What Ingredients Should You Find (And What Should You Find) In Your Moisturizer.

By Peter Albertonach

Could it be possible that the moisturizer that you may have used this morning is dangerous? How could a moisturizer possibly be dangerous? Isn't it just a product intended to moisturize our skin?

Unfortunately there are many petrochemical and chemical ingredients found in many moisturizers as well is many other products such as bath and beauty products and cosmetics. 2 examples are sodium lauryl sulphate and mineral oil.

Many of these ingredients are manufactured in laboratories and they are used in personal products and skin care products such as moisturizers because they are particularly cheap. Mineral oil, for example, is cheaper to buy than to dispose of.

If you visit the website of the Environmental Working Group you will see that they maintain a database of information about all of the chemical and petrochemical ingredients used in our personal products such as moisturizers. This database is called the Cosmetic Safety Database and it's perfectly possible for you to search it to discover many of the health risks of so many of the chemical ingredients used in moisturizers and other skin care products and others.

If you search sodium lauryl sulphate at the Cosmetic Safety Database you'll see that it is linked to cancer, organ system toxicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity skin irritation and more. You'll see similar concerns if you search mineral oil.

Studies have shown that many of these ingredients commonly found in skin care and anti aging products such as moisturizers can have negative health risks. For example a study recently published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology called "Tumorigenic Effect of Some Commonly Used Moisturizing Creams when Applied Topically to UVB-Pretreated High-Risk Mice" demonstrated that a number of moisturizers which contained mineral oil and sodium lauryl sulphate, when applied 5 days a week for 17 weeks, "increased significantly the rate of formation of tumors and the rate of increase in tumor size per mouse".

And it was also interesting that the researchers, (who were very surprised at the results because they were actually studying to see if caffeine caused skin cancer in mice) decided to ask the manufacturer of the moisturizer to manufacture another moisturizer without mineral oil or sodium lauryl sulphate. And when tested this further moisturizer showed no effect at all on the tumor formation or the tumor growth in the mice.

If you examine the search results at the Cosmetic Safety Database when searching either of these chemicals, (or any other of a wide range of chemical ingredients found in modern anti aging products such as moisturizers), you will see all of the studies relied on in the results quoted are there for you to reference.

Perhaps it never came to your attention that your moisturizer could be dangerous and that you are risking cancer amongst other things by using so many of the big name brand moisturizers and other skin care products.

Does this mean that you should swear off moisturizing? Should you avoid all anti aging skin care products altogether or is it possible to find moisturizers and other anti aging products that do not expose you to the health risks which you are exposed to by using so many of the products manufactured by the big brands? Not at all.

There are small niche companies which recognize the problem with mainstream chemical laden anti aging skin care products and see this as an opportunity to manufacture safe and effective skin care products containing none of the chemical ingredients that are commonly found in mainstream skin care products such as moisturizers.

The anti aging market is massive and there are billions of dollars at stake and it is extremely difficult for small companies like this to compete with the big brand names, but they do so by differentiating themselves by producing safe and effective natural skin care products that will produce the results you want without risking your health. These companies do not use the chemical alternatives used by so many of the big brand-name manufacturers despite the fact that these chemical alternatives are much cheaper.

It may take longer to find but if you manage to track down some of these natural skin care products, one range in particular, and try them you will be very pleasantly surprised at the results you get. Firstly you won't be risking your health because they use only known safe ingredients and secondly you will find that the products are extremely effective. But it can sometimes be difficult to find these products because the small niche companies that manufacture them cannot compete with the big brands on television advertising and so do not advertise on television at all.

So although you may be surprised to hear the bad news that so many modern skin care products such as moisturizers contain dangerous ingredients you will also it pleased to hear the good news that there are natural skin care products available which are highly effective and contain only safe ingredients.

I write a website where I seek to expose these issues to my readers and to demonstrate to them that there are safer, more natural and more effective alternatives available. To find these natural anti aging products that produce the results you want without the risks visit my website. - 30246

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