What You Should Look for (and What You Shouldn’t Find) in the Best Moisturizer.
Is it possible that your moisturizer is dangerous? Dangerous? Isn’t that a silly question, why could moisturizers possibly be dangerous? Aren’t they just intended to moisturize our skin?
Unfortunately there are many petrochemical and chemical ingredients found in many moisturizers as well is many other products such as bath and beauty products and cosmetics. 2 examples are sodium lauryl sulphate and mineral oil.
Many of these chemical ingredients are used in so many of our personal products such as moisturizers because they are extremely cheap. Many are manufactured in laboratories. Mineral oil is so cheap that it actually costs less to buy it than to dispose of it.
There is an organisation called the Environmental Working Group. They maintain a website where they constantly update a database of information about so many of these chemical and petrochemical ingredients in so many of our personal products such as skin care
If you search sodium lauryl sulphate at the Cosmetic Safety Database you’ll see that it is linked to cancer, organ system toxicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity skin irritation and more. You’ll see similar concerns if you search mineral oil.
Studies have shown that many of these ingredients commonly found in skin care and anti aging products such as moisturizers can have negative health risks. For example a study recently published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology called “Tumorigenic Effect of Some Commonly Used Moisturizing Creams when Applied Topically to UVB-Pretreated High-Risk Mice” demonstrated that a number of moisturizers which contained mineral oil and sodium lauryl sulphate, when applied 5 days a week for 17 weeks, “increased significantly the rate of formation of tumors and the rate of increase in tumor size per mouse”.
Interestingly, after the results of the study were established, (which were a surprise because the study was actually to see if caffeine produced skin cancer in mice), the researchers requested that the manufacturer of the moisturizer tested manufacture a further moisturizer without mineral oil or sodium lauryl sulphate in it. This was also tested and the results showed no effect on tumor formation or growth in the mice.
When searching at the Cosmetic Safety Database you can search any of the chemical or petrochemical ingredients that are so commonly found in modern skin care and anti aging moisturizers, and you will see studies such as this one listed in the search results for you to read.
Although it may never have occurred to you there is a wide range of health risks that you may be exposed to because of the use of chemicals and petrochemical ingredients in modern moisturizers and other anti aging skin care products, it is clear that the health risks exist.
So should you decide never again to moisturize? Should you decide to avoid all anti aging skin care products because they contain dangerous chemical ingredients? No. There are alternatives.
There are small niche companies which recognize the problem with mainstream chemical laden anti aging skin care products and see this as an opportunity to manufacture safe and effective skin care products containing none of the chemical ingredients that are commonly found in mainstream skin care products such as moisturizers.
The anti aging market is massive and there are billions of dollars at stake and it is extremely difficult for small companies like this to compete with the big brand names, but they do so by differentiating themselves by producing safe and effective natural skin care products that will produce the results you want without risking your health. These companies do not use the chemical alternatives used by so many of the big brand-name manufacturers despite the fact that these chemical alternatives are much cheaper.
It may take longer to find but if you manage to track down some of these natural skin care products, one range in particular, and try them you will be very pleasantly surprised at the results you get. Firstly you won’t be risking your health because they use only known safe ingredients and secondly you will find that the products are extremely effective. But it can sometimes be difficult to find these products because the small niche companies that manufacture them cannot compete with the big brands on television advertising and so do not advertise on television at all.
So the bad news is that if you use modern big name moisturizers the chances are that they are laden with chemical additives which, whilst very cheap for the manufacturer to use, may be putting your health at risk. The good news is that there are natural skin care products available which are highly effective at producing better skin health and which don’t use the chemical ingredients.
On my website about natural skin care I try to alert my readers to these problems and point them in the direction of safe are more natural alternatives such as natural moisturizers and other natural anti aging products. Visit my website to find out more.
Want to learn more about the best Natural Skin Care Products? Or more about the Best Moisturizer? Visit Peter’s Website Natural Health-Natural Skin Care.