Ingredients In Cosmetics

[Bluebear 0]

Have you any idea of how much crap there is in cosmetics? Do you know what it can cause? What it is made of? Maybe the reason you have dry skin is not mainly because for example it is cold outside - but because you are using products that you think will give you moisture because the wonderful commercial say so, but that they actually steal moisture from your skin. How can you really know?

 

Even though you have many of the "good" ingredients in some product that does not even mean it is good. Because in many cases it is the combination that can matter, and how can we figure that problem out? Well that is hard, but knowing what ingredients actually do is a good place to start. Even though two products almost have an identical list of ingredients, one of them can be 10x as dangerous. Maybe you are supposed to wash it off, maybe not. Maybe their concentration is different. Some ingredients are dangerous for your skin if there are more than for example 3% of it, so all products can be different. Then again we react differently to different things. But you do know that some products give more reactions than others - and it is really supposed to be safe? Wow, what a tough world.

 

If I ever get my page up and going I am thinking about creating an ingredients list where what they are and what they can cause etc. But I am not a professional, I base my knowledge on Wikipedia, others persons/blog and information I have just know without knowing where I learned it.

 

Think about this: If you have dry skin, do you lack fat or water? Should you drink a lot of water or use products say they contain a lot of it to help this dryness go away? Or should you use a fat cream on your skin, or would that make it worse?

 

I know some of you are good at this, so therefore I thought I would ask for a little bit of help. I have written something little about some ingredients, and I was hoping you could make comments and maybe add some commonly used ingredients yourself?

 

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Glycerin / Glycerol (Glyserol) / Propantriol / Glycerine / Glycyl alcohol / 1,2,3-Propanetriol / 1,2,3-Trihydroxypropane.

Do not have the ability to moisture the skin. It creates a shield that can protect against frigidity etc. It has a strong flavour of sugar and is a colourless, odourless viscous substance. It absorbs water (or moisture), and when it can not find it in the air it takes it from your skin. It is gentle, not dangerous and should not cause any irritation. Though as said it can in many cases result to drier skin.

 

Lanolin / Adeps Lanae / Wool wax / Wool fat / Anyhrodus wool fat / wool grease ?

Lanolin is a thick, yellowish and greasy substance produced from the wool of wool-bearing animals such as sheep. It is natural, but natural is not always the same as good. Avoid it if possible, especially using it in your face as it clogges pores and do not give any moisture at all. Though it do create protecting shield so it is often used to protect against frigidity. Still it is not recommended. It is said to be good against dry skin on your elbows, hands etc., and to promote nail growth. For some it may result in allergic reactions.

 

Sodium Laureth Sulfate / Sodium lauryl ether sulfate

Common in many products we expect to "foam-up". Reports show that concentrations as low as 0.5% can cause irritation and concentrations from 10-30% can cause severe irritation. It is a highly irritating chemical and can be very dangerous. You should avoid this one as it is too strong and it should not be used at skin in high concentrations. It is very cheap and is not only used in the cosmetics industry; it is also used to degrease engines. Great, hah?

 

 

Sodium Carbomer

Is a thickening and stabilizing agent used in cosmetic products. Reacts with fat particles to form thick, stable emulsions of oil or water.

 

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Note: Yes, I have indead put together this text on my own.

And what do the water, or aqua in the products actually do? Is it just used to fill up, or as a "spreading-ingredient" to blend all the other ingredients?

Edited September 27, 2008 by Bluebear (see edit history)

[Bluebear 0]

Time for a small "update"!

I do not think people really know the huge differences between different for example different foundation. Lately mineral foundation has taken over the market and companies such as Maybelline and Loreal are advertising on the television for this type of make-up. Sure it looks great when the super-perfect model is wearing it - but can we know that she is even wearing it for real? Even so maybe she has perfect skin in the first place. My experience is that companies that do not advertise as much for their products are often the best. Cheap stuff such as the make-up you can buy at the grocery store or at for example H&M (I can not think of anything else) often contains a lot of ingredients that are bad.

To state what I am saying I am going to show an example. Remember the less ingredients = the better!

Loreal True Match Minerals is the first mineral-foundation I ever bought.The colours look orange and neither one of them never looked good at me. (I have very light skin.) The brush is hard, bad and unsuitable for mineral-foundation. (It is so bad I would rather say it is not good enough for anything.) It is not 100% minerals. Yet they claim that it is "healthy." I ask: compared to what?

Ingredients:
(Found at hildechristina.com)

Zinc oxide, talc, boron nitride, dimethicone, carnauba / carnauba wax, cetyl dimethicone, trimethylsiloxysilicate, triisocetyl citrate, aloe barbadensis / aloe barbadensis leaf juice, tocopherol, panthenol, [+/- may contain:CI 77163/bismuth oxychloride, CI 77891/ titanium dioxide, CI 77492, CI77499, CI 77491/iron oxides]

Everyday Minerals Foundations is the one I am using now and I think it is great! It is cheap - some say it is better than the famous I.D as it do not contain an ingredient that may cause allergic reactions or that the skin turn "clear or blanc" after a short amount of time. Applied with a good brush (such as a big kabuki brush) in circular motions it looks good. They have a lot of different formulas and colours for different types, shades of skin and needs.

Ingredients: (Also found at hildechristina.com)

Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Zinc Oxide.

Convinced?
Edited October 31, 2008 by Bluebear (see edit history)

[Bluebear 0]

New update.

 

More and more people are using mineral make-up, but as in my previous post "mineral makeup" is not always as it says. One of the brands who is used by a lot of people is I.D. (Not Isadora, just to clear that up.) ID bare minerals is based on 100% pure minerals, contains sunscreen and it is said that it is "so clean you can sleep with it." Even so you should try your best to remove your make-up before going to bed. In a Norwegian test the make-up recieved 5/5 - but they did not care about the ingredients. I am not going to be mean, but I.D is actually not that bad... unless you are allergic to bismuth. Bismuth is a cheap metal that is used in some cosmetic products - such as I.D. The problem is that it is hard to know for sure if you are allergic or not, and some do not even notice anything after several years. (!!) Your body and skin will try to get rid of products and other things that is not good for it OR does not like.

 

Bismuth is actually a quite "heavy" ingredients and some claim it may result in acne - even though it is mineral make-up. (!!) Some reacts to it, some do not. Some get itchy and dry skin. (Actually quite normal when it comes to mineral make-up.) You could always try I.D, though it is really expensive and waisting all that money would be a shame.