M Asks About Estriol…I just read your great article on mineral oil. I’m in a quandary on just that issue right now. I have an Rx for estriol cream and I would like to have the compounding pharmacist mix it into my regular moisturizing cream, which is mineral-oil based.

My question: do you think the mineral oil would prevent the skin from absorbing the estriol? (The objective here is that I want the skin to absorb the hormone, but I don’t want the hormone to get into the body for circulation to other parts of the body.)Any assistance you could give would be much appreciated.

The Left Brain’s Response About Mineral Oil and Hormones: You can certainly ask the pharmacist to put your prescription into your regular cream, but we highly doubt that he or she will comply. While mineral oil may not be a problem (it’s a common ingredient in many cosmetic and medicinal bases) there are other factors to consider. The other ingredients in the formula can affect how well the active ingredient does or doesn’t penetrate your skin. Changing from the cream base that your Rx designates to an untested cream base could render your prescription ineffective.  Do you really want to take that chance?

Beauty Brains Bottom Line:

That’s probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but it’s better to safe than sorry.  Thanks for your question and thanks for reading The Beauty Brains!

T. Thom’s Question..I would like to know if Marula oil is comedogenic and also what the best resource is on the web is to discover the comedogenicity of skincare ingredients?

The Right Brain’s Reply:
Thanks so much for the question. And thanks for checking out The Beauty Brains.

Good data on Marula Oil is hard to find, but according to this supplier of Marula Oil it’s rich in Oleic Acid which is a material that is very comedogenic. My guess would be that this ingredient IS comedogenic (causes blackheads) and should be avoided for anything you’re going to put on your face.

As to your second question, there is no good single resource on the web that tells you whether ingredients are comedogenic or not. We use PubMed and information from the American Academy of Dermatology. Unfortunately, they don’t have an easy-to-read list and you have to do a lot of searching.

Hope that helps and thanks for asking The Beauty Brains.

Nanda Has Curly Curiosity… Hi there! Thanks for your great work on your blog. I have thick curly hair, and it seems the only thing that reliably defines my frizzy curls is a little known product called Dudley’s Fantastic Body Texturizing Setting Lotion. It’s fairly inexpensive, since my hairdresser has me mix it with water before spraying it on my head. It’s water-based, and so unlike gels and creams, it doesn’t build up at all. Also, I keep hearing raves about another product that sounds very similar, called Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper. Could you help me determine if they’re as similar as they sound?

The Right Brain Chemically Corresponds:
Nanda, the products that you’re considering are quite different based on the ingredient lists. Let’s take a look:

Dudley’s Fantastic Body Setting Lotion:

Deionized Water, Polyquaternium-11, PEG-75, Lanolin, Polysorbate-60, Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Iodopropynl Butylcarbamate, Fragrance, FD & C Blue No.1.

Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper:

Deionized Water, PVP/VA Copolymer, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Laureth 23, Glycerin, DMDM Hydantoin, Fragrance, Polyquaternium 10.

The key active ingredient in Dudley’s is Polyquaternium-11. A conditioning ingredient used in many mousses. It will make your hair soft and help defrizz curls.

Curly Hair Solutions, on the other hand, contains PVP/VA copolymer which is a pretty powerful film former. This product also has the ability to shape your curls but it will leave a crispy feeling styling crust, more like a gel or hairspray.

Both products could keep your curls controlled; it depends on the type of feel you like. If you like a very soft feel, stick with Dudley’s. If you want a firmer feel, go for Curly. But in neither case should you be diluting them with water. By adding water you could inactivate the antimicrobial control agents in the formula leaving the product open to bacteria growth which is not a good thing. If you’re on budget shop around for the least expensive product, but you really shouldn’t take cut corners by taking chances with bacterial contamination.

And thanks to Beth Robinson at Strangedolls.net for the image. We LOVE her creepy custom made dolls!

Do you have problems with curly hair?  What solutions have you found?  Leave a comment to help the other curly-haired brains.

Nicola needs to know…Is it true that rendering plants sell animal by-products for use in cosmetics?

Left Brain Illuminates:
It has always amused me that people will gleefully eat steak, lobster, and fried chicken, but are appalled to imagine animal ingredients would be used in their cosmetics. What do they think should happen to the inedible parts that come from food production? Just be deposited in landfills and allowed to rot?  I’m sincerely curious.

