Product watch: Key ingredients for healthy skin
- Why do I need silicones? To paraphrase India Arie, aren’t I fine on my own?
You’re fabulous but silicones are pretty great too. Despite their sandy origins, they have a wonderfully fluid quality that gives them great slip.
In certain concentrations they feel downright silky. Silicones are endlessly useful for hair and makeup, temporarily smoothing split-ends, fighting frizz, making blending a cinch, and filling lines.
They can also be water-binding, wound-healing, and the lightweight carriers of potent anti-ageing ingredients or topical medication. Those commonly used in cosmetics include cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone, phenyl trimethicone, and cyclohexasiloxane.
- Don’t they clog pores?
We know silicones are not occlusive because their molecular properties make them at once porous and air-resistant, sort of like an ultra-fine mesh. They are both breathable and capable of imparting the ingredients they carry while remaining on the skin’s surface.
Treatments for burns, rosacea, and acne are often silicone-rich. Silicones prevent the flaking and dryness associated with anti-bacterial ingredients like benzyl peroxide without making skin greasy or causing new blemishes.
La Roche-Posay’s fast-working Effaclar Duo, €17.50, for example, contains silicones that make the formula comfortable for even the most sensitive acne sufferers. Silicone primers are useful for improving the appearance of acne scars.
- You mean baby powder?
Sometimes. Baby powders can also be cornstarch or ricestarch-based. The talc listed on our cosmetics, food, and medication labels is hydrous magnesium silicate, a soft, absorbent mineral that prevents caking and can improve a product’s appearance.
- Is it harmful?
Not to your skin. Concerns about a possible link between talc use and cancer focus on whether long-term use of pure talc for female intimate hygiene can cause ovarian cancer and whether inhaling talc can cause lung cancer.
Talc in its natural form can contain asbestos, a substance known to cause cancers in and around the lungs when inhaled.
These unprocessed fibers are not used in consumer-grade talc, which extensive research has deemed free from such risks.
Many studies have looked at a possible link between talc and ovarian cancer, with mixed findings. Some report a slight increase in risk among women who frequently use pure talc for intimate hygiene, others none.
The American Cancer Society and Cancer Research UK point to the relative bias of the many case-control studies that have found a slight increase in risk (eg they often rely on a subject’s memory of using talc many years earlier), and the stronger cohort studies that found no increased risk.
- Can make-up with talc parch skin or highlight lines?
It depends on the rest of a product’s formula. A talc-based foundation for oily/combination skin, for example, will likely contain several sebum-controlling ingredients that maintain a matte complexion and the balance may make it look patchy on dry skin.
However, an emollient or silicone-rich formula that includes talc is unlikely to cause problems. Talc alone is no threat to skin’s natural moisture barrier.
The perception of talc as having a chalky quality that emphasises wrinkles is dated. Today’s make-up uses such fine-milled versions that fibers are undetectable.
Tom Ford’s Bronzing Powder, €82, extremely high in talc, showcases how smooth the ingredient can look.
- What is that?
Clear, odourless oil derived from petroleum.
- Is it dangerous?
Not at all! It is actually a highly-beneficial moisturiser in both its liquid and semi-solid (petroleum jelly) forms. Bioderma Sensibio AR Creme Anti-Rougeurs, €15, is one of my favourites.
- So why talk it down?
The confusion around the use of mineral oil in skincare is threefold. Firstly, no one is drilling for Vaseline!
The environmental concern that using mineral oil (a byproduct of the petroleum industry), is somehow taking advantage of a non-renewable resource is unfounded.
Mineral oil is not a resource and in its highly-purified cosmetic form bears no resemblance to petroleum. Pharmaceutical-grade mineral oil is widely considered one of the safest cosmetic ingredients available.
Finally, claims that mineral oil can become solid and clog pores are false. Mineral oil products can make oily skin greasy but this is true of most rich emollients.
- That’s a mouthful!
Yes, and it has an equally nasty cousin called methylisochlorothiazolinone! They are often abbreviated to MI and MCI on ingredients lists.
- What is it?
Methylisothiazolinone is a preservative that can sensitise skin over time and cause visible irritation, both upon first try and after you’ve used it for years without incident. It is commonly used in personal care and household products.
In 2013, the ingredient was named ‘Allergen of the Year’ by the American Contact Dermatitis Association!
Both MI and MCI have a reputation as frequent allergens when used in leave-on products (especially haircare and female hygiene products), though wash or wipe-off products can also be culprits.
According to a May 2015 update from the Irish Skin Foundation, females are more likely to develop irritation from these preservatives because of more frequent contact through make-up, etc. Areas most likely to react include the face, hands and genitals.
Products labelled “natural” or “organic” can carry MI or MCI, and even low amounts of these ingredients have been cited as more sensitising than alternatives. Do check ingredients lists, there are lots of other preservatives out there!
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