Digging for the Real Truth in Cosmetic Labeling

Are all cosmetics really safe, natural and earth friendly?

As a people, we are collectively becoming more concerned about toxins in our earth and environment, the pollution spewed into our air and oceans. This is a good sign and very encouraging. That being said, we in the West are products of a generation of mass media advertising.

Advertising is commonly dictated by the dollar conscious bosses of manufactured goods and cosmetic manufacturers are no different. Turn on the TV, leaf through a magazine, even the contemporary "alternative" ones, and you will see more and more skin care companies are jumping on the "natural" “safe” and"organic" bandwagon not just for cosmetics but also for personal and body care products.

Before I go any further I must emphasize that I do love to beautify myself, and I am totally in awe of what a good jar of cream or a case of mineral blush can actually do for my skin and looks. Fundamentally, cosmetics in one form or another have been around for over 5000 years – and will continue to be part of life. It is up to us, the consumer, to educate ourselves about what we use. An average of one forth of every dollar we spend on cosmetics is spent for skin care products. By God – I want the most for my dollar!

While many companies are truly ethical in their approach, and give to the earth a bounty of goodness, a million others are driven only by the bottom line! It is imperative that we learn to understand what safe, natural and organic really means, especially in the world of 'powder and blush'!

Safe, Pure Organic Skin Care

Is it possible to really know what we are buying is truly natural and organic? How do we educate ourselves to buy products that are safe and friendly to life? Where can we learn about alternatives to chemicals and harmful synthetics? Where can we affordably buy them? Can we learn to make some of the cosmetics ourselves?

Primary to our education is to understand the largest protective organ we possess. Our skin reigns largest by both weight and surface area. In adults, the weight of your skin accounts for about 16% of your total body weight. The stratum corneum itself is a layer of 25 to 30 tiers of dead cells whose sole function is to protect us against the outside world, including every thing we apply to our skin. The condition of this layer depends mostly on its water content. Too much moisture nourishes the growth of fungi and other microorganisms; too little dries it out, producing flaking and cracking. A water content of 10% is just about right for the stratum corneum. The body supplies protection to the skin with the sebum secreted by the sebaceous glands of hair follicles. This oily substance coats the adjacent skin, lubricating and softening its dead keratin (as well as the hair), and lowering the rate at which water evaporates from its surface.

One square inch of skin contains approximately 65 hairs, 100 sebaceous glands and 650 sweat glands. This means that our skin performs the dual miracle of elimination and absorption all at once. Our skin, in other words, is a two-way membrane that reflects your state of health and beauty.

It is therefore essential to protect and preserve the skin for your own personal health and self esteem. Cosmetic skin care products were traditionally intended to cleanse and beautify. This means that manufacturers are not supposed to claim that their products penetrate the skin. This universal regulation has meant that even though cosmetics can and do actually penetrate our skin, cosmetic manufacturers are not held to account with the same yardstick as drug manufacturers. Worse, in the past this unique situation allowed some skin care manufacturers to use (many others continue to use) many harmful chemical ingredients that would never be allowed to be taken orally or called a drug!

How to identify what is organic and natural on a cosmetic label?

Labeling cosmetics honestly depends entirely on the manufacturer. This means that if push came to shove in the numbers game, a cosmetic manufacturer can get away with mislabeling his product more easily than his pharmaceutical counterpart.

Labels have long lists of chemical names, oftentimes followed by one of the phrases, derivative of or derived from a plant source. Some of today’s blatant use of terminology will even baffle a chemistry student. This is a terrible disservice to the public who genuinely seek natural products.

The beginnings of a skin care product line:

Formulation chemistry is one of the disparities in the chemistry industry. Simply put formulation is the mixing of compounds that do not react in order to get a mixture with the desired characteristics. Formulation of cosmetics is no different. Like all other industries this is product development work that is very focused on the characteristics needed for a product to be profitable.

Even though there are no chemical reactions involved, there are many aspects of chemistry present in any formulation of cosmetics or skin care. Some of the chemistry involved is thermodynamics of mixing, solutions, surface chemistry, colloids, emulsions and suspensions. Even more important is how these principles are connected to adhesion, weather resistance, texture, shelf life, biodegradability, allergenic response and many other properties.

