Beauty And The Blog

Are parabens in your skin care and anti-aging products of a concern to you? I know that they are for many women. Some skin care and anti aging products include “No Parabens” on their labels in order to attract buyers who are leery of this group of chemicals.

Do you know what a paraben is? It’s a preservative. Parabens protect cosmetic products from molds, bacteria and fungus. Eww…  I know you don’t want that in your skin care either. Parabens have been found to be less of an irritant to the skin than other types of preservatives. So that’s why they are so widely used.

Parabens include butylparaben, methylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, ethylparaben and benzylparaben.

Why are women so concerned about those parabens? Mostly because of news stories about research showing that parabens are endocrine disruptors (chemicals that mimic hormones in your system) that can wreak havoc in your body.

Research done on rat skin has shown some evidence of a weak estrogen effect that may be problematic in regards to the proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The study concluded that more research needs to be done to find just what effect an accumulation of parabens would have on hormone sensitive tissue.

I know, this is boring stuff for some of you, but come on. You’ve thought about it, right? I have and there is no history of breast cancer in my family. Breast cancer is the reason so many women are concerned with parabens. The news was telling us that parabens cause breast cancer in some women.

I do use some products that have parabens.  Why? Because I found out that phytoestrogens, which are plant estrogens such as those found in soy products, produce chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body. To a greater degree than do parabens.

If you look at a cosmetic ingredient label the paraben used is nine times out of ten one of the last 2 or 3 ingredients. Meaning…. there is very little of it in the product.

Am I telling you that I think you should not be concerned? Absolutely not. That is something you make up your own mind about. There are many great products available now that do not contain parabens so you have choices, and choice is always good.

OK, so there is more current research out there. Yes, on rats again. On their skin, given orally, and subcutaneously. And this research has shown “parabens are metabolized rapidly and to a large extent in living organisms and therefore cannot exhibit any adverse effects” and “are fully metabolized before they enter the bloodstream” (quote source: Cosmetics Design- Europe )

Paula Begoun , The Cosmetics Cop, has a great free resource called the “Cosmetics Ingredient Dictionary”.  To find out more extensive information on parabens go here, Paula’s Choice. Then find  the heading (near the top) saying “Learn”. A menu will drop down, click on “Ingredient Dictionary”. Click on the letter “P” and scroll down the list. There is a wealth of info there.

For an anti-aging line of products that does not contain parabens see Dermajuv

Enjoy!

Photo by Borrisov