Toxic Skin Care Ingredients

1. Sodium Laurel Sulfate - Also known as SLS, this popular ingredient is used in over a thousand cosmetic products. SLS's are used to create lather and suds, and are often needed to fill up the bottle of most skin care and hair care products. It's a strong degreaser that dries skin and hair and can cause contact eczema in some individuals. SLS's have been known to cause severe inflammation of the derma and epidermal tissue. This is probably the hardest skin care ingredient to avoid because it's so widely used in such high concentrations.

2. Mineral Oil - A liquid mixture of hydrocarbons obtained from petroleum, mineral oil can attract dirt and causes blackheads and eruptions. When you put mineral oil on your skin, it's like you're wrapping yourself in plastic wrap.

Your skin can't breathe! To be healthy, oxygen must be able to freely pass through the layers of your skin, expelling toxins, wastes, and sweat. By allowing toxins to build up in the skin, mineral oil contributes to free radical damage and speeds up the aging process.

Here is a photo comparison of a prune kept in mineral oil and another preserved in Pure, Aloe Barbadensis Jelly. The prune in mineral oil is still shriveled and wrinkled. The oil obviously cannot penetrate and is just sitting on the surface of the prune. The aloe prune is plump and hydrated because aloe is actually able to penetrate and moisturize. Which would you rather put on your skin?

3. Waxes - Paraffin, Beeswax, Candelilla Wax, Carnauba Wax - Waxes are widely used in cleansing creams, eye creams and moisturizers. Waxes clog pores, creating blackheads and white heads; they also smother the skin which over a period of time creates an enlarged pore problem. Just think for a moment about these waxes. In solid form, waxes are thick, hard and waterproof. Do any of these things sound like they'd be good for your skin?

4. Lanolin - A yellow, semisolid, fatty secretion from sheep’s wool is widely used in skin and beauty care products. It can cause an allergic reaction in some people, as well as enlarged pores. Lanolin is also used for moist wound healing, especially for breastfeeding mothers, and in this application I think lanolin is very effective. As an ingredient in skin cleansers or moisturizers, lanolin is very bad for the skin.

5. Petrolatum - This familiar, semisolid mixture of hydrocarbons is derived from petroleum. Literally, "paraffin jelly" or "petroleum jelly" -- it is not absorbed by the skin and suffocates the pores. All petrochemicals pollute our water and destroy marine life -- avoiding them is essential for humans, animals, fish, water, land and the air.

6. Acetone - Gas additive and harsh solvent used to dissolve Superglue. Found in significant amounts in nail polish remover, toners and astringents. Some side effects include kidney, liver, nerve damage and death.

7. Borax - Sodium Borate, Boric acid - Used in baby powders, bath powders, eye creams, skin fresheners, and protective creams as a preservative. Borax is rapidly absorbed by the skin, and despite repeated warnings from the American Medical Association, it's still widely used in skin care products.

8. Alcohol - Isopropyl Alcohol, SD Alcohol 40, Ethyl Alcohol - Alcohols dissolve the body’s natural moisture and strips the skin of its natural protection, leaving it vulnerable to infection. Alcohols also destroy the skin's natural pH balance and since they absorb water rapidly, alcohols speed up wrinkling of the skin. Drying alcohols can also cause the skin to lose its contour (similar to a balloon losing air). Once applied, these alcohols make your eyes water and your skin turn red, two sure signs that those skin care products won't work for you!

9. FD&C Dyes and Pigments - When this abbreviation precedes the name of a color, it means that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has certified it as safe for use in drugs and cosmetics, but not food. FD&C colors are usually synthetic, coal tar colors; they’re toxic and should be avoided completely. The worst is Red #4, a color pigment proven to be dangerous to the bladder and adrenal glands.

10. Synthetic Fragrance - This is a blanket term used by many manufactures to hide thousands of dangerous ingredients at once. Because so many chemicals can be hidden under the label, suffice it to say that most are toxic, cancer-causing substances.

11. Water - Yeah, I know water isn't toxic, but it's still something you should look out for in the skin care products you're using or considering to buy. Why waste your money on a cheaply formulated, ineffective products?

L'Bri Pure n' Natural products are formulated as natural as possible for being man made. If you have any questions about this skin care line, please don't hesitate to contact me for more information!

© Leah Day Online: Toxic Skin Care Ingredients