Learning What Skin Care Ingredients You Shouldn’t Use

Skin care ingredients are each used to offer a certain benefit, such as brightening, anti-aging, acne fighting, hydrating, and everything in-between. There’s a product to treat pretty much everything!

The ingredients for every skin concern vary for their natural properties, although when you look at the ingredients list, you may be scratching your head at the large amount of words that are too hard to pronounce, let alone what they do in the product—and this goes beyond just the main ingredient advertised.

We’re here to educate you on a few different ingredients added in skin care products that you should know and avoid to better protect your skin and receive the most out of the products that you buy!

Why Some Chemicals in Skin Care are Bad

It should come naturally to believe that chemicals are the last thing that should be added to anything that goes into our bodies. We fight to keep them out of our foods with petitions and buying organic, so why should our skin care ingredients be any different? They absorb into our skin and cells, making it an effort that nothing short of natural should be applied.

Sadly, many brands and skin care products use chemicals as fillers and preservatives to avoid adding more of the natural, beneficial ingredients. This is in order to meet the demand of consumers while keeping a higher profit margin. While natural skin care is on the rise, you should be aware of some of the most common chemicals in ingredients lists on the back of products. Plus, it’s always better to understand the use of something than skimming over that long, complicated word!

Following is a list of six main chemicals to avoid applying to your skin that is contained in many cosmetic and skin care ingredients:

1. Parabens
   Examples of names for it on an ingredients list: butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben. It is a common preservative that disrupts hormone function, is toxic to the reproductive system in women, and has been linked to breast cancer by mimicking estrogen and binding to estrogen receptors on cells. 
   
2. Phthalates
   Examples: di-butyl-phthalate, di-ethylhexyl-phthalate. Commonly used as a plasticizer in everything from skincare, cosmetics, nail polish, perfume to hair products and deodorants. It’s known to cause damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs and reproductive system. There has even been suspicion of its links to causing birth defects, lowering sperm counts, and a breast cancer risk.
   
3. Petroleum By-Products
   Examples: mineral oil, petrolatum, paraffin, dipropylene, glycol, butylene glycol, disodium EDTA, tetrasodium EDTA, trisodium EDTA, polybutene, triclosan, polyethylene. Petroleum by-products interfere with the skin’s natural functions, clog the pores, exacerbates acne, and are highly likely to be contaminated with carcinogens that are linked to breast cancer.
   
4. Propylene Glycol and Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)
   This is made from the same chemical that is used to create anti-freeze, which is used in cars to keep the engine from overheating. This chemical easily penetrates the skin and is linked to damage of the liver, kidneys, and brain.
   
5. Sodium Laurel/Laureth Sulfate
   A commonly used foaming agent that is considered a skin irritant and carcinogen as it often contaminated with dioxane, a known carcinogen. It’s also been found to cause skin rashes, eye irritation, and allergic reactions. SLS is absorbed into the body via skin application and also mimics the activity of estrogen.
   This has a variety of health implications ranging from PMS, decreased fertility in men, as well as an increase in cancers, such as breast cancer in women. It is often disguised in “natural” products with the term “derived from coconut”. 
   
6. Synthetic Fragrances
   parfum, fragrance, vanillyl butyl ether.
   The simple term “fragrance” on an ingredient list can refer to a combination of any of the thousand separate ingredients used to make up the “fragrance”, many of which are phthalates (toxic carcinogens and hormone disruptors). Fragrances are considered to be one of the top 5 known allergens and are known to cause asthma and trigger asthma attacks. They also can irritate and trigger eczema and psoriasis flare-ups.

While it can be unnerving to learn the truths of such common skin care ingredients, you’re not powered with the knowledge to throw out any products containing them. What skin care products should you use then? Wild Naturals has full lines of skin care and hair care, all filled with natural ingredients and none of the above-mentioned chemicals! Shop the online store and introduce your skin to true natural skin care that results in healthy skin (and with ingredients you can pronounce)!