Whether it’s an eye cream or lipstick, it goes without saying that commercial beauty products come with ingredients that aren’t always good for your face.
While many brands will argue that the quantity of certain damaging ingredients in their products are far too minimal to cause any significant effects, there’s no saying what using multiple products each containing toxic ingredients can do to us.
We asked Michelle Doherty, owner and founder of Australian based Alpha H Skincare with over 20 years’ experience in the business, about the ingredients we should be avoiding.
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Alpha H Skincare are not only members of NICNAS – the government organisation which monitors the risk of industrial chemicals, but also employ an independent toxicologist to ensure they are up to date with new developments and trends to avoid putting anything harmful into their formulas.
Here’s what she advises to keep away from next time you’re browsing the beauty aisle.
1. Mineral Oil
Mineral oils may sound beneficial to the skin, but they’re actually derived from petroleum and coat the skin like plastic. This clogs pores and prevents the skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, resulting in increasing chance of acne, as well as long-term skin problems such as the slowing down of cell development and premature ageing. Baby oil, which consists of 100 percent mineral oil, is definitely not a product to go on the face
2. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) & Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
These detergents are used in a whopping 90 percent of our foaming skin products, and were formerly used in car washes, garage floor cleaners and engine degreasers. If this hasn’t already convinced you that these chemicals shouldn’t be going anywhere near your face, animals exposed to SLS were found to experience depression, laboured breathing, severe skin irritation, eye damage and even death.
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They’ve also been found to affect the development of young eyes when exposed to children, as well as damage the skin’s immune system by separating layers of skin and causing them to inflame. Exposure to SLS can also be retained by your body for up to five days!
3. Triclosan
Triclosan is used as a synthetic antibacterial ingredient that’s popular in antibacterial cleansers… but it gets worse. It has a chemical structure which is similar to Agent Orange. Not only have animal studies found it to disrupt hormones, but there have also been studies speculating that these chemicals actually cause bacteria to become immune to antibiotics.
Let’s face it, avoiding products that contain any toxins is near impossible for most of us, especially when there are so many chemicals that go into the making of one product, some of which may be hidden or have yet to be tested.
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Doherty suggests reading the ingredients labels of every beauty product before you consider buying it, and if you can’t find a product with zero toxins aim for one with a low quantity where harmful chemicals are only listed among the last four ingredients on the label.
Here at The Glow, we love our natural and organic skincare products. Here are some of the team’s favourite brands.
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