10/04/2022
β οΈ Did you know that some skincare ingredients can cause cancer?
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I decided to share some cancer-related information with you. Cancers can be caused by many things, genes and lifestyle among them. But what about your skincare routine? π€
The long-term consequences of using various chemicals on your skin are hard to trace. Clinically tested or not, in many cases, we can't say for sure if an ingredient is 100% harmless. But there are some that we already know it's better to watch out for in your skincare:
β Diethanolamine - an additive used for making a product more creamy; it can hide under the names DEA, TEA and MEA.
β 1,4-dioxane - can be added for thickening, thinning, foaming, and holding moisture; look for it under PEG, Polyethylene, Polyethylene glycol and Polyoxyethylene.
β Artificial parabens - a known endocrine disruptor; they mimic estrogen, which can lead to breast cancer.
β Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives - you won't find formaldehyde in your cosmetics. However, there are chemicals like DMDM hydantoin, Diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, methenamine, quaternium-15, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate and more; these can slowly release formaldehyde into your skin.
β BHA and BHT - the synthetic antioxidants used as preservatives; they can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions, and in high doses, they are toxic.
β Benzophenone - an additive used for UV-light protection and another endocrine disruptor; look for BP #, oxybenzone, sulisobenzone, and sulisobenzone sodium on the label.
β Petrolatum - if properly refined, it is no cause for concern. Unfortunately, in many cases, it is not fully refined, and can become contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and high levels of PAHs can increase the risk of breast cancer.
β Sodium Laureth Sulfate - a chemical used mainly for foaming; the same as Petrolatum, it can get contaminated with harmful PAHs.
I hope I didn't scare you too much. But please be attentive to these chemicals as some are quite popular, even among big cosmetic brands. Stay safe, my dears! π§‘
Did you know any of these ingredients before? Let me know!