Are you drawn to cosmetics by an eye-catching advertisement, elegant packaging or the image of an actress with beautiful skin, and choose products without much thought? Despite women's desire to maintain beautiful skin, a number of people have been suffering from skin irritations, allergies, itching and eczema caused by cosmetic ingredients during the past decade. It is not the words in the advertisements or the packaging that keep the skin beautiful. It's the ingredients they contain. As a result, you must be able to assess the quality of the components.
How can you find products that are actually mild on the skin and that you can use with confidence ?
Gentle cosmetics are simple products that do not contain any ingredients other than those that are necessary. This is because if there is a problem, it is easier to identify ingredients that are not suitable for your skin if they are simple. Cosmetics are used to restore sebum, which diminishes with age. Water, moisturizer, and oil are mostly the three main constituents that guarantee this function. On the other hand, the more ingredients your cosmetic contains, the higher the burden and risk to the skin and the greater the likelihood of causing problems.
Except for quasi-medicated cosmetics, all components must be labeled under current pharmaceutical legislation, so if you know ahead of time which compounds are not suited for your skin, you may avoid them while shopping. However, the development of new ingredients for cosmetics is progressing rapidly and there are now reportedly over 10,000 different ingredients. As a result, people cannot easily determine whether a product is excellent or poor based only on the list of ingredients. Nevertheless, if you follow a few simple guidelines, you may avoid making costly mistakes. It's natural to believe that medicated cosmetics are more effective, but there's a danger of not knowing what additional compounds are being utilized because the system only requires the labeling of the approved active ingredient. We must remember that skin whitening products have caused significant issues in recent years.
The skin has a barrier function that prevents foreign substances from entering the skin. However, as we age, the barrier function gradually declines, peaking in our mid-twenties due to the effects of UV rays and mental stress, and by the age of 30, it becomes dry and rough. Dryness and roughness are more likely to occur after the age of 30. The primary goal of cosmetics is to restore sebum in order to compensate the loss of this barrier function. Lotions, serums, and creams are typical examples of products that play this role. The ingredients in these products are listed in order of quantity, so by looking at the first one, you can identify what sort of ingredient is in them. For example, the first component in lotion is water. Note, however, that ingredients containing 1% or less can be listed in any order, and fragrances, pigments, etc. should be listed together at the end. Products can be characterized by the combination and ratio of ingredients, so a number of different moisturizers and oils can be combined to form a product. Some products contain as many as 40-50 different ingredients, but it is essential to choose the simplest product possible, as more ingredients does not necessarily mean more effective. In fact, the more ingredients there are, the lower the percentage of the primary component. On the other hand, synthetic surfactants are the main factors causing the degradation of the barrier function. In addition to "sulfuric acid", "sulfonic acid" and "ethanolamine", "dodecyl", "PEG" (polyethylene glycol), "PPG" ( polypropylene glycol), "olefin", and other similar components should be avoided.
Cosmetics rarely cause problems after a single use, and most problems occur after several years of use. Chemical cosmetics are made from petroleum and synthesized at high temperatures and pressures of several hundred degrees Celsius. These substances do not exist in nature and are toxic to the human body. As a result, the authorities establish and control the safe levels that may be mixed in the standards. Synthetic ingredients cannot be broken down at human body temperature, so even minute amounts accumulate over long periods of time, on the order of 10 years, and eventually cause problems. Since long-term safety testing is impossible, cosmetics are promoted as products following short-term safety evaluations. This implies that long-term safety cannot be guaranteed, and users must test the product on their own skin. This is the major cause of many skin disorders. Even if the skin clears up and the wrinkles disappear momentarily, the customer still bears a heavy burden. The individual effects of synthetic ingredients are not uniform, and it is important to know which ingredients cause which effects.
Against this background, there has recently been a growing trend towards safe, additive-free, and organic cosmetics. Many of the ingredients used in organic cosmetics are proven plant extracts that have been considered safe since ancient times. Plant extracts, whose cells are living organisms, are characterized by their natural moisturizing, antioxidant, and healing properties, and are gentle and non-toxic to the skin. However, the majority of these cosmetics contain preservatives, antioxidants, and artificial fragrances. As a result, a number of third-party organizations have been established around the world to guarantee organic quality, and a system has been put in place so that products certified by these organizations can be purchased with confidence. However, the certification standards of the certifying agencies vary somewhat, and most of them allow synthetic substances, usually in limited quantities. It can be irritating and unusable for sensitive skin that develops skin issues, and it is extremely difficult for consumers to find organic cosmetics made with 100% purely natural ingredients.
Foods sold in supermarkets and convenience stores are overloaded with preservatives and antibacterial agents, and it is said that they can be left out for a year without deteriorating. We have not heard of any food poisoning. The same is true for cosmetics, which are required not to change in quality within three years of manufacture, and if there is a risk of change within three years, a use-by date must be indicated. For this reason, preservatives tend to be added more than necessary, which puts a pressure on the skin. The terms "paraben-free" or "phenoxyethanol-free" presume that allergic preservatives are not used, but there are many other cases where synthetic preservatives such as salicylic acid, benzoic acid, sorbic acid, sodium hydroacetate, benzyl alcohol, etc. are used. There are several such examples when allergic synthetic preservatives are utilized.
Synthetic tar-based colors are also dangerous. Tar-based dyes such as red 202 and blue 204 are often used in makeup products such as foundations and lipsticks. Tar-based pigments are problematic because they induce blemishes. Melanin is created when the skin is exposed to UV rays, but tar-based colors allow melanin to deposit on the skin, which then becomes a blemish. Tar pigments have protein-destroying properties, they enter injured skin and deposit melanin pigments, which ultimately turn into stains.
To prevent skin problems related to cosmetics used over a long period of time, it is important not to be deceived by advertising and commercial statements, but to pay special attention to these ingredients in the formulation and avoid them.