Although Webster specifies "natural" as "not artificial, man made,
[or] acquired by external signifies, " it is the unusual cosmetic
ingredient that fits in which description. Even water used in cosmetics is
normally distilled, demonized, or otherwise filtered. All along the continuum
regarding "natural" products, choices have been built to emulsify,
stabilize and preserve--to make the merchandise smooth and creamy, keep these
fresh, and give them a satisfactory shelf life. Even if consumers want products
that must be refrigerated, distributors and retailers will not order them due
to added costs of shipping, saving and greater liability. A growing variety of
consumers who seek that sort of freshness have been firing upwards their
blenders and following tested recipes for homemade treatments. 1[1] Also these,
however, call for crucial oils, alcohol, glycerin, lanolin, and so forth. Which
is a long way from other natural origins? As reported inside Strong Voices, the
newsletter with the Breast Cancer Fund, "Approximately one-third of
cosmetics and also body care companies position their products as natural in
somehow... But, as you might assume, some companies are more normal than
others" (Volume 7, summer season 2005).
Most people who seek out "natural" products are seeking ingredients
whose sources they understand, and that is why several companies now list the
source combined with scientific name of the element, as in sodium laurel
sulfate (from coconut), or perhaps lanolin (from wool). Turpentine arises from
pine trees. My grandmother, created in 1901, swore that turpentine aided her
arthritic hands, and she could have rubbed them with lard (from bacon)
afterwards to help keep them as soft as from the. Perhaps lard and turpentine
are usually "natural, " but are they best for the skin, and along
your, what is the definition regarding "good? " Again, there are
usually no simple answers. If you might have found this article through the
particular Eco-Mall, it is safe to assume which you seek out skin care in
which:
(1) is friendly to the surroundings ("eco-friendly");
(2) does no harm to animals (commonly called "cruelty-free"); and
(3) does no harm to our body and ideally does good (is
"body-friendly").
Let us examine "natural" natural skin care in light of each one of
these issues.
Eco-Friendly
an issue rarely addressed from the cosmetic industry is whether products are
green. The LA Times2[2] has noted that consumer products, including makeup
products, pump 100 tons of pollution daily into southern California's oxygen,
second only to auto emissions. These pollutants come not merely from the propellants
in sprays and also aerosols, but also from fluorocarbons, ethanol, butane,
acetone, phenols and also xylene. Here's how it operates: These chemicals
evaporate, and if the sun shines they combine with other pollutants to make
ozone, a primary component of smog that will cause headaches, chest pain and
loss in lung function. This happens outside the house and indoors, which can
severely compromise mid-air quality in our homes and also offices.
There is a class regarding chemicals called PPCPs (pharmaceutical and also
personal care products) that until recently have received relatively little
attention as prospective environmental pollutants. PPCPs comprise almost all
drugs (prescription and over-the-counter), diagnostic agents (e. g., X-ray
distinction media), nutraceuticals, and other chemical compounds, including
fragrances, sunscreen agents, and also skin anti-aging preparations. When
phthalates, as an example, get into rivers and wetlands, they are known to have
an effect on the reproduction of aquatic types; and musk fragrances are proven
to bio accumulate. 3[3] Skincare products may consist of botanical ingredients
grown with pesticides and chemical fertilizers which can be not friendly to the
surroundings, and some may use genetically modified plants inside their
botanical ingredients.
Cruelty-Free
"Cruelty-free" is normally understood to mean that the merchandise
are not tested on pets; sometimes also that there are no animal-derived
ingredients inside the products. Taken literally, this would imply the absence
of lanolin (from wool), beeswax or perhaps honey, dairy products, etc. Some
labels specifically state you can find no animal ingredients.
Body-Friendly
We suggest four criteria for evaluating "body-friendly" natural skin
care products:
· Toxicity
· Collusiveness
· Comedogenicity
· Performance
1. Toxicity
In our July article we all discussed several ingredients which we choose to
avoid in skin care goods. To recap, we listed vitamin oils, petrolatum,
propylene glycol, parabens, phthalates, SLS and also SLES. We also called
sunscreens directly into question.
Toxicity (to humans) of natural skin care ingredients may be divided directly
into three distinct categories: 4[4]
any. Carcinogenic, referring to ingredients causing cancer
b. Endocrine-disrupting, which identifies chemicals that disturb the body’s
hormonal balance, and may restrict its ability to grow, produce, or function
normally. Endocrine disruptors are often carcinogenic.
c. Allergenic, irritating or perhaps sensitizing, meaning consumers may have
allergies or contact dermatitis (itching, redness, rash, etc. ). Individuals
with multiple chemical sensitivities could become very ill when exposed to
certain of the chemicals.
There are many "natural" cosmetic companies who include parabens,
SLES, as well as other of these ingredients in their particular products.