Animal Ingredients in Cosmetics

But enough of that.  To answer your question, YES, it is true that there are still some animal ingredients used in cosmetics. Their use is not nearly as prevalent as fringe cosmetic companies like Arbonne would suggest, but they are still in there.

For a big list of possible animal ingredients used in cosmetics, see this one put together by PETA. We’re not endorsing this list as gospel, but a brief review found it covered most ingredients you’d likely find. Of course, in true fashion of a fearmongering group, it also includes sketchy information including ingredients you won’t find anymore. Also, it lists animal-derived ingredients like Honey, Milk, and Lanolin without mentioning that these materials are gotten without harming animals.

Major Cosmetic Animal Ingredients

The truth is that most companies now go out of their way to avoid using animal ingredients.  Any minor cost savings achieved by using animal based ingredients is vastly off-set by the PR nightmare generated by groups like PETA and EWG. Also, real governmental regulations about Mad Cow Disease (BSE) have prompted companies to mostly use alternatives. But you’ll still find some animal ingredients.  The following are the most common.

Collagen

What is it? Collagen is a protein and the main component of connective tissue. This includes connective tissue in both humans and animals. It is also chemically modified to produce gelatin.

Why is it in my cosmetic? Collagen is primarily used in skin wrinkle creams. The collagen in your skin is naturally degraded over time due to environmental factors. Add to that your body’s own tendency to slow collagen production as you get older and you start to getting sagging, wrinkly skin. The idea behind including collagen in your skin products is that by replacing damaged collagen you can firm up your skin and reduce wrinkles.

Does it work? Collagen won’t much permanent effect on your wrinkles. At best, it will provide a temporary tightening of your skin. The idea of arbitrarily plopping collagen on your skin to fix wrinkles is like trying to fix a hole in your Lucky Jeans by dumping a pile of denim on it. It doesn’t work. See this article for what really works on wrinkles.

Alternatives - Just because a product says it has collagen in it doesn’t mean that it is using animal derived collagen. There are plant derived alternatives. They are equally as ineffective.

Elastin

What is it? Elastin is another protein important in the proper functioning of your connective tissue. It is like a rubber band that allows skin, cartilage, tendons, etc. to snap back after being stretched. As you get older it gets diminished and your skin starts to sag.

Why is it in my cosmetic? Elastin is used in skin products for the same reason as collagen. Cosmetic companies figure that if it’s in your skin naturally adding more must be good.

Does it work? Topical elastin has never been shown in a peer reviewed study to have any long-term effect on wrinkles. It suffers from the same problems as collagen. When produced inside your body by your cells, it reduces wrinkles.  When applied topically, it has minimal effect.  It’s not only the ingredient that matters but how the ingredient is applied.

Alternatives – Raw material suppliers have developed synthetic and non-animal versions of elastin.

Keratin

What is it? Keratin is another structural protein found in mammals. This is the stuff of hair, nails and horns.

Why is it in my cosmetic? Human hair is composed of keratin. When you lose keratin protein your hair is damaged. Cosmetic companies figure if you can replace that keratin with more protein, then you’ll fix your hair problems.

Does it work? While protein in general has been shown to provide some benefit when applied to hair, keratin protein in particular is not more effective than some other protein source. Applying protein to hair also suffers from the same like-on-like fallacy as collagen and elastin. More effective hair conditioning ingredients include quaternized surfactants and silicones.

Alternatives – There are non-animal derived Kertain alternatives.

Tallow

What is it? Tallow is animal fat. It contains mostly longer chain fatty acids.

Why is it in my cosmetic? Fatty acids and oils make excellent conditioning ingredients for both hair and skin products. They improve the feel and look of these surfaces.

Does it work? Yes. Tallow derived ingredients actually will make your skin and hair feel better. But you can get these same fatty acids from plant oils like sunflower, soybean, etc. The animal derived ingredients don’t provide much added benefit.

Alternatives - Soybean oil and other plant derived oils.

Beauty Brains bottom line

While there are ingredients used in cosmetics that come from animals, the industry has mostly moved to using suitable alternatives. There are few, if any, animal derived ingredients that don’t have some suitable, plant or synthetic replacement.   Just looking at the ingredient list to determine if it has an animal ingredient is not going to tell you much.  Synthetic collagen is not labeled any differently than animal-derived collagen.

Do animal derived ingredients in your cosmetics bother you? What do you think should be done with the stuff left over from the food processing industry? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know.

