Breast Cancer Awareness Comes With Knowing Your Skin Care Ingredients

I think every woman who is looking after her personal health needs to be acquainted with the topic of toxic and non-toxic skincare ingredients.

In fact, some of the ingredients used in skincare products have been linked to different types of cancer. Having Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, it is a good time to boost our personal knowledge on what is what in that bottle or jar of lotion or cream we apply daily on our skin.

Cosmetics is a huge part of any woman’s daily life. We love our skin products. We adore and enjoy make-up routine. We are eagerly buying the products that smell great and feel smooth on our skin. Yet behind all those pleasant aromas and silky skin sensations, there may be chemicals which are called hormone disruptors. They can effect estrogen and other hormones within the woman’s body to play their authentic roles. Instead, these toxic chemicals begin a mimicking game, a presence that tricks the body to believe that they are the real hormones.

As a result, the hormonal balance within the body gets off track. Each woman needs to know her non-toxic, as well toxic ingredients companies use in the beauty and skin care products.

Is the Beauty Industry Not Regulated?

As cosmetics industry is growing every year (estimated $48 billion annual revenue as of 2023), the competition gets tougher. To yield better profit margins, many companies choose to go the rout of cheaper ingredients.

“Despite a booming US cosmetics industry, the US government has had virtually no legal authority to control the health and safety of cosmetics products or ingredients on the consumer market.” – IBIS World, Jan. 2023

You probably have noticed a trend of clean cosmetics, green skin care products, and a desire of using effective non-toxic ingredients for better skin care results. Many companies are doing an incredibly amazing job by offering the women high quality skin care products to develop an effective skin care routine.

But some go a rout of mixing up good and bad ingredients. Hence you have your personal responsibility to check your skin care products, the Ingredient List, every time you are ready to purchase any.

Read my post on How to Advocate for Your Own Health.

Plus this post on How To Determine If You Face High Risk of Breast Cancer.

Illuminate. Encourage. Shine!
Campaña de Concientización Contra el Cáncer de Mama.
Alienta. Incentiva. Brilla!

There are a lot of clinical stuties being done dedicated to breast cancer and other types of cancer. And for each of us, it is vital to be aware, to be alert and up-to-date on this information sans worries.

Toxic Ingredients in Skin Care Products

Here are some of the top toxic ingredients you need to be aware of when buying your personal cosmetics, skin care products included. BreastCancer.org talks about Parabens and Phthalates as the ingredients specifically studied for links to breast cancer. Read more HERE!

PEGS/PPGS – usually the humectants used in cosmetics and beauty products; the by-products of Petroleum production! They include: PEG, PPG, PEG-60, PEG laureate, Sodium laureate sulphate, PEG-40, Castor Oil and many others.

– PETROCHEMICALS – these ingredients often produce carcinogens as the result of their binding with each other. Look for names like MEA monoethanolamine (MEA), DEA diethanolamine (DEA), TEA triethanolamine (TEA), TEA-lauroyl, acetamide MEA, lactamide MEA, cocamide DEA, cocamine MEA.

– SYNTHETIC ALCOHOLS – these ingredients can play a huge role in starting skin irritations of all kinds. And eventually, some people can develop acne as the result of such use. Look for the names like Isopropyl palmitate, octyl palmitate, butylene glycol and propylene glycol.

– POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS – these ingredients come from petroleum-produced low-level impurities. Yes, impurities. Spot the names in an Ingredient list like Petroleum jelly (Petrolatum) and paraffin. Specifically, many face, hand and foot masks use paraffin as their main ingredient. One immediate effect on the skin, it can feel smooth and nice. The not-so-nice could be as mild as slight itching to more severe as skin burning and inflammation (dermatitis). And when the mask formula gets into an eye, it can irritate it and even cause a temporary blurred vision. It’s up to you to use skin treatments and to read and ask what’s in them!

– PARABEN-BASED PRESERVATIVES – any skin care product needs to be protected from microbial growth. It can be done in many different ways. These parabens help to extend the product shelf life. However, they may produce an allergic reaction, skin irritation and rashes to name a few. Look for the names like Ethyl paraben, methyl paraben, butyl paraben, propyl paraben.