A general note concerning preservatives: By their very dynamics preservatives
are toxic. They have to be toxic to bacteria, molds and yeast to help keep the
products from spoiling. Another preservative that is gaining use as an option
to parabens is diazolidinyl urea. This preservative will not be banned from use
in The European union, although some authors claim it is carcinogenic because
this is a formaldehyde donor. Although formaldehyde is a substance which occurs
naturally in our body, formaldehyde in the gaseous state can be a known
carcinogen. From all studies we've read, diazolidinyl urea, when that forms
formaldehyde, does not kind formaldehyde gas. Nonetheless, when found in high
enough concentrations or even in low concentrations by persons that are
especially sensitive to it, diazolidinyl urea-along with another
preservative-has been shown to result in contact dermatitis. There are also
"natural" products who claim to utilize no preservative. Most of
these kinds of contain grapefruit--or other citrus--seed acrylic extract. As
mentioned in Part I with this series, cosmetic chemists I have spoken to insist
why these citrus seeds would turn rancid should they were not sprayed with
chemical; that that preservative is concentrated in the oil if it is extracted;
that this preservative inside the extract is what is in fact preserving the
skincare product; understanding that the preservative used is typically a
paraben.
There are also skincare products which can be sold in sealed containers
together with airless pumps or sprayers. Although it can add significantly to
the expense of a product, this type regarding packaging and delivery is very
desirable, as it keeps air and airborne contaminants out from the product and
can help you significantly decrease or even eliminate the usage of
preservative.
Of the large set of possible cosmetic ingredients, a relative few individually
pose risky, but many people use numerous products every day. It could be that
these risks are including, or that single ingredients react with others to
generate toxic combinations, known as synergistic toxicity.
A couple of. Exclusivity
The skin is your body’s largest organ. The lungs inhale and exhale, and so do
the epidermis, so to speak: The "breathing" skin provides a great
exit for toxins and chemicals--respiration by means of perspiration. Lotions
and salves that occlude this kind of exit may initially soften skin by keeping
moisture from avoiding, but may actually inhibit the general health of the
individual, besides weighing down skin and causing it to sag and also age.
Nutrients applied to the skin that increase the skin's health may have a
positive effect generally body, because they are absorbed in to the bloodstream
through the skin. Once we choose body-friendly skin care, two important
criteria receive play: that the products not be toxic to your skin or our
bodies, and that they not are occlusive-allowing nutrients inside and toxins out.
5[5] the bonus comes if the ingredients that are allowed in also bring skin
into balance and nourish that. This is the topic of Part III individual’s
series of articles: What Nutrients and Ingredients are very important for
Healthy Skin? (Late September 2005). Here we address ingredients frequent to
"natural" skin care that could be occlusive and/or comedogenic.
Look up "exclusivity" on the net and you will find a huge selection
of references to exclusivity and the benefits. The reason companies tout some
great benefits of exclusivity is that it holds water inside the skin. When
water can't avoid, the skin stays soft and also moist, and that sounds like a
very important thing. Imagine wrapping your skin together with plastic wrap and
wearing that around all day-an extreme illustration of exclusivity. Pretty soon
it could start to stink in there because the toxins that usually escape
together with perspiration and generally evaporate in to the air get trapped
between skin and the plastic. Now that is amazing those same toxins can't leave
the bloodstream as the skin's normal respiration is clogged. Where will they
go? Sometimes, they fester under the epidermis and form deep-down blemishes;
inside extreme cases, where occlusive lotions are used throughout the body for
extended periods, they may deposit in the liver and enhance the body's toxic
load.
Sometimes it could be beneficial to use occlusive salves to get a limited time.
If you desire to climb Mt. Everest, for illustration, or ski at high altitude
the location where the air is thin and dry and you are near the sun, it's a
good idea to be able to wear a lotion that holds the lake in the skin. For
toddlers with diaper rash, it's good to employ a salve that keeps the water far
from the skin! For most folks, these are not constant ailments, and treatments
that hold water in as time passes are undesirable.
Standard cosmetics experts may disagree using this reasoning. Paula Begun in
Don't See a Cosmetics Counter Without Me (5th male impotence., 2001) states:
"According to several 'natural' cosmetics companies, mineral oil (and
petrolatum) arises from crude oil (petroleum), is found in industry as a
metal-cutting smooth, and therefore can harm skin by forming an oil motion
picture and suffocating it.... This unreasonable, recurring misinformation
about mineral acrylic and petrolatum is maddening. All things considered, crude
oil is as natural as any earth-derived substance... Mineral oil and also
petrolatum... can keep air off the skin to some degree, but... it doesn't
suffocate skin! " (pp. 11-13). She also states that antiperspirants
"cannot absorb in to the skin... " (p. 14). I maintain that anything
rubbed onto skin will be absorbed, as long as the molecules are small enough to
pass through the skin membrane; this is how patches work to supply medication.
