You don’t want to find fragrances in skin care products. Here’s why

We have previously talked about the risks to your health from fragrances in skin care products and a range of other personal and beauty products. Today we wanted to go into a little more depth about the health risks of fragrances.

Just to recap, there are thousands of fragrances present in so many of the personal products such as anti aging skin care products, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, deodorants and much more that virtually all of this use on our skin every single day.

Fragrances are chemicals, normally created in a lab, and the vast majority of them have never been tested for safety for use on people. So the health risks of many are simply unknown.

And in some cases the health risks are known, including neurotoxicity which can potentially lead to brain damage.

If you browse this page at the Cosmetics Database you’ll see a range of skin care and anti aging products listed there. In fact there are hundreds or possibly even thousands listed, however they can only fit so many on the page.

On the right you’ll see a coloured circle with a number in it. The number represents the score that the Cosmetics Database assigns to that product on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 represents no perceived health hazards from the use of the product and 10 represents maximum health risk.

Of course there is some fluidity in these results, because, as is normally noted in the results, there are some gaps in the data and some other reasons why it is impossible to give a perfect result.

Notwithstanding this we wouldn’t want be using a product that has a score of 8 or above, let alone 10. In fact we wouldn’t want to use a skin care product with any number beside it at all. Data gaps or not we would prefer to err on the side of caution.

Now let’s look at one of the particular products listed there. Click on the one second from the top, namely Home Skin Lab effective Wrink’less The Wrinkle Corrector. The page you are presented with details the particular ingredients which are considered a health risk, together with a summary of the potential health risks. Here’s an image of that page.

What do you notice about the ingredients? The top listed ingredient with the highest score, marked with a red circle, is fragrance. Click on fragrance and you’ll find out more.

If you’ve read our previous page you will know that the chemical used as a fragrance is often not listed on the label. Scroll down and you will note the statement “Ingredient not fully labeled – identity unknown”.

Need we say more about the risks of fragrances in anti aging skin care products and wide range of other personal and beauty products. Anyone concerned about fragrances, or any one of dozens of other chemical ingredients found in these products should immediately start looking for alternatives.

And spend some time looking at some of the other antiaging products with a score of 10 and see how often “fragrance” is listed there.

As far as skin care products go the good news is that one small niche skin care company recognizes completely the risks of fragrances, along with many other chemical ingredients, and produces extremely high quality natural skin care products that do not contain any fragrances for this reason. They also do not contain any other chemical ingredients which may be suspect to your health.

Not only that but they work extremely well and come with a 90 day money back guarantee. You can’t ask for more than that. Read the rest of this entry

A good skin anti wrinkle cream is only part of the equation

If you read our website you’ll know that we promote the advantages of natural skin care products that don’t contain harmful chemical ingredients that may damage your skin and your health. However even the best natural skin anti wrinkle cream won’t produce the best results unless you use it in conjunction with other things. Because there’s a number of steps involved in optimum wrinkle protection.

Of course the best skin anti wrinkle cream is a very good start. A natural anti wrinkle cream that doesn’t contain chemical or petrochemical ingredients and which does contain natural ingredients such as the oils from fruits and nuts goes a long way towards keeping wrinkles away and keeping your skin healthy.

However there are several other steps we suggest you undertake in conjunction with using a high quality skin care anti wrinkle cream. These are as follows:

1. Supplement your diet with Omega 3 essential fatty acids.

Omega 3 essential fatty acids found primarily in fish oil have been much in the news lately and for good reason. There is now a large and growing body of evidence tha increasing our intake of in particular DHA and EPA, the 2 most important of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids, will have significant benefits to our health.

This is because over the last century our intake of fish and other seafoods has dropped considerably, and as a result our intake of Omega3 fats found in fish has also dropped. Studies show that the average American is now seriously deficient in the Omega 3 essential fats.

Along with a wide range of other health benefits the omega 3 fatty acids called DHA and EPA are extremely important for skin health, and good skin health contributes significantly to wrinkle reduction.

Low levels of Omega3 fats contributes to dry skin. Dry skin is unhealthy skin whilst well moisturized skin is healthy, supple and less likely to exhibit wrinkles. Omega 3 fats found in quality Omega 3 supplements also raise the level of natural skin oils thereby helping skin moisture.

Studies have also shown that Omega 3 fats can help protect the skin from UV damage and UV damage, or what is otherwise known as photoaging, can be a significant contributing factor to wrinkles. whilst increasing your intake of Omega3 fats should not be relied on in the place of sunscreens it certainly helps.

2. Supplement your diet with high quality nutritional supplements.

Just as our body needs an adequate supply of Omega 3 essential fatty acids it also needs an adequate supply of a wide range of vitamins, minerals, anti oxidants and other nutrients. A deficiency in any of these exhibits itself in our skin as much as it does in our body.

Skin health is a complex thing. Combating wrinkles, at the end of the day, is about keeping your skin as healthy as possible. A high quality skin anti wrinkle cream will give your skin some of the specific ingredients needed to help replace lost collagen and elastin, a major cause of wrinkles. However supplementation to ensure an adequate supply of high-quality nutrients together with essential fatty acids will work in conjunction with the ingredients found in a high quality anti wrinkle cream to maximize the results that you should expect to get from an effective wrinkle creme.

It is perfectly possible to get an excellent and very effective skin care anti wrinkle cream that is natural, does not contain chemical or petrochemical ingredients and does not put your health at risk. Using this cream will be effective at helping reduce wrinkles, however combining this with high quality Omega 3 fish oil supplements together with excellent nutritional supplements will take this a step further. Read the rest of this entry