This topic is quite important as it seems to be the most elusive to many. The ingredients list, what's on it, why is it there, what does it mean? why can't I pronounce this word, the front says this but the back doesn't! These are all things I hear almost on a daily basis, and everyone has the right to be concerned and conscious about what they put on their skin as well as in their bodies because it takes 29 seconds, approximately, for a product to soak into the bloodstream, however, I'm here to tell you that there is a fine line between conscious and crazy and there are a few who are on the crazy side of things!
To start, I hear people often say, what's that word? I've never heard it before, I can't pronounce it, so it must be bad! OK people, that only works for processed food in the middle aisles of the grocery store! When it comes to cosmetic products everything changes, every country has governing agencies that put rules on how products are made and they regulate the use of ingredients in products and deem what is safe and unsafe. Although I am one of many that agree that they should narrow the list and remove some of the more harmful ingredients, however they are allowed in certain percentages of the product and not any higher, that's why it's deemed OK. One of the other rules is that they are to be written on the back of the product in order of concentration (the first ingredient being the highest, usually water at 50% or less) and these ingredients are to be listed in their latin/proper name. So unless you speak latin, or any kind of scientific language, I don't expect you to be able to pronounce any of it.
Next, "the front says vitamin E, or vitamin A , or vitamin C" but the back doesn't have any of these! Once again, they are listed by their proper scientific or latin names, which will look like the company is lying to you, but all you have to do is your research. Vitamin E will be shown in the ingredients list as tocopherol, a-tocopherol, tocotrentinol, a-tocopherol acetate, and so on. Vitamin A looks like this: retinol, retin-A, retinoid, retinoic acid, carotene, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, gamma-carotene, etc. And Vitamin C; L-ascorbic acid, ascorbate, dehydroascorbic acid, and other variations. Now looking at these if you had read them right from the box, would have you made the association with each of these vitamins or assumed they were chemicals?
On to the next subtopic, preservatives! This one is a good one, and really I should have a whole post dedicated to this one because it seems to be a difficult concept to wrap around the mind; preservatives keep things from going bad, moldy and otherwise unpleasant to use. If the products goes bad and moldy and allows bacteria to produce, we will get sick or develop some kind of skin rash, even a fungus, like Tinea Corpus(ring worm of the skin/body). Preservatives are much more important than people think and when I see products that claim to be preservative free I get nervous. I immediately turn the package around and search the ingredients list for an ingredient that would be there in place of the "preservatives" because a product requires a preservative in order to claim a shelf life or be able to be stocked in a warehouse for long periods of time.
There are all kinds of "better for you" preservatives on the market that brands can use, typically a natural or botanically based product will use a mixture of essential oils to preserve their products because they are naturally anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and germicidal. Many companies used preservatives like parabens, but we all know for sure that we don't want those! There are two types of containers, however, that I have come across where the product truly does not need a preservative, and the idea of it is so that people with extremely sensitive skin that breakouts into allergic reactions easily wont react to the product. These two brands are La Roche Possay's Toleriane cream and Avene Tolerance Extreme and Skin Recovery Crème.
The idea behind La Roche Possay: Toleriane is that the product is in a bag within the pump bottle. The pump of the bottle has a "no backfire" kind of technology so once the product has been pumped out it closes immediately without letting air flow into the product. The Avene products have a similar device called the DEFI, allowing for what they call "sterile cosmetics". The DEFI works the same, once you squeeze the tube the product is dispensed and then the technology closes up so there is no contact with airborne bacteria.
So unless every brand on the planet decides to hop on this band wagon, there will always be preservatives.
There are a few more things to talk about here, bare with me! Fragrances, they will virtually never not be there because ingredients have their own scent and many brands use essential oils as fragrances. If a product says scent free and there's still a lingering scent, usually because it's a essential oil fragrance and not an alcohol based fragrance. If there is not scent at all, good chance the company uses a chemical ingredient to mask the smell.
The next one I just love hearing: why are there so many ingredients? There's no way they need all this! News flash! When you look at the back of a basic cream you will see in no particular order these ingredients, amongst others : water, oil (vegetable, plant based), glycerin(vegetable based), essential oils, extracts, preservatives, etc. Yeah, that looks good, lets throw all that in a jar, shake it and go right? Wrong! Everyone knows that water and oil are immiscible(don't mix together) and there are some essential oils that need to be mixed in oil or glycerin before introduced to the complete mix. but in order to allow all these to mix together to create a smooth crème in a jar that you buy at the store it requires another kind of ingredient; an emulsifier (or binder, if you will). So now we've extended our ingredients list by at least 1-3 ingredients.
Next, certain companies(typically the home based, catalogue type) will claim non-toxic. By non-toxic, people think it means all natural, chemical free, botanical, and all the nice and lovely stuff they want to imagine. What non-toxic really means is NON-TOXIC. No matter what kind of ingredient it is, it is safe. Yeah, you read right, chemicals that are man made can be safe! And botanical/all natural from the back yard types can be harmful. Example: poison oak, poison ivy, rhubarb leaves, some ferns, mushrooms, some wild flowers and some flowers you buy at the store for your garden. They are all natural, but you're not going to grab a leaf of poison ivy and rub it on your face, are you? Didn't think so.
Lastly (I think), if you are looking for a truly chemical free product, you might as well bottle air. Products are never going to be chemical free because virtually everything is a chemical! Everything is made from the table of elements, which are chemicals! Some naturally derived, some man-made. And when you see on an ingredients like aloe leaf extract, I hope you don't imagine a factory worker squishing a full aloe leaf in the jar of your face crème in its pure form! No, most botanical extracts are extracted in ways that sometimes require chemical aid. Some fragrance oils from plants are extracted from alcohols like vodka. At this point its no longer in the purest form and has now been turned into a chemical form and will have chemical reactions with other ingredients. It's all science, its just the way it works! And if you go far enough into this science and chemicals VS organics topic, you'll realize that you yourself are a bundle of elements from the periodic table, the same elements that make the same chemicals as everything else in this world!
So hopefully I have answered some questions in this post, and have diffused any confusion and concern about this topic. It irks me to the very core when this topic comes up because its usually pushed on others by those who think they are educated but all they did was read a magazine article saying scientists are doing tests, and that doesn't necessarily mean its true yet! I often refer to EWG's Skin Deep website, they are very thorough with they're research and they will show if a product doesn't have enough data to say if it is one way or another. When you see those "ingredients to avoid" lists, be sure it's from an educated source, and I always like to cross reference it with EWG.
My "avoid" list is short and sweet because it is most important to avoid these first: oxybenzone(sunscreens, click here and here for my post on this), parabens(there are several, but all you need to know is that if the word ends in paraben, it's bad) although some parabens are found in natural sources (methylparaben apparently is in blueberries and has anti-microbial effects) they are still harmful to the body systems, mineral oils and petrolatum products(not the worst, but typically not the best), watch out for leads, talc(do your research, it is a mined ingredient just like mineral oil and petrolatum and if present in most powdered products such as powder makeup, baby powder, and most often in prescription medications), and aluminums. As I do my own research, this list may get bigger, but for now this is the basic precautions I take.
So sorry that this post is quite lengthy. I could have done it in two posts but I find this topic much to important and once I get on a role with it I have to hit every base! So as always, thank you for reading and keep an eye out for my next two topics in my skin condition series! So far I covered Psoriasis and Eczema, so next on my list are Rosacea and Acne!
Presley Charlotte :)
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