Although Begun makes an excellent point that crude oil will be "natural,
" I believe to make educated choices of which earth-derived substances we
connect with the skin, and crude oil just isn't on my list.
It should be noted there are degrees of exclusivity: If an ingredient is
occlusive when employed by itself, it will be less so when used in combination
with non-occlusive ingredients. A small level of beeswax used to emulsify
jojoba and water will probably be far less occlusive than rubbing beeswax alone
onto skin. With that in mind, in addition to mineral oil and petrolatum, below
are a few of the more common occlusive ingredients within "natural"
skin care:
a. beeswax as well as other waxes
b. castor oil
chemical. Cocoa butter
d. simethicone
Elizabeth. Honey
f. lanolin
g. sunflower oil as well as other vegetable oils
3. Comedogenicity
As opposed to occlusive oils like mineral and also sunflower oil, which do not
necessarily penetrate, comedogenicity refers to the tendency of a substance to
find you in the skin's pores and clog up them. This is especially bothersome in
face care products, where clogged pores may cause acne and blackheads. The word
comedy could be the medical term for blackhead, thus comedo+genic means
"friendly to whiteheads. " Some cosmetic-ingredient glossaries equate
"non-comedogenic" with "non-occlusive, " but this is a
misunderstanding; while beeswax, mineral oil and zinc oxide (among others) are
regarded as occlusive, they are non-comedogenic. It is because they lie on top
of the skin, nor penetrate. Others, like sunflower acrylic, may be both
occlusive and also (somewhat) comedogenic. Below is a listing of the relative
comedogenicity of several common "natural" cosmetic ingredients6[6]
(source: http: //www. geocities. com):
Extremely Comedogenic
Somewhat Comedogenic
Not Comedogenic
Caprice/acrylic triglyceride
Anhydrous lanolin
Allantois
Cocoa powder butter
Avocado oil
Beeswax
Lanolin chemical p
Caprice & acrylic acid
Cyclomethicone & Simethicone
Linseed acrylic
Castor oil
Ethanol
Olive acrylic
Coconut oil
Glycerin
Peach kernel acrylic
Corn oil
Jojoba
Sweet almond acrylic
Grape seed oil
Kaolin (clay)
Glyceryl stearate
Vitamin oil (USP)
He xylene glycol
Oxybenzone
Lanolin alcohol consumption & oil
Pantheon
Mineral acrylic, cosmetic grade
Petrolatum (USP)
Mink acrylic
Polysorbates
Peanut oil
Propylene glycol
Safflower acrylic
SD alcohol
Sesame oil
Sodium hyaluronate
Sunflower oil
Sodium PCA
Tocopherol (vitamin E)
Sorbitol
Squalene
Titanium dioxide
Waxes
"Note: Even somewhat or very comedogenic ingredients may be present in
non-comedogenic formulas any time used at percentages low enough the end
formula won't clog pores" (ibid. ). The important point is to consider
their relative position in the particular ingredients list. If a comedogenic
ingredient is toward the most notable, then it is probably within a quantity
large enough to be able to clog pores. Unfortunately it is impossible from your
ingredients list to know whether as an example ingredient #5 represents 20%
with the formula or 2%. Thus we need in order to trust the manufacturer when
the particular label states "non-comedogenic. "
Some. Effectiveness
Let us assume that each skincare company's raison deter (before or following
your profit motive) is to generate products that make the skin appearance and
feel good, and that probably means it's soft rather than dry. Add some
additional goals--anti-aging, anti-acne, and skin-smoothing--and you've covered
a lot of the bases. Most skincare products, "natural" or elsewhere,
achieve these goals by using occlusive what hold moisture in and maintain the
skin soft and "plump. Inches
if, however, we are trying to find the beauty of overall glowing health in the
skin, we must ask for more than this from the outer skin care.
We agree with Charles DE Prince, chief executive of Goodlife Labs, who
declares: "The idea of 'natural' could mean something containing all
natural ingredients; nonetheless, I believe there should be described as a more
significant meaning to the theory. I think the natural course to attaining
beauty can be a healthier and potentially more lasting one than if you use
harsh or radical treatments for instance Botox, face lifts and peeling. The
'natural' idea should be to support the living and natural cells individuals’
skin with nutrients that could support specific things like the body's natural
ability to be able to retain moisture, to support normal collagen development,
or to lessen hyperpigmentation. This way, by supporting the natural health with
the skin, I believe the cumulative effect should be to develop healthier skin
as the path to and result regarding beauty. "7[7]
In the third and final article with this series, to be published inside late
September, we will discuss skincare what work from the inside out to guide and
nourish the skin, carry it into balance, and keep that healthy and
young-looking. Meanwhile, we recommend being a minimum that skincare products
become non-toxic, non-occlusive, non-comedienne, and ease and moisturize. 8[8]
we furthermore recommend using fewer products, and also avoiding synthetic
fragrances and scents. Become an avid reader regarding ingredients labels!
