As the sun starts to shine with more certainty (and especially if you are headed away to even sunnier climes) it is the perfect time to re-evaluate and re-stock the products that we protect our skin with. At AcademyCP, you will not be surprised, we are great advocates of products that use plant based active ingredients and recommend (for several good reasons) these in preference to synthetic based products, that may well deliver a longer shelf life but create unseen dangers for the health of your skin.
Potentially harmful synthetic based products can be hard to spot, with a little clever labelling here and there. But if the ingredients on your product’s list include propylene, ethylene, butadiene, benzene or xylene – then it is more than likely produced from petrochemicals. Petrochemicals can be derived from a variety of different sources, such as coal and natural gas; however, most petrochemicals we use today are made from petroleum (or petrol to you and me)! They are used to extend the shelf life of our cosmetics, by watering down and increasing the spread-ability of a product.
They are also sometimes used to add and disperse fragrance throughout a product. Fragrance can also be synthetic, which can also cause a reaction. Cosmetic products like ours that use plant based active ingredients do not cause such reactions on the skin because they come from essential oils. Synthetic fragrance and colours are the main causes of skin reactions. It is very common for petroleum derived ingredients to be irritating, sensitising and very drying on the skin, not to mention comedogenic (pore clogging, may cause blackheads) as well – generally causing more damage than good.
The good news is there are alternatives. We cannot argue with the fact that our plant-based products are not going to last as long as cosmetics packed with synthetics. The abundance of natural preservatives they contain though, does allow them a very respectable six-month shelf-life once opened (or more in some cases). And really and truly, if you are taking care of your skin and hair health your products wouldn’t last six months anyway. Plants also have a similar chemical composition to we humans, so the active ingredients are more capable of penetrating the skin and acting with it and all its natural chemical reactions (rather than masking or work against it). As an example, if you use a product that contains collagen: the collagen molecules are too large to enter the skin’s outer layer (the epidermis) so it will simply sit on the surface of the skin and not in the dermis, the inner layer of the skin where your natural collagen lives.
For a quick and easy way to discover just how natural your current products are and learn more about which ingredients offer a healthier direction – we recommend you check out and download the Thinkdirty app.
As usual, please do just email any questions arising from this blog or enquiries about courses, treatments or products.
Have a lovely, skin safe summer.