Learn from the Left Brain…

How many of you Beauty Brains faithful have experienced some kind of temporary skin rash, reddening, or itchiness? That condition is known as allergic contact dermatitis and this study by the Mayo Clinic lists the top 10 ingredients that can cause the condition. The list includes metals, antibiotics, fragrance ingredients, and various preservatives. If you experience this condition the best solution is to avoid these ingredients!

Here they are in no particular order.

Top 10 Skin Irritants

1. Nickel (nickel sulfate hexahydrate): Found in jewelry or on your clothes.

2. Gold (gold sodium thiosulfate): Yes, the same stuff used to make jewelry.

3. Cobalt chloride: A metal used for many applications like medical products, hair dye, and antiperspirants to name a few.

4. Neomycin sulfate: An antibiotic used in various first aid creams. Less commonly used in cosmetics.

5. Bacitracin: Another antibiotic.

6. Thimerosal: A preservative ingredient used in antiseptics and vaccines

7. Balsam of Peru (myroxylon pereirae): A natural fragrance ingredient derived from tree resin used in perfumes and skin lotions.  Who said “natural” was better?

8. Fragrance mix: Common fragrance allergens found in cosmetic products. Manufacturers in the US must list this on the ingredient statements.

9. Formaldehyde: A much maligned preservative. You might remember the smell of this stuff from high school biology class.

10. Quaternium 15: Another preservative used in some cosmetic products.

The study was done using a method called patch testing in which human volunteers allow researchers to stick patches of these chemicals on their bodies for hours and days on end. For this the volunteers usually get paid about $50 bucks (US). Some people will do anything for a buck.  Of course, I’ve personally participated in these kinds of studies purely for the advancement of science.

We here at the Beauty Brains are willing to suffer for our craft.

The Left Brain’s lesson:

Here at the Beauty Brains we get tons of comments and emails telling us how all-natural ingredients are the best thing you can use on your hair and skin.  We’ve previously explored the topic and have explained why we believe “natural” ingredients are neither superior nor inferior to “synthetic” ones.  Both sources can provide good and bad ingredients.

Being a biologist at heart, I thought this list of natural ingredients to avoid was interesting.

Naturally Toxic Ingredients

10. Patulin: The patulin toxin produced by fungi found on rotting apples. It’s not especially dangerous but a few studies have shown it can cause DNA mutations.

Watch out if you’re making your own apple juice to put in your DIY personal care products 

9. Aflatoxin: Another toxin naturally produced by our fungi friends. Aflatoxins make their way into food crops like corn and peanuts. The compound has been shown to cause liver cancer in lab animals & has been associated with live cancer in humans. Governments monitor and regulate food for acceptable amounts of aflatoxin.

Be careful about contaminated corn or peanut compounds in your cosmetics 

8. Ergotamine: This is an alkaloid produced naturally by a food fungus that grows on rye and wheat plants. If not properly processed grains contaminated with ergotamine can end up in your bread and cause the disease ergotism. Not a problem if you don’t mind gangrenous infections of the limbs and hallucinations.

This toxin is the starting point for making the drug LSD. 

7. Mistletoe Lectin: People love mistletoe at Christmas but did you know this naturally growing plant is extremely toxic to humans? Any part of the plant can poison you and if ingested can cause vomiting, hallucinations, and blurred vision.

Avoid any product said to contain Mistletoe extract. Unless hallucinating & vomiting is your idea of a good time. 

6. Saxitoxin: This is a toxic material naturally produced by a common algae found in oceans around the world. When conditions are right, the little microscopic organisms produce saxitoxin, or red tide. If enough of it is introduced into your body, it causes paralysis and death. On occasion, people can get exposed to the poison by eating contaminated shellfish.

Apparently algae extracts aren’t always advisable. 

5. Batrachotoxin: Frogs are cute except for maybe the poison dart frog that makes one of the most toxic compounds known. Batrachotoxins are naturally produced by certain species of frogs, beetles and birds. If you get some of the compound in you, expect paralysis of your breathing muscles followed by death soon afterwards.

Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment to stop the nasty effects of this natural substance. 

4. Ricin: With a natural sounding name like ricin it’s got to be good right? Wrong. Ricin is a protein toxin that comes from castor beans. Yeah, this is the same plant that gives us the beneficial castor oil. If you’re exposed to enough ricin, it’ll cause diarrhea and death.

Thankfully, man-made, synthetic purification processes can separate the good parts of the castor bean from the toxic ones. 