In every new cosmetic manufacture center, the product development chemist will have a list of substances used to modify mixtures (i.e. relaxants, dilution agents, thickeners, etc). They will then go through a trial and error process to see what concentration of which compound will work best for a specific application. This being a very competitive market in which a particular look, marketing or convenient application can sometimes make a product more profitable than other factors, often great sacrifices are made to the quality of ingredients added to the product.

There is a very simple way to learn to understand labels and thereby the cosmetics we buy. It is a legal requirement that all skin care products must be labeled with the ingredients in descending order of their quantity in the product. A good rule of thumb is to divide the ingredient list into thirds: the top third usually contains 90-95% of the product; the middle third usually contains 5-8% and the bottom third, 1-3%.

Here is what you must look for and try to understand the constituents of, in all cosmetics: Adhesives, Emollients, Emulsifiers, Moisturizers, Perfuming agents, Pigments, Surfactants and Thickeners.

Understanding these ingredients:

Most common synthetic (I would label dangerous) to watch out for:

Adhesives:

The primary use of an adhesive is to form bonds that ‘cause stickiness’ – in cosmetic terms to have your lipstick stay in place or the mascara affix itself to your eyelashes. There are many natural and numerous synthetic adhesives.

Polybutene:

Used in cosmetics as a plasticizer. Derived from petroleum. Also used for manufacturing adhesives. In common industrial products this ingredient should carry a “cause to asphyxiate warning”. Not required to be so labeled in cosmetic use as currently defined.

Most cosmetics also have an ingredient called dimethicone, which is a silicone-based oil.

Waterproof cosmetics contain a special form of dimethicone called dimethicone copolyol. While waterproof cosmetics can be very convenient for women who want to keep their make-up looking fresh and clean regardless of their circumstances, it is not always healthy. Most waterproof cosmetics require special solvents for removal. These solvents are usually quite harsh and will also remove sebum

Emollients and Emulsifiers:

Emollients are agents designed to make the stratum corneum softer and more pliant by increasing its hydration, i.e., they prevent dryness and protect the skin, acting as a barrier and healing agent. A large number of preparations are available today, many of which are marketed as cosmetic and therapeutic moisturizers. They are the most prescribed products in dermatology.

Emollients are used in medicine for their anti-inflammatory activity and also give some transient relief from irritation. In clinical use emollients are employed as treatments for among other conditions for dermatitis, psoriasis, and photodamaged skin.

Emollients that are synthesized include agents that mimic natural ingredients and function as botanicals, including vitamins, hydroxy acids, and retinoids. Synthetic emollients are occlusive i.e. they coat the skin and do not allow it to respire (much like plastic wrap), which can cause skin irritation. Some synthetic emollients can accumulate in the liver and lymph nodes. They are also mostly non-biodegradable, causing a negative environmental impact.

Emollients can cause side effects, such as irritant dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, fragrance allergy or allergy to other constituents (preservatives or additives), stinging, cosmetic acne, and pigmentary disorders. All synthetic emollients are tested on helpless animals.

The best natural emollients are: water, aloe vera, all seed and nut oils, fruit butters, fruit and vegetable juices, floral hydrosols and an emulsion of fat in water.

Most Common Synthetic Emollients:

* PEG compounds (eg PEG- 45 Almond Glyceride) may contain the toxic by-product dioxane
* Synthetic alcohols (easily identified by the phrases like benzyl –, butyl-, cetearyl-, cetyl -, glyceryl-, isopropyl-, myristyl, propyl-, propylene-, or stearyl-) eg Isopropyl Palmitate, Diglyceryl Caprylate) have been shown to cause allergies and dermatitis.
* Hydrocarbons (eg mineral oil, petrolatum, paraffin) contain carcinogenic and mutagenic elements like Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and can cause chemically induced skin disorders.
* Silicone Oils (eg dimethicone, cyclomethicone, copolyol) can clog the skin like plastic wrap and cause tumors.

In nature, water is the best emollient, but because it evaporates quickly it is ineffective. It needs to be held on the skin by emollient oils in what is called an emulsion, which brings to the next common ingredient the Emulsifier in cosmetics.

