You rely on household products such as cleaners, air fresheners, and beauty products to keep your home welcoming and your skin sparkling. When you shop for household goods, you probably look for discounts, favorite scents, and brands that have a good reputation. You should be thinking about something else, too: the ingredients in the products you buy. Some household items contain toxic ingredients that harm your health as well as the environment.

How do you know what kind of ingredients to avoid? When shopping for lotions, sunscreens, and makeups, avoid oxybenzone, parabens, and sulfates. You should also avoid ingredients lists that include “fragrance” as an ingredient, because companies do not have to reveal what they use to make fragrances. In your cleaning products, look out for phthalates, perc, triclosan, ammonia, and several others. Consider your commitment to buying greener, safer products to be a lifestyle change that you’ll stick with for good!

The list of toxic chemicals you want to avoid is unfortunately long, and parsing ingredients lists can be too difficult and time-consuming to do while you’re in the cleaning aisle at the grocery store. That’s why you should do your research at home and decide on environmentally friendly products with safe ingredients lists to look for in the store. You may also decide that ordering your household supplies online from a reputable brand such as Amway is the way to go. If you’re still not convinced that buying eco-friendly products makes a difference, check out the following infographic to learn how toxic chemicals affect your health — and how to hone your purchasing decisions.