3. Alpha-Amanitin: This is a simple, natural, toxic peptide produced by a mushroom. If you happen to eat some alpha-amanitin laced mushrooms you’ll feel cramps & diarrhea within 24 hours. Left untreated your kidneys and liver will be damaged beyond repair and you will die. This little natural molecule is considered one of the deadliest compounds known.

Synthetic chemicals have nothing on this natural killer. 

2. Anthrax Toxin: This natural ingredient is one you’ve probably heard about. This toxin is a combination of three proteins produced by a bacterium (Bacillus anthracis). It most often kills domestic animals like sheep and cattle but it can kill humans too. And you only need to be exposed to it on your skin. Anthrax ultimately causes death by respiratory and cardiac failure.

And you thought protein was always good. 

1. Botulinum Toxin: No list of natural toxins would be complete on a cosmetic site without the mention of this neurotoxic protein. While deadly, this compound can be used in small doses to remove wrinkles. Botox treatments are all the rage and are one of the most popular & profitable forms of cosmetic surgery. If you ingest this toxin however, you can expect paralysis, blurred vision, vomiting, among other symptoms. Ultimately, this natural compound will lead to respiratory failure and death.

But in the hands of a good cosmetic surgeon, there’s not much to worry about. Yikes! 

So, the next time you hear someone droning on and on about how much better natural ingredients are than synthetics just remind them of these 10 All-Natural Nasties.

Natural does not = good.
Synthetic does not = bad.

You have to look at each compound on an individual basis to make a judgment about them. And as Botox demonstrates, there is a safe way to use “toxic” ingredients no matter where they come from.

Have we missed any natural toxins? Leave a comment and the Beauty Brains community know.

Pas71 is perplexed: How does oil free moisturizer work?

The Right Brain replies:
Pas’ question came to us as comment in our recent post on our post on Which Is A Better Moisturizer: Oil or Water? and we thought it would make an excellent follow-up post. 

Ordinary oil

According to Wikipedia, an oil is defined as follows:

An oil is a substance that is in a viscous liquid state (”oily”) at ambient temperatures or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic (immiscible with water) and lipophilic (miscible with other oils, literally). This general definition includes compound classes with otherwise unrelated chemical structures, properties, and uses, including vegetable oils, petrochemical oils, and volatile essential oils. Oil is a nonpolar substance.

Functionally speaking, oil moisturizes skin by forming a barrier that prevents water from evaporating. Typical oils used include mineral oil, and various animal and vegetable derived oils like olive oil, coconut oil, and even shark liver oil and emu oil. These materials all fit the above definition because they are long chain hydrocarbons that are liquid at room temperature, they don’t mix with water and they do mix with other oils. 

Anti-oil

So what about oil-free products? For an example, lets look at the ingredients in Neutrogena Oil Free Moisture:

Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Isodecyl Laurate, Laurate, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Dimethicone, Trisiloxane, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Retinyl Palmitate, Disodium EDTA, Bisabolol, Acrylates/C10 30 Alkyl Acrylates, Sodium Hydroxide, Blue 1, Red 40, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Fragrance

You’ll notice that there no mention of any kind of oil - hence the product is “oil-free.” However, you will see ingredients with similar properties that are not technically oils. Hydrogenated polyisobutene, isodecyl laurate, dimethicone and trisiloxane function the same way as an oil - they occlude the skin to seal in moisture. But they aren’t defined as true oils because they don’t mix with other lipophilic materials. So, the product can claim to be oil free. That’s how oil free moisturizers work: they use non-oil ingredients to deliver the same benefit as oils. 

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Is this a scam? Not really. Some people are looking for formulas that do not contain specific ingredients, like mineral oil. Oil-free is one way to draw consumers attention to that. Other people feel that products containing oils are too heavy or greasy for their skin. Oil free formulations are intended to solve that problem. 


What do YOU think? Do you oil free is an important quality to look for in your beauty care products? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community. 

Jamie’s suspicious about squalane: My friend swears by pure squalane oil but I find it kind of suspicious. Supposedly it’s derived from olive oil or shark liver. It’s found in quite a few body products but what exactly does it do?

The Right Brain’s shark attack:

To answer your question about squalane we have to talk about squalene. No, that’s not a typo; the “e” versus the “a” makes a big difference.   

Why shark liver oil?

