How confusing is it when you know you’re meant to avoid certain ingredients, like harsh chemicals, but you just can’t grasp the ingredient list? You want to know whats really in the list and not be sold by misleading advertising! Yet you have no idea what your reading on the back of your product. Long words and weird names, why can’t it all be so simple!
Your skin will absorb 64% of what is put onto it. In some studies the face and delicate areas like underarms, absorbed 100%. It is so important to understand what you are putting “into your body”.
Flip over a product and have a really good look at the ingredients…..
Legally the ingredient list has to be formatted a certain way. That is, in a descending order by volume or mass. So basically, the most amount of a particular ingredient will be at the top of list. The least amount of ingredient will be at the very end.
Say you purchase an anti-ageing cream with the main focus ingredient advertised as COLLAGEN, but when you read the ingredient list, collagen is seen right at the bottom. You’ve fallen for misleading advertising, there may be less then 1% of that ingredient in the product.
Reading Ingredients:
When you read the list for natural products, you would have noticed the Latin name and in brackets the common English name. I think this is overwheming for most. It makes the ingredient list long, misunderstood and confusing. But it’s a regulation. So lets try to understand it.
You’ll notice beside each long latin name is a bracket with the associated english name we recognise. When reading ingredients I suggest if it’s easier, than just read from these brackets. You’ll have a quick idea at a glance what natural beauties are captured in your products.
Now, the most talked about topic in cosmetics is the term toxic chemicals. How do we avoid them, if we don’t know what we’re looking for?
To explain simply, a natural ingredient is still considered a chemical. A toxin is different where its had tests preformed and the outcome has had a negative effect. If a natural ingredient like say rose has been overly heated for long periods it can also make the chemical structure un-natural. It no longer has it’s intigrity of an ‘active’ botanical or extract. This process that is needed to ‘grab the active from the plant’ is called the extraction process.
So, don’t be afraid of the word natural chemical all naturally derived ingredients have a chemical compound. This is what makes them beneficial.
You will have to find out through the companies webpage if and how it has been derived and most do not say. It’s unfortunate, but those which do are more then likely a genuine natural company.
So, nasty ‘toxic’ chemicals to avoid in cosmetics are read in the ingredient list as follows;
- Parabens – CAN EFFECT HORMONAL IMBALANCE, are used to preserve a product from mould
- Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (SLS) or SLES – EXTREMELY CORROSIVE BREAKING DOWN THE SKIN’S BARRIER
- Mineral Oil – CLOGS THE PORES AND SUFFOCATES THE SKIN
- Phthalates – ARE SHOWN TO WORSEN A WOMAN’S EGG QUALITY AND QUANTITY
- Oxybenzone – CARCINOGENIC INCREASES RADICAL DAMAGE – believe it or not, its found in sunscreens
- Triclosan – AFFECTS YOUR THYROID – found in anti-bacterial hand wash and sanitizers
- PEG compounds
- Hydroquinone – CAN DECREASE YOUR SKINS ELASTICITY – used in skin lightning products
- Propylene glycol –
- Synthetic colours (eg; red27 or blue1) – DERIVED FROM PETROLEUM OR COAL TAR AND CARCINOGENIC OBVIOUSLY
- Fragrance – USUALLY A CONCOCTION OF CHEMICALS THAT CAN CAUSE DERMATITIS, ALLERGIES AND RESPIRATORY DISTRESS
Written by
Christina O’Brien
Founder of Agerasia
