Parabens in Cosmetics?

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pure

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I was doing some business promotion last night at a charity function and was inviting people to try out all my products and one lady asked about parabens.

Now I know that they are a form of preservative but I dont know any else about them.

Well we checked on the product labels and there it was in the ingredients list of the CND Spa products. Well she was horrified! I was mystified at her reaction and not too sure how to respond and she abruptly walked away!:eek:

Now I know I could do a Google search about them and indeed I looked in my beauty books when I got home but the info was limited, and I'd like to know how they directly affect us in this industry.. So can anyone tell me a bit more about them, why some people don't like them, why they are necessary in our products etc, etc. Oh and any suggestions on how to handle similar potential clients also!!
 
What do i think of this?

Its a load of hype and scaremongering regarding parabens....hey are in such small quantities,and if you look at the list of the ingredients they dont come at the top of the list!

Alot of "fussy" clients read these so called articles from these so called beauty journalists that write about a load of tosh IMO.

If there was that much of a problem would the companies like CND,who do so much research and development into the product really provide it for the industry....i think not.

There are many companies that use parabens...Academie,Decleor,even Elemis....why....there are some preservatives tht are neded to give the product its longevity and shelf life....otherwise the products would go off in weeks,not months.

I would not worry debbie....this so called fussy client,thinks she gemed up on it,when she really doen not have a clue:eek:
 
Well that program with Sarah Beeny didnt help much either - just helped product companies that manufacture paraben free products.

The way I look at it is - out food contains chemicals - we breath in chemicals, we come in contact every minute of everyday with chemicals -.

Do people react so quickly when they are told their wine contains chemicals - or their packet of smokes is killing them? Hell no.

But will start ripping skin care products to bits because there was a tv program where there was 2 girls who were in product overkill and it scared everyone...whats new?

Place fear or panic into the public - it will always generate an over reaction.
 
I think it's something you may have to take into consideration, more and more research is being done into apparently everyday chemicals and their effects on us, it maybe something worth considering.

Avon had quite a dilemma over parabens, they have over 80 products containing it. You can't simply ignore the research. It may not be scaremongering, it could be a subtle warning.

It has been stated that parabens effect your hormones. I wouldn't go discounting it. Do some research and make an educated decision, rather than saying "pfffft".

New evidence that traces of parabens have been found in breast cancer tissue has generated concern that they might play some role in the growth of breast cancer cells.


At least you can't look back and say "i wasn't aware", or "I wasn't warned".
 
I think it's something you may have to take into consideration, more and more research is being done into apparently everyday chemicals and their effects on us, it maybe something worth considering.

Avon had quite a dilemma over parabens, they have over 80 products containing it. You can't simply ignore the research. It may not be scaremongering, it could be a subtle warning.

It has been stated that parabens effect your hormones. I wouldn't go discounting it. Do some research and make an educated decision, rather than saying "pfffft".

At least you can't look back and say "i wasn't aware", or "I wasn't warned".

I don think a professional salon brand can be compared to Avon,or any high street brand on the market...:eek:

Alot of brands are becoming aware of the dangers of chemicals,but,i still think that some information is misinformed,i feel.
 
I don think a professional salon brand can be compared to Avon,or any high street brand on the market...:eek:

It's not about Avon being high end, it's about Avon being one of the largest cosmetics manufacturers in the world taking the paraben issue seriously ..... sheeeesh.

Avon, founded in 1886, is the world's largest direct seller of beauty products.

Can you imagine a class action against Avon ... and how much it would cost them?

Actually, I think the title of the thread should be changed from parabens in CND, to parabens in cosmetics in general. CND are small compared to Avon (or any product you use for that matter).

Try using google or take a look at Paraben - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia then make an informed decision, rather than an ignorant one.
 
I hope you are not saying that the poster is ignorant! :eek: I am sure that was not your intention.

I HAVE been reading up on this issue and I think that all in all Beautyguru has put her point very well. It is a matter of QUANTITY and of course they never inform one in these studies of the hows or the why's and wherefores.

All women wear cosmetics ... does all breast cancer tissue contain traces of parabens? Maybe the person whose breast it was worked in a chemical manufacturing plant who knows.

