Think Dirty made waves in the clean beauty community by giving consumers a simple way to scan personal care products and see a "dirty" rating. With over 8 million users and 2.6 million products, it's one of the most recognized names in ingredient scanning.
But as the product safety space has evolved, Think Dirty's approach shows its age in a few key areas.
What Think Dirty Does Well
Think Dirty built a passionate community around clean beauty. Their "Dirty Meter" rating is simple and memorable, and their database of beauty and personal care products is extensive. For someone just starting to think about ingredient safety in their skincare routine, Think Dirty is an accessible entry point.
Where Think Dirty Falls Short
Scoring methodology concerns. Think Dirty's rating system has faced criticism from dermatologists and toxicologists for not always aligning with peer-reviewed science. The "dirty" framing can be more alarmist than informative, and the sourcing behind individual ratings isn't always transparent.
Beauty-only focus. Think Dirty doesn't cover household products, cookware, cleaning supplies, or baby gear beyond personal care items. If you want to know whether your air fryer's non-stick coating contains PFAS, Think Dirty can't help.
Aging user experience. The app hasn't seen a major UX refresh in several years. Navigation can feel dated compared to modern apps, and the web experience is minimal.
No toxicology depth. Think Dirty gives you a score but doesn't show you the regulatory status of individual ingredients — no CAS numbers, no Prop 65 data, no IARC classifications. Rabbithole's ingredient database provides all of this.
How Rabbithole Compares
| Feature | Think Dirty | Rabbithole |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty & personal care | Excellent | Good |
| Household & cleaning | No | Yes |
| Cookware & appliances | No | Yes |
| Baby products | Limited | Yes |
| Scoring transparency | Low | High (6 weighted factors) |
| Regulatory data per ingredient | No | Yes (Prop 65, IARC, ECHA, EPA, FDA) |
| Safer alternatives | Yes | Yes |
| Price | Free (premium available) | Free |
| Web-based scanner | No | Yes (PWA) |
Other Options
Yuka — excellent for European food scanning, but limited on US household products.
EWG Skin Deep — the deepest cosmetics ingredient database. Not a scanner app, but invaluable for research.
INCIDecoder — great for understanding skincare ingredient lists. Doesn't scan barcodes or score products holistically.
Which Should You Use?
If clean beauty is your primary concern and you want the largest cosmetics database, Think Dirty is still a reasonable choice — just take the scores with a grain of salt and check the underlying data.
If you want to go beyond beauty and understand what's in everything in your home — cleaning products, cookware, baby items, personal care — Rabbithole gives you deeper data, transparent scoring, and works right in your browser.
Try Rabbithole free — scan your first product in seconds.