic in lymphocytes (PubChem ID: 517055); can form benzene when combined with ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) (PMID: 33371618)

The Best Non Toxic Mascara

The following mascaras are the cleanest on the market. They do not contain sneaky toxic preservatives or colorants. These are your best bet if you’re looking for the cleanest non toxic mascara to switch to.