Cosmetic Ingredients to Avoid
A Brief Guide from Patricia's Organics

Unlike drugs, cosmetics are largely unregulated. They are not required to be tested by the FDA or by any other governmental entity before they are released on the market. In other words, they are tested on consumers when we buy the products.

The following is a brief discussion of five common harmful cosmetic ingredients. Whenever you can, seek alternatives to these and other harmful chemicals found in beauty products.

Talc

Talc is finely powdered magnesium silicate. It has a long history of use in eyeshadow, powdered blush, face powder, dusting powder, and, most notably, baby powder. Unfortunately talc is also structurally quite close to asbestos. Like asbestos, tiny airborne particles can easily be inhaled and accumulate in the lungs. The dangers of talc are multiplied by the specific area of the body where it is commonly applied both in babies and adults, namely the genitals. Talc can easily migrate up the vaginal canal. Talc granules have been found in ovarian tumors, and women who use talc are three times more likely to develop ovarian cancer.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a common disinfectant, germicide and fungicide in shampoos and mascara, hidden from consumers under the names quaternium-15, diazolidinyl urea, and DMDM hydantoin, which are in fact highly dangerous formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. It is interesting to note that some products containing these toxic chemicals are required by the United States government to carry warning labels, but shampoo and mascara are not. Formaldehyde is a suspected human carcinogen. It has been found to cause DNA damage and inhibit repair. Even at very low levels, it is an irritant to the skin, eyes, and respiratory passages.

Propylene glycol

Propylene Glycol is a petroleum derivative and is the most common ingredient found in commercial moisturizers and creams (other than water itself). Its moisture-carrying properties also make it a valuable ingredient in antifreeze and hydraulic brake fluid formulas. It is, not surprisingly, extremely inexpensive. Propylene glycol has been cited as a neurotoxin by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In addition, according to its Material Safety Data Sheet, it has been linked with kidney damage and liver abnormalities.

Parabens

Para- hydroxybenzoic acid esters (methyl, propyl, ethyl, butyl) are the most commonly used cosmetic preservatives in the US. They are found in an array of products ranging from shampoos to face creams. Parabens are popular because they are inexpensive and also have a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity. Unfortunately, they mimic estrogen and have been associated with reproductive damage. One study of parabens found they had estrogenic potencies comparable to bisphenol-A, a common ingredient in many plastics implicated in birth defects, obesity, early stage breast and prostate cancer, and other adverse health effects.

Sodium lauryl sulfate

Sodium lauryl sulfate is undoubtedly the number one lathering ingredient in all American cosmetic preparations that foam. This includes shampoo, bubble bath, liquid soap, and toothpaste. It is used by the cosmetic industry because of its tremendous lathering properties, coupled with the fact that it is staggeringly cheap. In the spirit of experimentation, I recently bought a liter of sodium lauryl sulfate from a chemical supply house for $8.00. A single drop in running water filled my bathtub with bubbles. How cheap can you get? No wonder it is actually quite difficult to find a commercial preparation that foams that doesn¹t contain sodium lauryl sulfate.

Undoubtedly because it is so effective and cheap, the many dangers of sodium lauryl sulfate are largely ignored. To begin with, sodium lauryl sulfate is extremely drying and actually damages the stratum corneum of the skin, causing a reduction in normal barrier functions. Its lipid dissolving qualities further abuse the skin by damaging its moisture retaining ability at the cellular level.

Sodium lauryl sulfate can also react with other ingredients commonly found in cosmetic products that foam to form nitrosamines, a class of secondary compounds formed from secondary amines by nitrous acid. Nitrosamines are considered highly carcinogenic. As they are easily absorbed through the skin, nitrosamine contamination reaches far higher levels than can be absorbed by the body in other ways.

The fact that sodium lauryl sulfate is so harmful to the skin makes it a strange choice for skincare products, but its inclusion in almost all American toothpastes that foam is stranger still. Toothpaste does not have to foam to be effective. A mouth full of suds is simply something Americans have come to expect since the introduction of foaming toothpaste in the 1940¹s. Unfortunately, the foam is actually bad for your teeth and has greatly contributed to the modern epidemic of gum disease. Its effect on gums is similar to its effect on skin: it is an irritant, preventing gums from healing themselves, an open invitation to gum disease. Norwegian researchers found that when people prone to cancer sores stopped using sodium lauryl sulfate, their incidence of cancer sores fell by 70 percent.

TO LEARN MORE

If you have any questions, you can call us at
510-548-1417 or email Patricia at:

gethappy@patriciasorganics.com