Best Non Toxic Body Lotion (2023)

Last Updated on March 20, 2025 by NonToxicSwaps

Many body lotions on the market contain ingredients that can have a cumulative impact on your health. Reduce your toxic exposure by switching to a non toxic body lotion.

Now that the cold weather has arrived, you’ll want to give your skin some extra attention. Keeping your skin moisturized will help it from drying out.

But many of the common body lotions on the market contain concerning ingredients such as:

Fragrance/Parfum: umbrella term including hundreds of toxins, including hormone disrupting phthalates, as well as skin irritants and allergens. Chemicals that are hidden behind this term can be carcinogenic, respiratory irritants, endocrine disruptors, reproductive toxins, neurotoxins, and more (PMID: 35669814)
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)
Polyquaterniums: (aka “quats”) group of polymers that may release formaldehyde and produce nitrosamines, both of which are known carcinogens (PubChem CID: 6433396)
Dyes: can be carcinogenic, genotoxic and offer no benefit to the product other than color (example: Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5) (PMID: 23026007)
Phthalates: preservative linked to reproductive & developmental toxicity, potentially linked to ADD and learning disabilities (PMID: 24267794) potential carcinogen & endocrine disruptor (PubChem CID: 3026)
Ethoxylated ingredients (PEGs, PPGs, polysorbates, ceteareth, phenoxyethanol): ethoxylation process produces ethylene oxide, a carcinogen and developmental toxin (PubChem CID: 6354) and 1,4-dioxane, a suspected carcinogen (PubChem CID: 31275)
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.
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)