Many cosmetic products are based on emulsions – small droplets of oil dispersed in water or small droplets of water dispersed in oil. Since oil and water don't mix, emulsifiers are added to produce the small droplets and to prevent the oil and water phases from separating. This range of compounds is found in most hair care products.

Common Emulsifying Compounds:

Glycearyl Stearate (glycerin & stearic acid), Ceteareth 20, Cetereath 12, Cetearyl , Alcohol (cetyl alcohol & stearyl alcohol), Cetyl Palmitate (cetyl alcohol & palmitic acid): These products (especially Glycearyl Stearate (glycerin & stearic acid), have been tested for short term use – and found relatively safe. However please ensure that they do not appear in the top of your ingredient list – which shows that the particular product may contain more than recommended quantities.

* Cetearyl Alcohol: An emollient, emulsifier, thickener and carrying agent for other ingredients. Usually labeled as derived from coconut fatty alcohol is not one of my favorites because it easily misleads a customer into thinking that this an all natural product, when in reality it no longer retains any benefit from actual coconut oil!
* Alkoxylated Amides (eg TEA, DEA, MEA MIPA compounds) can undergo nitrosation to form nitrosamines which are known carcinogens.
* PEG compounds listed below may contain the toxic substance 1,4 dioxane which is a known carcinogen. Currently labels are not required to list the information that this dioxane has been removed from the end product. So it is better to buy a cosmetic that has less individual PEG ingredients in its list.

Sorbitan Sterate, Laurate, Palmitate, Oleate etc. Ozokerite, Ceresin, Silicone and Montan Waxes Isopropyl Stearate, Laurate, Palmitate, Oleate etc.

Natural Emulsifiers are: all plant gums, waxes and butters, beeswax, clays and mud. Algae, Acacia, Carnauba, Candelilla, Tragacanth, Xanathum are the common gums used.

Moisturizers or Humectants in cosmetics:
The primary use of a humectant in any cosmetic cream is to keep the product and thereby the skin moist. Humectants “attract” moisture from the atmosphere. Even the most common natural humectant, glycerin, works on this principle. It keeps the skin moist as long as there is sufficient moisture in the air. However, the caveat is that all humectants will absorb moisture from anywhere – so in a dry climate a humectant-rich cosmetic will actually draw moisture from the skin.

A good skin care product will have just the right amount of humectants present to enable the skin, when the cream is used, to preserve enough moisture in the skin; they provide continued hydration, increase protection, nourishment and regeneration of the skin.

Common Synthetic Humectants to look out for:

Propylene glycol, and butylene glycol. Propylene Glycol – causes irritation and contact dermatitis
Ethylene/Diethylene Glycol – causes irritation and contact dermatitis
PEG compounds (eg Polyethylene Glycol) – may contain the toxic by-product dioxane.

Some natural Humectants

Panthenol (pro-vitamin B5)
Glycerin
Lecithin - Natural phospholipids, from soy lecithin, are fantastic humectants. An important benefit of phospholipids is that they are hygroscopic (attract water from the surrounding air) and hold water where an increased level of hydration is needed.

Collagen, elastin and keratin enjoy some popularity as humectants. Personally I am against these ingredients because they come from animals – and thereby their presence does not warrant a “cruelty free” label on cosmetics. Besides this, there are no conclusive studies to show their benefits on human skin. Animal protein cells are too large to cross human skin barrier to be effective in any way for skin healing.

Surfactants:Common Cationic surfactants in Cosmetics:

They are synthetic, irritating, allergenic and toxic, and oral intake of them can be lethal.

+ Stearalkonium chloride
+ Benzalkonium chloride
+ Cetrimonium chloride
+ Cetalkonium chloride
+ Lauryl dimonium hydrolysed collagen

Anionic Surfactants:

Anionic refers to the negative charge these surfactants have. They may be contaminated with nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic. Anioinc surfactants were first used in car washes, as garage floor cleaners and engine degreasers – however today they are found in 90% of personal-care products that foam.

