Skin Cream Emulsifiers, Preservatives, Stabilisers

All skin creams have to contain a certain amount of non active ingredients for the purposes of preventing the oils from going rancid, prevent seperation and mould formation and allowing the oils and water to combine or emulisify.

NON-ACTIVE INGREDIENTS IN 7 CREAM:

Water is the main ingredient in all moisturisers and becaiuse of that we went to great lengths to choose the best water we could find. It would have been cheaper to use filtered tap water but we chose Canadian glacier water which is fantastically pure and above all soft.

SOYAMINE - an emulisier derived from soya beans.

STEARIC ACID - also an emulsifier, ours is plant derived.

CANDELLILLA WAX - derived from a plant called Euphorbia Cerifera. It improves the consistency of creams.

CETYL ALCOHOL - an emulsifier derived from palm oil in the case of the one we use.

SODIUM HYDROXYMETHYLGLYCINATE - not as bad as it sounds! It is derived from the amino acid glycine and is there together with POTASSIUM SORBATE (used in food) as a preservative and mould inhibitor. The prescence of the sugar from the Manuka Honey makes the cream susceptible to mould formation so we chose the most non toxic preservatives possible. Leaving these out would result in a very short shelf life.

Ingredients we don’t use and neither should you…..

PARABENS

Typically, Methyl and Propyl and Butyl and Ethyl Paraben — Used as moUld and other microbe inhibitors to extend shelf life. They are very effective at doing so and are universally utilized in cosmetics as a result. It has long been known that sensitive people can have allergic reactions to these substances. However more recently there have been suggestions that they can have an oestrogenic effect, i.e. mimic hormones, when absorbed through the skin. There is also research to show cancer causing potential, or mutagenicity associated with parabens and related preservatives.

Preservatives are essential in most products and safer, if less robust, alternatives are grapefruit seed extract and potassium sorbate.

FRAGRANCES

These are mostly complex artificial chemicals and can often cause allergic reactions. Again, being chemicals, most enlightened manufacturers believe the risks associated with them are too great. We choose not to use even natural fragrances simply because there is no point.

PROPYLENE GLYCOL

A form of antifreeze and brake fluid made specifically for cosmetics. It is derived from mineral oil and apart from the fact that we like to avoid all mineral oil derived substances,it can be drying and irritating for the skin. There are suggestions that it can have carcinogenic effects over the long term.

SODIUM LAURYL SULPHATE

Like all of the above it is conventionally considered safe but can be irritating on the skin and also is implicated as a carcinogen although this is disputed. Best to play safe in our opinion.

MINERAL OIL

Blocks the pores and irritates the skin. Many people are sensitive to mineral oil that is generally more irritating than vegetable alternatives.

LANOLIN

Some people are sensitive to Lanolin but worst of all is that it has been found to be contaminated with several carcinogenic pesticides.

From the UK Daily Mail 11 August 2008

In laboratory tests carried out by scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey, a number of well know skin creams were found to speed up the development of skin cancer.

The study, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, looked at the effect of four moisturisers on mice primed to develop skin cancer by exposure to UV light. The animals had the creams applied to them five days a week for four months.

Not only did the moisturised animals develop non-melanoma skin cancer more quickly than non-moisturised animals, they also developed twice as many tumours.

The scientists say that the ingredients in the products used in the trial are found in many leading brand skin care products. The application of a custom-made cream, which lacked several of the ingredients in the brands tested — including mineral oil and the sodium lauryl sulphate — did not affect the tumour development.

The researchers said that safety tests on moisturisers usually focus on whether they irritate the skin, not whether they cause cancer. But they concluded: “Further studies are needed to determine the effects of widespread use of moisturising creams on the risk of sunlight-induced cancer in humans.”