What are these symbols on my skin care products?
Every wonder what all those symbols are on your skin care products. Even more, why do some have them and some not. Are they required to be on the packaging? I’m here to answer all your questions, and some of my own. Writing these articles is so much fun some days!
What do these common symbols on skin care products represent? It’s like a bunch of emojis, which I am definitely getting too old to use and understand. Does anyone regulate these symbols or are they totally up to the manufacturers discretion? Let’s answer some of these questions.
To start, I looked at a few of the skin care products in my own shower and here’s what I found.
Generally, it is up to the manufacturer to choose which symbols it would like and generally the information on the symbols is not regulated in any way. Some of the symbols such as “Leaping Bunny” do have some oversight but most do not.
Period After Opening (PAO) symbol – This refers to how long it is recommended you keep the product after opening. To make this most effective at home, we probably should be writing when we open something on the product in sharpie. According to Wikipedia “In the European Union, cosmetics products with a shelf-life of at least 30 months are not required to carry a “best used before end of …” date. Instead, there has to be “an indication of the period of time after opening for which the product can be used without any harm to the consumer”. The US FDA does not require manufacturers to print expiration dates or PAO on cosmetic labels. This symbol looks like a jar and has a number followed by “M”. So, 24M means it is safe to use 24 months after opening it. This time frame is determined by the manufacturer.
Hourglass Symbol – This symbol more refers to shelf-life. It indicates shelf-life from the date of manufacture. This is determined by the manufacturer.
Leaping Bunny – This logo indicates that the product is not involved with any animal testing. This symbol is certified by the Coalition for Consumer Information of Cosmetics. You can learn more about this symbol at www.leapingbunny.org. In order to become Leaping Bunny certified, brands must comply with requirements that go beyond current laws. They are required to monitor their supply stream and be open to audit. Companies renew their commitment yearly, so this a company specific symbol, not a product specific symbol.
PETA Cruelty free bunny and the Choose Cruelty-Free Bunny which says “not tested on animals” do not have as stringent standards at Leaping Bunny. Companies self certify and are not required to be open to audit.
Mobius Loop – This one surprised me. The symbol indicates that the product can be recycled, but does not indicate anything about being composed of recycled materials.
Flame – Indicates that a product is flammable.
Refer to Insert- This symbol looks like a book with a hand. This allows manufacturers to provide additional instructions or information on the box or on an inserted leaflet instead of the packaging itself.
These are just a few of the marks I found on inspection. Others include a Gluten Free, Paraben Free, Vegan, Organic Certification, EAC Eurasian Conformity Mark, and a Certified B Corporation.
How about you? Have you ever noticed any of these symbols or paid attention to them? Now you can use them to your advantage. My one take away would be to place a date with sharpie on the product when you open it so you can reference that for the PAO and know when to discard it. For related articles, see the articles below.
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