Chemical Free Skin Care
We’re all taking care of what we eat but how much do we know about what we put on our skin? Recently there’s been a huge movement amongst consumers towards ‘chemical free skin care’ but what exactly does this mean and why are so many people suddenly looking so closely at those ingredients lists on the back of their favourite beauty bottles?
Chemicals
Firstly, it should be clarified that 'chemical free' is somewhat of a misnomer.
Everything around us is made out of chemicals - water for example, is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen chemicals.
What people are talking about when they mention 'chemical free skin care' is usually cosmetics free from synthetic (manmade) chemicals.
What goes on, goes in
It’s important to know why the ingredients in our personal care products are so important.
On the one hand, a favourite quote in the natural beauty industry says ‘what goes on, goes in’. In other words, many believe a high proportion of whatever we put on our skin is absorbed into our system.
We can see this is possible looking at anti-smoking patches – they release small amounts of nicotine into the bloodstream to reduce cigarette cravings.
However, the extent to which chemicals can pass through the skin into our bloodstream is perhaps overestimated. Scientists argue that it is difficult to create products that enter the body in this way, and therefore there is no need to worry about any of the ingredients.
Here at How on Earth, we believe the truth is somewhere between the two extremes; whilst there is no need to panic, we are sufficiently concerned about various ingredients that, until they are proven to be safe, we'd rather avoid them.
So what’s in all the products we’re so used to?
If you take a close look in your bathroom cabinet, you’ll get a clearer idea.
There will be many products listed that you don't recognise, the majority of which will be synthetic chemicals.
There are several that pose possible or proven health or environmental issues including the parabens, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, mineral oil and parfum. For more information on these, see our article on
ingredients to avoid.
The alternatives
The good news is that is an ever-increasing range of high quality skin care products that are made with these issues in mind and are free from the chemicals that are in question. They are no longer purely the domain of the hardened hippy, but are now highly scientific formulas which work in harmony with your body.
It should also be recognised that synthetic chemicals are not necessarily automatically harmful (nor natural ones automatically safe). Rather, there are a few in general use in cosmetics that have some questions raised about them, therefore many people are turning to more natural alternatives.
Our advice is to find out as much as you can about the ingredients of a product and make choices based on that information. Hopefully you'll agree with us that it's better safe than sorry.