Read the Label: Moisturisers
If you really want younger-looking and healthier skin, you may do better to think more carefully about what you put inside your body than what you put on it. By Pat Thomas
Moisturisers have one basic function: to maintain the water balance in the most superficial layers of the skin. This layer of the skin, known as the ‘stratum corneum’, is made up of cells that are being constantly shed and replaced as new cells emerge from the deeper layers of the skin.
The stratum corneum is approximately 30-per-cent water. Two-thirds of this is bound to biological tissues and usually do not change unless there is a serious skin condition such as eczema or psoriasis.
But the remaining water content rises and falls according to what’s going on in the environment – for instance, dry weather conditions, over-washing, or exposure to central heating, air-conditioning and certain chemicals.
Moisturising ingredients work in two ways to help slow down this water loss. Humectants such as propylene glycol and urea act like water magnets, drawing moisture from the atmosphere and keeping it near the skin. Emollients are generally fats, oils and waxes that form a barrier on the surface of the skin.
For years, moisturising creams and lotions relied on emollients like lanolin and mineral oil to create this protective barrier.
Today, synthetic derivatives of vegetable oils such as isopropyl palmitate and hexyl laureate are more commonly used, as are a range of synthetic ‘film-formers’ such as silicone and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), better known as Teflon.
Do they work?
Moisturisers are basically mixtures of oil and water. To keep these two opposing substances bound together, and to ensure that the product has a long shelf life, a cream or lotion will need to include a raft of emulsifiers, stabilisers and preservatives. To make it nice to use, it will also contain perfumes and colours. If a cream also claims to have other properties, such as improving wrinkles, then further ingredients are added.
So, what starts out as a simple emulsion quickly becomes a cocktail of harmful ingredients. And here’s the catch. The emollients also act like penetration enhancers – agents that aid the absorption of other, more toxic substances into the skin and, eventually, the bloodstream.
It’s hardly surprising, then, that moisturising creams can and do cause problems like allergic reactions, skin irritation and contact dermatitis, characterised by redness, itching, burning and stinging sensations. Used over the long term, they can also create the very problem they are intended to solve by actually encouraging water loss from the skin.
Toxic ingredients
Some moisturising ingredients, however, are harmful in their own right. Mineral oil, a byproduct of the distillation of gasoline from crude oil, impedes the skin’s ability to breathe, attract moisture and detoxify. It can also slow down cell renewal and so promote premature skin ageing. Moreover, any mineral-oil derivative can be contaminated with cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Humectants such as alphahydroxy acids (lactic or glycolic acid) act like chemical peels, thinning the stratum corneum and, ultimately, accelerating water loss. Many emollients trap dirt and sweat under the skin, and some, such as petrolatum, degrade the skin’s natural protective barrier, rendering it more vulnerable to bacteria and viruses.
Film-forming ingredients like PTFE (Teflon) and dimethicone are now routinely added to cosmetics and bodycare products, despite the lack of any comprehensive evaluation of their safety. Both are non-biodegradable. Teflon contains the potential carcinogen perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and some silicones are known to be tumour promoters, and to accumulate in the liver and lymph nodes. The latest moisturisers are already using nanoparticles that can slip into the spaces between skin cells before releasing their active ingredients. Yet, no research has been conducted to show how much more of these substances is absorbed into the bloodstream using this ‘technology’, so if you want to avoid them, look for words like ‘liposome’ or ‘nanosome’ on the label.
Do you really need a moisturiser?
While the cosmetics industry loudly trumpets the benefits of moisturisers, most of these miracle effects are unsubstantiated and temporary. In truth, healthy skin begins on the inside, and nothing you put on your skin will be as effective as sorting out your diet, your sleep, your stress levels and your environment. Unless you have an underlying skin condition that requires medical attention, you probably don’t need a regular moisturiser.
If your skin is occasionally dry, consider using natural oils after bathing or washing to temporarily seal in moisture. Effective doit-yourself moisturisers can be prepared on an ‘as needed’ basis by almost anyone from a simple mixture of vegetable or biological oils (coconut, jojoba, almond or emu) and plant ‘butters’ (shea or mango), water and glycerine. With practice, these can be made to suit different areas of the body and in response to the skin’s seasonal needs (for example, heavier oils in winter, lighter ones in summer).
The advantage of natural oils is that they contain all the nutrients normally found in the plant or animal. Many of them, such as jojoba and emu oils, are amazingly similar to the oils in human skin and, as such, are non-irritating, don’t clog the pores and are deeply nourishing.
Sidebar: Action Point – What You Can Do
1. Go into your bathroom and look at the labels of your favourite products. Do any of them contain the following moisturisers?
- Acrylates/C10-Isopropyl palmitate 30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymers
- Isopropyl stearate
- Octyl dodecanol
- Cyclomethicone
- Oleyl alcohol
- Cyclopentasiloxane
- Paraffinum liquidum
- Decyl oleate
- Petrolatum
- Dimethicone
- Propylene glycol
- Dimethicone copolyol
- Simethicone
- Lactic acid
- Dioctyl cyclohexane
- Glycolic acid
- Hexyl decanol
- Urea
- Hexyl laureate
- Isopropyl myristate
2. If so, photocopy these pages, tick on the boxes of the worrying preservatives you have found on the label and write to the manufacturer’s customer services department, asking them why, given that the following natural, non-toxic and equally effective moisturisers are available, they are using such ingredients in their product.
- Almond oil
- Hempseed oil
- Aloe vera
- Honey
- Apricot-kernel oil
- Jojoba
- Avocado oil
- Macadamia nut oil
- Beeswax
- Mango butter
- Castor oil
- Olive oil
- Cocoa butter
- Rosa mosqueta oil
- Coconut oil
- Shea butter
- Emu oil
- Squalene
- Evening primrose oil
- Wheatgerm oil
- Glycerine
- Grapeseed oil
3. Ask the manufacturer to send a copy of their reply to The Ecologist, Unit 18, Chelsea Wharf, 15 Lots Rd, London SW10 0QJ or, failing that, pass the reply you do get on to us, as we will be monitoring all feedback for future investigations and campaigns.
This article first appeared in the April 2006 edition of the Ecologist