Common Anionic surfactants:

* Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)
* Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
* Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS)
* Ammonium Laureth Sulfate (ALES)
* Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
* Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate
* Sodium Cocoyl Sarcosinate
* Potassium Coco Hydrolysed Collagen
* TEA (Triethanolamine) Lauryl Sulfate
* TEA (Triethanolamine) Laureth Sulfate
* Lauryl or Cocoyl Sarcosine
* Disodium Oleamide Sulfosuccinate
* Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate
* Disodium Dioctyl Sulfosuccinate etc

Cosmetic laws indicate that only some surfactants and only the amphoteric surfactants (i.e, surface-active compounds with both acidic and alkaline properties) are to be used in any product as they are the mildest. However it must be noted that all Amphoteric surfactants are easily absorbed in the intestine and are excreted partly unchanged via the feces. Metabolization to CO2 and short-chained fatty acids also occur in the GI tract to these surfactants.

Some Natural Surfactants

All saponins are natural surfactants. Saponins are natural detergents (natural soapy substances) with distinct foaming characteristics. They are found in many plants and are the plant's "immune system". Natural soaps are an important weapon in the armory that plants deploy to protect against disease attack.

Many plants produce saponins that have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial activity. The Solanacae group typically contain glycosylated steroidal and / or steroidal glycoalkaloid saponins. The main saponin in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is a-tomatine, which has very strong anti-fungal activity.

The seeds and foliage of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), soybeans and common beans contain saponins.

* Yucca Extract
* Soapwort
* Soap nut seed
* Sarsaparilla
* Quillaja Bark Extract

Other plants containing saponins include Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger), Horse Chestnut trees (Aesculus hippocastanum), Asparagus fern (Asparagus officinalis), and Daisies (Bellis perennis)

* Castile Soap

The Use of Preservatives in cosmetics:

Everything that is alive or once was alive will go through the natural phase of decay. Decay happens with or without preservatives. Any personal care product containing the range of ingredients described as natural has the potential to support the growth of bacteria, fungi and molds, and can also deteriorate through the process of oxidation. Responsible manufacturers must therefore look for ways to ensure that such contamination and deterioration does not take place during the expected life of the product.

There are a number of natural preservatives in the marketplace. Chemical preservatives are generally used because they are much cheaper than, and extend the shelf life of the product more than natural alternatives.

Common Synthetic Preservatives

Very simply the presence of any sort of parabens in a product has the potential for trouble.

Methyl, Propyl, Butyl and Ethyl Paraben are all toxic, and can cause allergic reactions and skin rashes. Parabens are used in a huge range of products and are implicated in increasing breast cancer rates when used as a preservative in underarm deodorants.

Imidiazolidinyl Urea (Germall 115)
Diazolidinyl Urea (Germall II)
Benzalkonium Chloride - Highly toxic, primary skin irritant. Used in shampoos, conditioner and deodorants.
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) and Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) - Both cause allergic contact dermatitis - worse BHT is carcinogenic!
DMDM Hydantoin Highly toxic, causes contact dermatitis, contains formaldehyde. Used in
shampoos and deodorants.

Some Natural Preservatives

Remember that the simple method of storing natural products in the fridge will help extend their life.

* Ethanol
* Neem oil
* Lavender essential oil
* Rosemary essential oil
* Tea Tree essential oil
* Thyme essential oil
* Grapefruit Seed Extract
* Sugar
* Salt
* D-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E)

Perfuming Agents:

It is my firm belief that all perfuming agents should be only natural oils and waxes from plants. Do not support an industry that falsely uses synthetic ingredients with the anonymous scents listed by most manufacturers under the blanket name of ‘Parfum’ (fragrance) in any cosmetic.

Conclusion:

It is indeed the commitment of consumers that is needed to change the cosmetic industry to actually provide a true healing beautification of the human body. Make a pledge to yourself to continue to search out and wherever possible use natural alternatives to harmful chemicals.

Try and look for organic or certified organic ingredients, and also support manufacturers who will continue to avoid using unnecessary synthetic chemicals in their products. If you don’t already use safe cosmetics, ask yourself if the company who makes your personal care products is as open about the ingredients they use. If you have any doubts about their ingredients, refrain from buying that product line.

I, like a growing number of manufacturers firmly believe that consumers have a fundamental right to know every ingredient in the personal care products they buy, and remain opposed to the use of blanket descriptions such as ‘Parfum’ or “plant derived” on labels.

It is ultimately the consumer who will force manufacturer's to run their companies with enlightened principles of leadership and responsiveness, fair-minded global policies and objectives, treating their employees and customers with a sense of pride & civic mindedness.