I well remember the scare about artificial sweeteners ( as I use them in my coffee every day) and is was proven that although it did cause cancer in rats, for one of us to ingest the same amount of massive doses they were giving the rats we would have to drink a swimming pool full of artificially sweetened pop a day to get close to the same amount.

It is hard to get all the facts on these things and there is usually an agenda behind them too. Remember the nail polish scare?? Turned out to be a load of old tosh but companies were so scared of being sued many removed the offending chemical (Toluene) from their products only to find there had been no need for it. WE can thank the people in the 'sue happy' countries for all of this!!!
 
For information about any ingredient found in cosmetics, or to find out how "safe" a product is I can highly recommend looking at the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database website. For example some people are horrified at the thought of parabens being used in products, but first you need to know which ones - most are very safe, some are more high-risk. Have a look at the list of parabens and related articles [url="http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/wordsearch.php?query=paraben]here[/url].

Mat
 
I've always thought that it would be strange if you did not find parabens in breast tumours as parabens are used in such a large number of products- they are even in some baby wipes and check your tooth paste ingredients, plus some food and drinks!

Would we not all have breast cancer if they were to blame. More dangerous in my opinion would be to use a product containing no preservatives, think of all the nastys that could grow!

Do all beauty therapists end up with cancer, I think not and we are exposed to these every day. There is far more estrogen in birth control pills than in the parabens than mimic estrogen yet many of us use these.

I have confidence that they would be banned if dangerous. By the way just because it says organic or natural does not meant it has no parabens, check the label if you're worried.


I found this article quite good To paraben or not « Ockham’s Razor
 
I think it comes down to making an informed decision, and in this case of parabens limiting your exposure...

Now in saying that I have an allergy to any type of paraben, You would freak out if you lined up every cosmetic you used in your every day life... sure one product may contain a small amout of parabens.. but you add up all those products your using in a day and your actually getting a substantial dose....

now think about professionals offering manis or pedis using creams containing parabens, they are getting probably 10 times the exposue of a normal cosmetic user.

I dont buy the argument "we eat chemicals, we breath chemicals, we wash in chemicals" ... thats a choice you make.. I eat additive, preservative and artifical colour free, all meats are butcher fresh kill and not supermarket processed with all sorts of concoctions injected into them... ALL any any cosmtic I own (moisterisers, balms, oils etc) are all paraben free (for obvious reasons) .... I've even switched my cats to a natural brand of dry food and its amazing the difference it has made.

Sure you cant always live rural in clean air, many of us have no choice but to live in a city with high levels of air pollution, we cant really get past that... but you CAN choose what you put in your MOUTH and on your SKIN.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies and your links.

I'm going to go away and read the links and also do some research on it.

I think changing the thread title was a good move, I just put CND because that was what started the subject for me last night! But 'cosmetics' will hopefully also attract more responses!:)
 
Now in saying that I have an allergy to any type of paraben, You would freak out if you lined up every cosmetic you used in your every day life...

I dont buy the argument "we eat chemicals, we breath chemicals, we wash in chemicals" ... thats a choice you make.. I eat additive, preservative and artifical colour free, all meats are butcher fresh kill and not supermarket processed with all sorts of concoctions injected into them... ALL any any cosmtic I own (moisterisers, balms, oils etc) are all paraben free (for obvious reasons) .... I've even switched my cats to a natural brand of dry food and its amazing the difference it has made.

Sure you cant always live rural in clean air, many of us have no choice but to live in a city with high levels of air pollution, we cant really get past that... but you CAN choose what you put in your MOUTH and on your SKIN.

I done the line up of cosmetics a few weeks ago & yes you are right, it was quite unbelieveable ...

I use shampoo & make up which is paraban free. There are a few I use regulaly, like spray tan & spa products, but I think its is limiting your amount of exposure!!

I understand that there is a certain amount of chemicals we used on a day to day basis ...
 
