WE HAVE CHOSEN NOT TO USE IN OUR PRODUCTS: ADDED SALT, SLES, SLS, PARABENS, DEA, PEG, AMINE, AGENTS OF PETROCHEMICAL DERIVATION AND DERIVATIVES OF ANIMAL ORIGIN.
Let's try to clarify some ingredients a bit
INGREDIENTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN
If we really want to buy cruelty-free cosmetics, it's not enough to just know the brands that experiment on animals. In fact, it is also useful to have a list of ingredients, some unsuspected, which are of animal origin.
Keratin. It is one of the most used ingredients in hair products. This substance is often extracted from the mane, feathers or horns of various animals. In its place, equally effective vegetable alternatives could be used, such as amla oil (from the fruit of an Indian tree) and soy protein.
Squalene. It seems absurd that such an ingredient exists, yet it is used in cosmetics to give products an emollient action. As you can guess it is obtained from sharks, from their liver. It can be replaced with wheat germ oil.
Carmine or cochineal. We've often heard of cochineal as a food coloring in fruit juices, but it's also used in cosmetics and shampoos. It is obtained from some insects: 70,000 are needed to produce 1kg of this dye. It can be replaced by beetroot juice (for use in lipsticks, powders and shampoos, for example) or alkanet root.
Lanolin. Used as a moisturizer, especially in cosmetics and hair and nail products, it is extracted from sheepskin. It is easily replaced with vegetable oils.
White musk . The fragrance of white musk is not created from vegetable substances, in fact, it is obtained from the genitals of some animals, such as musk deer, beavers. These animals, Peta points out, are held captive in cages, whipped around their genitals to produce scent. The alternatives may be the extracts of other plants.
Collagen. It is a protein contained in the connective tissue of animals and often used in creams to give elasticity to the skin. There are synthetic versions as an alternative, but soy protein and almond oil are also good.
Ambergris. Produced from the intestines of sperm whales, it is used in the production of perfumes and cosmetics. There are many synthetic or herbal ingredients that can replace it.
SLS and SLES
The abbreviations SLS and SLES have become very well known in recent years and are among the most common ingredients in traditional shower gels and shampoos.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) are surfactants , i.e. substances that have the task of "dissolving" greasy dirt to facilitate its elimination by rinsing. All detergents (shower gel, shower gel, shampoo, soaps, etc.) contain surfactants, some may be of vegetable origin, others of chemical origin. SLS and SLES are very cheap and produce a lot of foam , two characteristics that make them widely used in body cleansing products. They can derive from vegetable raw materials (palm oil, rapeseed oil, etc.), but are then subjected to a chemical process. Sodium Laureth Sulfate, as the suffix -eth indicates, is an ethoxylate, i.e. a product to which some molecules of ethylene oxide (derivative of petroleum ) have been added. Although the news that indicated these ingredients as carcinogenic has been denied, there are still many doubts and concerns about their use. In fact, they are two rather aggressive products, because together with the dirt they tend to "wash away" a large part of the skin's protective lipid layer. This is especially true for SLS, even if this ingredient has a better environmental impact than SLES, which however is less aggressive. They are also alkaline substances and tend to make the pH of the skin temporarily basic. It takes our body several hours to bring everything back to normal. They are not recommended for people with dry or particularly sensitive skin and also for daily use : unless you get completely dirty with oil or fat every day, your skin doesn't need such an aggressive wash every day. Care must also be taken with regard to hair : too much "extreme" shampoo not only tends to dehydrate the scalp, but also creates the opposite effect to the desired one. In fact, the skin, feeling "uncovered", tends to produce more sebum to rebuild its lipid film and this leads the hair to be even greasier.
PARABENS
Parabens are a class of organic aromatic compounds, identified for the first time in 1924 as antimicrobials; due to the low toxicity and the low dose at which they inhibit microbial growth, they have been used since the mid-1940s as preservatives in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries, with bactericidal and fungicidal functions
Commercially, only acid esters are considered parabens
4-hydroxybenzoic acid.
For over fifteen years, parabens have been the subject of scientific debate due to the possible effects on human health and the environment; repeatedly at the center of controversies about the causality between parabens and carcinogenicity, studies and research have recently confirmed the substantial safety of their use, however within the restrictions and specifications defined by the various national or supranational standards.
PETROLATES
(Praffinum liquidum, Mineral oil Petrolatum, Vaseline, Microcrystalized wax):
these are compounds derived from the refining of petroleum by distillation, they appear as a semi-transparent waxy paste of white color for the purest mixtures (used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical fields), also commonly used in the production of candles, lubricants, stain removers and impregnating agents of the wood. They are non-biodegradable substances, unfortunately often present also in products intended for children and babies and in products purchased in medicines or herbal medicine, instead of more expensive ingredients such as vegetable oils. Petrolatum cosmetics try to limit the evaporation of the water contained on the surface of the epidermis, creating a sort of barrier between the external environment and the skin, i.e. they act as filming agents, giving a sensation (entirely apparent) of smoothness to the skin. skin. They are also used for their conditioning, solvent and emollient effect. Perspiration is hindered, the germs present on the skin remain trapped by the paraffin, causing irritation and promoting acne, especially on predisposed skin. They are therefore comedogenic compounds, which create a "plug" on the hair follicles, causing keratin, sebum and dust to oxidize, forming the hateful "blackheads", or comedones. But what is most worrying are the impurities that remain in the substances after the refining process, which would promote aging and even skin cancer. It is no coincidence that petrolatums have been recognized by the scientific community as irritating substances for skin and mucous membranes, comedogenic and potentially carcinogenic.