The big question this month is what is safe? What is the purpose of adding ‘chemicals’ to skincare? What would happen to our favourite moisturiser if it contained no preservatives? We have asked some skincare formulation experts their views…
COSMETIC FORMULATORY EXPERT Dr Ulrich Eicken
“All materials we deal with are in essence chemicals. In fact, the human body is a really sophisticated chemicals factory. All materials used in cosmetics, no matter if they are made by nature or by man, are chemical substances too. The harmlessness of all chemicals has to be demonstrated to toxicology experts. Their use is accordingly allowed or restricted to certain areas or concentrations, or forbidden. This applies to all materials, be it actives, oils,
preservatives, or emulsifiers, and be it natural or artificial. Before they are put on the market, each cosmetic product is reviewed by an independent toxicologist to make sure it is safe.
Preservation, by whatever means, is necessary for cosmetics to prevent germs from growing in your product and to cause diseases on your skin or in your body. Preservatives, like Parabens or Benzoic Acid, are a good means of keeping cosmetics preserved for several years.
The complete list of ingredients in any product is given on the pack in INCI (International Namegiving of Cosmetic Ingredients), which is the same in all countries. In some instances these names can sound like ‘nasty chemicals’ but are, in fact, derived from natural ingredients. Usually all substances are necessary for the complete properties of the product. Omitting one of them would change the product and perhaps make it unstable.”
PRESERVATIVE SYSTEMS EXPERT Dr Dene Godfrey
“The main reason that some people have questioned the safety of parabens is due to a scientific paper that discovered that some of the parabens have an extremely weak potential to mimic the human hormone, oestrogen. Oestrogen itself has been linked to cancer in some studies. It must be stressed that the potential to mimic oestrogen does not mean that the compound will behave in exactly the same way as oestrogen. Several studies have observed no such oestrogenic effect from methylparaben but a weak effect was seen with butylparaben. However, the effect was so much weaker than human oestrogen, and the concentration of butylparaben required to produce that effect in the study was so much higher than people could ever come into contact with. In normal daily use of cosmetics any potential hormonal effect from exposure to butylparaben is more than 2 billion times weaker than oestrogen. To compare butylparaben with oestrogen is like claiming that a fly is as dangerous as a Chieftain tank! There is no proven link between parabens and cancer and, bearing in mind the facts I have just quoted, it is extremely unlikely that there is any link to be proven. If I had the slightest concern over the safety of parabens, I would make sure that my 17 year-old daughter never used products containing them. I have no such reservations.”
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