1-4 Dioxane, an ingredient commonly used in cosmetic products

UK politicians are demanding a ban on the compound 1-4 Dioxane, a compound commonly found in gels, body lotions, anti-wrinkle creams and other natural and conventional cosmetic products, which is believed to be carcinogenic.

Find out more about natural cosmetics in our article: Fantastic ingredients for cosmetics

Harmful ingredients in cosmetics

Some of the ingredients in cosmetic products enter our skin cells. As a consumer you might have the following questions on your mind: What happens to the ingredients? Do they disintegrate? Do they end up in the bloodstream? Or where do they end up? What effects do they have on our health?

Last year there was a great social commotion with the microplastics used in exfoliating soaps, which end up on the shores of the seas and fish larvae gorge on them causing death.

Now also in the eye of the hurricane are palm oils, which favor the unleashing of metastasis in cancer and are in almost all products, from food products such as sweets to cosmetics.

1,4-dioxane, component of many cosmetic products

Now another ingredient will enter the focus of researchers, 1,4-dioxane, being found in most cosmetic products, anti-wrinkle creams, gels, soaps and lotions. The Environmental Protection Agency has announced in a statement that 1,4-dioxane is probably carcinogenic and that they are found in 46 percent of cosmetic products of all types of brands and their use is not required to be indicated in the list of ingredients.

A U.S. environmental working group, the EWG has given this product a score of 8. Or it would be non-toxic and 10 would be the most toxic.

Cosmetic companies also use a derivative of this 1,4-dioxane, which often goes unnoticed from the list of ingredients.

Consumers who wish to avoid 1,4-dioxane should carefully read the list of ingredients that do not appear in the following products: PEG, polyethylene, polythylene glycol, polyoxyethylene and others starting with eth-.

The American politician from New York, Chuck Schumer is demanding that his government prohibit the use of this ingredient in all cosmetic products. An ingredient that causes irritation to the eyes, nose and throat.

Schumer also insists that 1,4-dioxane is easy to eliminate in the cosmetics industries using vacuum separation methods that do not increase production costs.

Photo 1: Peñalver Castle Hair Mask

Top-of-the-range cosmetic products

As we have indicated in previous articles, in the most sophisticated and prestigious cosmetic products, new ingredients are used that have been tested on animals, but in the short term. What we don’t know and don’t test is whether these components used in the long term can have fatal effects on our health.

Also many cosmetic products that presume to be natural, use these products more industrial and harmful to our health.

For this reason we recommend using cosmetic products with the minimum amount of ingredients, including making them yourself with ingredients that you have at home, such as aloe vera, raw honey and extra virgin olive oil.

From El Cortijuelo de San Benito we offer a selection of selected cosmetic products that do not have any of these ingredients. Also, we are in continuous contact with our producers to ensure the highest quality products and that all of them are natural.

Sources.

Periodico nacional del Reino Unido The independent. 15 de Abril del 2017. “1.4-Dioxane: The cáncer-causing ingrediente lurking in your beauty products. http://www.independent.co.uk/

Periodico nacional El País. 7 de enero del 2016. Tus exfoliantes aniquilan a los peces.

Periodico nacional El País. 8 de diciembre del 2016. Descubiertas las células que inician la metástasis del cáncer.