This makes quite interesting reading
Parabens and their effects

What I found the most interesting bit was where it says about the highest risks being from "products that require prolonged exposure to the skin, such as skin creams and facial lotions". Having had long discussions in the past with a chemist friend who actually manufactures skin care ranges, we came to the conclusion that the levels of parabens, or any other potentially harmful chemicals for that matter, should be of concern if you are applying something that will stay on the skin. If it's going to be washed away such as shampoo or shower gel then it's unlikely to cause any problem. Unless of course you're allergic! :)
 
When I had my kids I switched to a chemical free(where possible) way of life i.e real nappies, organic and chemical free cosmetics and cleaning produts. I have suffered for years from asthma and exzema, now all have gone from simply changing the above. I now use chemical free and certified organic and paraben and sls free products on my clients and the differences are remarkable.
 
Not to mention all the chemicals we wash down our plugholes every day and the damage this does to our wildlife!!
 
I just read that the scientist that started the scare about breast cancer and parabens only had 20 subjects in his experiment and all had breast cancer so this is a tiny sample with no control group of healthy people.

Why has no one taken this further?!-possibly because it is unfounded?
 
I have had this discussion with Doug Schoon, but felt it was best to get Doug to comment in only the way he can :)

nJoy

Doug Schoon said:
Hi All,
I wanted to respond to the question about Parabens and why CND uses them. Parabens are probably the very safest preservative and most widely used cosmetic preservatives in the world. Parabens have a very long history of safe use and an excellent safety profile. Most of what you hear about them is based on rumors and myths.

Nowadays, ,it seems like there’s a group, somewhere that’s against just about everything you can name. One of the downsides of the Internet is, it gives paranoid people with incorrect information, a very loud voice.

Rumors about started because Parabens are chemically “similar” to estrogen. So some fearfully theorized that exposure to Parabens can cause hormonal imbalances which may lead to breast cancer. This was never proven, it was simply a concern. This concern has been refuted and shown not to be true. Although parabens “can” mimic estrogen, studies have showed they are about 100,000 times weaker than natural estrogen and far too weak to have any effect in the human body. To my knowledge, not a single person has ever been harmed by Parabens and millions of people are exposed to Parabens every day. If they were dangerous, we know by now. Not to mention the fact that these ingredients have been thoroughly tested for safety, as required by the EU, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, and just about every other major country in the world.

Groups that spread this type of misinformation hope that you don’t understand that there is a very big difference between “can” and “will”. They act like those two words mean the same thing and they do not. I can be stung by a killer bee, but that doesn’t make me afraid to take my dog for a walk. If it did, I would be foolish and overly paranoid.

Sadly, there are many activist groups out there who don’t look at the whole picture. They find a factiod that frightens them, so they spread their irrational fear to you and me. They don’t look at the issue scientifically or critically, instead they respond emotionally. My advice, don’t listen to Internet rumors, rely on scientists to sort out the facts and ensure your safety.

If Parabens were dangerous, CND would not use them. We use them because, 1. Parabens have a very long history of safe use and 2. Parabens prevent the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms in our products and improve shelf-life.

Finally, I wanted to comment on an earlier post which correctly stated that there are “chemicals in our food”. Actually, all food is 100% chemicals, so is the air we breathe and the water we drank. Here’s the definition for “chemicals” found in my book, Nail Structure & Product Chemistry, Second Edition. Everything you can see or touch, except light and electricity is a chemical! If everything is 100% chemicals, you shouldn’t be afraid, just because it’s “chemical”. Your children are 100% chemicals. This is another way that some groups frighten people. They pretend that chemicals are dangerous. The vast majority of chemicals you will come in contact in your life are absolutely safe. Don’t be fooled by these tactics, be educated.

I hope this information was useful,

Doug Schoon
Chief Scientific Adviser
CND
 
I have had this discussion with Doug Schoon, but felt it was best to get Doug to comment in only the way he can :)

nJoy


Very useful indeed Thank you:hug:
 
Wow I had no idea this thread would make such interesting reading!! Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

When Doug says this -
They don’t look at the issue scientifically or critically, instead they respond emotionally.

I think he has really hit the nail on the head. When you hear/read that something can potentially harm you and your family then your first response will be an emotional one, but I think as professionals we have to take the next step and look at it rationally.

I am not a scientist and so I have to make a decision who I am going to trust. For me, personally, Doug's reply strikes a cord and I am more than happy to continue using my current products.

However, it is equally important to respect that others will not agree. It will be interesting to see over time how aware the public become about parabens and whether it will grow in concern or just become another scare that will be forgotten.
 

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