– SYNTHETIC PRESERVATIVES – these types of preservatives are also used to extend the shelf life of the skin care products and other personal care products as well. Synthetic preservatives are cheaper than natural preservatives and can play better with other ingredients to create a smoother texture that a modern consumer so much likes. However, synthetic preservatives could be skin irritants and a trigger for skin sensitizing. And get this: synthetic preservatives can release a poisonous formaldehyde under the temperatures of 20+ degrees of Fahrenheit. Wow! Train your eyes to catch the names like Imidazolidinyl Urea and Diazolidinyl Urea, DMDM Hydrantoin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone.

– PHENOXYETHANOL – one more ingredient that is used to protect a skin care formulations and perfumes from the bacterial overwhelm and extend the product’s shelf life. Phenoxyethanol is definitely harmful when swallowed or absorbed through skin, especially when used by the expectant and nursing mothers. The skin could show signs of irritation and even blistering, depending how sensitive a person is to this ingredient. As an ethoxylated compound, phenoxyethanol can contain trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane which is a known carcinogen. Again, there are many safe alternatives to Phenoxyethanol in the product preservative world. Still, companies with overall great ingredients in their formulations keep using Phenoxyethanol alongside with them.

– SILICONE OILS – these oils are put into skin care to create a lovely texture. But you are smarter than that and can see beyond it, correct?! Silicones can be a culprit for skin irritations, allergies. Besides, they are comedogenic, meaning they clog the pores. And with clogged pores, skin can develop not just comedones, both black and white heads. More importantly, clogged pores can trigger internal inflammation that may become an on-going issue. Spot Silicones by their suffix ‘thicone’ like in dimethicone and cyclomethicone.

– ARTIFICIAL FRAGRANCE – sometimes you see the words ‘Fragrance’ or ‘Parfum’ on the label. It may denote up to 200 of different man-made chemicals that in a majority of cases cause allergic reactions and irritations of different sort. Sometimes, I see companies choosing the words ‘Fragrance’ or ‘Parfum’ for a totally amazing natural ingredient within the product’s formulation. I just do not get it why they use the wrong terminology to sway away their potential customer who knows what’s what.

– SYNTHETIC COLORS – You probably now can guess that synthetic colors come from the petroleum-based products. To be specific, the synthetic colors have coal tar as their progenitor. Like any petroleum by-product, these ingredients can be contaminated with heavy metal traces, which are considered to be carcinogenic. Skincare products containing synthetic colors may produce irritation, sensitizing, and clogged pores. And with clogged pores, there may be a development of internal inflammation. Pay attention to these names and avoid them: Blue 1, Green 3, Red 27 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, CI (followed by a number).

– TRIENTHANOLAMINE (TEA) – when a formulation needs the pH adjustment, companies use this TEA ingredient to convert acid to salt. Depending on the quality of trienthanolamine, it can contain nitrosamines which are known skin sensitizers. Spot quickly these long words in the Ingredients section: Triethanolamine, TEA Stearate, TEA.

Check out another post of mine about sunscreens and their toxic active ingredients.

Luxe Beauty Skincare Giveaway
October 1-15, 2023
Open to USA

Luxe Beauty is a line of skin care products dedicated to take your skincare to the next level. It means that every product you use will pamper your skin and protect it from free radicals, dryness and water loss; shield your precious skin from outside pathogens by adding potent antioxidants and actives into each bottle of formulation for the skin.

Since this month we are adding another year of education about skin and skin care, I decided to include Luxe Beauty into this beautiful giveaway for a woman who loves non-toxic skin products that work!

Enter to win your own set of products from Luxe Beauty to add them into your daily skin care routine.

REFERENCES

1. Hyunje G. Cho, Karen Y. Kuo, Shufeng Li, Irene Bailey, Sumaira Aasi, Anne Lynn S. Chang, Anthony E. Oro, Jean Y. Tang, and Kavita Y. Sarin.  Frequent basal cell cancer development is a clinical marker for inherited cancer susceptibility. JCI Insight. Aug.9, 2018.