Our story begins with squalene, which is a naturally occurring oil that historically has been obtained from shark’s livers.  What’s so special about shark liver? Sharks belong to a class of fish that do not have a swim bladder to provide bouyancy, so they evolved bodies that contain a lot of light weight oils to reduce their body’s density. That’s why their livers are a rich source of squalene. 

Squalane versus squalene

Squalene has been a popular ingredient in skin moisturizers because it penetrates the skin quickly making it feel smooth and softer without leaving a greasy feeling. However, because of it’s chemical structure, squalene is turn rancid, which is not a good thing in X brand skin cream. So, cosmetic formulators, being the crafty chemists that we are, figured out that if we add a couple of hydrogen atoms to the double bonds in squalene we can create a more stable form that still have beneficial properties.  This chemically modified version of squalene is called squalane (the “e” is for “excellent” stability. Actually that’s totally made up, but it does sound plausible, doesn’t it?) Anyway, in today’s cosmetics squalane is much more commonly used than squalene.

Where does squalane come from?  

Squalane can be made from the squalene that comes from sharks, but there has been pressure from animal rights and environmental groups to find other sources. Today, squalane is produced from a variety of plant sources including  including amaranth seed, rice bran, wheat germ, and olives.

References: 
http://portalmarket.com/shark.html

Mid Brain muses:

I saw the Beauty Banter blog wrote a short piece about 5 unconventional uses for Vaseline. She includes using it as a makeup remover, an eyebrow conditioner, a shaving aid and a mixer to modify your other makeups.

We’ve blogged about Vaseline before and these are some great tips. Now here are a few more you could try.

• Lip balm - It won’t taste good but it works.
• Perfume extender - A thin layer on your wrist before putting on your fragrance will make it last longer.
• Manicure protector - Stop your color from running by putting some on the base of your nails.
• Hair styler/conditioner - You can temporarily seal split ends, slick hair and even condition. Just don’t use too much. It may take a few shampooings to remove.
• Prevent chafing - Runners know this trick. Apply some in the susceptible areas before you go out.
• Cover scratches in wood - Dab some on scratches on wood floors or furniture and buff. Light scratches will be camouflaged.
• Shine shoes - Dab and buff. This works but they will also get duller faster than using regular shoe polish.
• Stop squeaks. Noisy doors, cabinets, bikes, etc. can all be silenced with a strategically placed dab of the stuff.
• Light bulb releaser - Just put a little around the thread of a new light bulb before screwing it in. This makes it much easier to remove when the light burns out.

Incidentally, the store brand petroleum jelly is not much different from the brand name, so you can save yourself some money. And of course you could always try the opposite of petroleum jelly - “Un Petroleum Jelly…”

Is there a more versatile product than petroleum jelly? Or a more vilified one? Leave a comment with your thoughts or tips.

Heather has a hunch: I’m fed up with paying even drugstore prices for make-up. I’m ready to put on one of those scary little Michael Jackson surgical masks,some latex gloves and an herb grinder and make my own face paint. As you can tell, I’m cheap. I spent all weekend trying to find the most ingredients for the least money. Mica pigments seem to be the one thing I need the most variety of, but I find that mica from art supply websites are much cheaper by the ounce than from a cosmetic supply site. Would they be just as safe to use?

The Right Brain replies:

You’ll need more than a scary Michael Jackson mask to protect you if you’re going to unsafe ingredients! Remember, other industries don’t have to adhere to the same safety standards as the cosmetic industry .

Safety first

For example, for cosmetic grade mica, the FDA limits the amount of trace heavy metals they may contain:

Lead (as Pb), not more than 20 parts per million.
Arsenic (as As), not more than 3 parts per million.
Mercury (as Hg), not more than 1 part per million.

Mica used in art supplies does NOT have to conform to these specifications. Therefore, you may be making cosmetics with unsafe levels of metals and you’d never know it.

Furthermore, on at least one occasion, the FDA has raised concerns that certain processes used to create mica pigments can lead to undesirable chemical residues. In such cases, the FDA instructed the manufacturers that their products were not safe for use in cosmetics. But there’s nothing to stop manufacturers from using these contaminated micas in arts and crafts products.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

We’re all about do it yourself cosmetics, but you’ve got to put safety first. Buying ingredients not approved for use in cosmetics just because they’re cheap is not a good approach. Being rich and beautiful doesn’t do you much good if you’re dead.

Do you like to make your own cosmetics? What steps do you take to ensure that the ingredients you’re using are safe to put on your body? Leave a comment and share your safety secrets with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.