If you’ve had an allergic reaction to anti aging products you are justified in looking for hypoallergenic skin care products, but how?

If you’re looking for hypoallergenic skin care products and anti aging products and non comedogenic skin care and anti aging products then you need to know a little about the traps that befall those who are searching for an allergy and acne free solution.

Many people search for products such as hypoallergenic moisturizers, hypoallergenic fragrances and other hypoallergenic creams as well as non-comedogenic moisturizers not quite understanding that what they want may not be what they get.

First of all lets look at some definitions. Lets begin with a hypoallergenic definition. If you look at dictionaries you will find hypoallergenic defined as something like this - “designed to reduce or minimize the possibility of an allergic response, as by containing relatively few or no potentially irritating substances”.

In other words someone searching for a hypoallergenic skin care product is searching for a product that will not create an allergic reaction, (a common problem with mainstream anti aging products).

This is usually because these people have already had an allergic reaction to anti aging skin care products in the past. This is relatively common and is one of the reasons for this website. We seek to expose the range of chemical and petrochemical ingredients in modern anti aging products, to direct you to safer and more effective alternatives, and to explain why so many people have such things as allergic reactions to anti ageing skin products that shouldn’t produce allergic reactions.

Now let’s have a look at a definition of non comedogenic. This can be defined as “not tending to clog pores”. Again one of the reasons why people search for non comedogenic is because so many skin care and anti aging products contain petrochemical ingredients such as mineral oil which clogs the pores and can lead to acne.

Now let’s look at some of the traps for people looking for hypoallergenic skin care products and non comedogenic skin care products and anti aging products.

Hypoallergenic Skin Care Products.

For anyone with sensitive skin who may have had an allergic reaction to mainstream anti aging products the idea of products such as hypoallergenic moisturizers and hypoallergenic lotions is an attractive one. However it is unlikely that products which claim to be hypoallergenic are accurately labelled. There is no medical definition of hypoallergenic and the FDA tells us that “there are no federal standards or definitions that govern the use of the term ‘hypoallergenic’.

In other words if a manufacturer wants to use the term “hypoallergenic skin care products” it can do so and this claim is not tested anywhere and there is no requirement that they prove that the products are hypoallergenic or not.

There are many hypoallergenic moisturizers and many other hypoallergenic skin care products available which contain chemical ingredients which can produce allergies and a range of other health problems. But because the use of the term hypoallergenic is not policed these claims can continue to be made on the labels despite the fact that they may be patently incorrect.

Non Comedogenic Skin Care Products.

And exactly the same applies to the term non-comedogenic. There is no official definition of what this means and there is no list of any ingredients which are considered to be non comedogenic. Any company can claim that its products are non comedogenic and no one knows whether this is accurate or not.

This is a little scary for consumers who quite reasonably expect that anti aging products should be correctly labeled, and shouldn’t contain ingredients that can clog pores or cause allergies if the label says they don’t. However this is not the case.

Therefore the obvious question is that if you are worried about an allergic reaction to anti aging products, particularly because you have already had such a reaction in the past, or do you do? And similarly if you’re worried about acne and have had anti aging products exacerbate your acne what do you do about that?

Obviously you can’t trust the labels. Any company can put anything they like on the label and you have no idea whether it is accurately labeled or not.

What you need to do is to find a company that manufactures top quality anti aging skin products that demonstrates its commitment to the quality of the product, including its commitment to using only known safe ingredients that do not produce allergic reactions or clog pores. You need to find a company with as powerful a commitment to product safety as well as to product quality.

This isn’t easy. However we are here to suggest to you that there ARE companies like this around that make excellent, high quality and safe anti aging products and they demonstrate their commitment to the safety and efficacy of their products in a way that should be comforting.

Our favorite amongst these companies is Xtend Life. They have a powerful commitment to using only natural, known safe ingredients and have an equally powerful commitment to making only highly effective anti aging products.

They do not label any of their products as hypoallergenic skin care products or as non comedogenic skin care products. However the products that they produce, which they call natural skin care products, are both hypoallergenic and non comedogenic.

How do we know this? There’s a range of reasons. First of all they have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics which publicly evidences their intention to produce safe anti aging products. This is a compact which can be found on the website of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, an organization dedicated to exposing the problems of the anti aging skin care industry, including chemical ingredients. Skin care manufacturers can sign this compact committing themselves to using only known safe ingredients in their anti aging products. Xtend Life have signed the compact unlike any of the major brands.

Secondly is their stated belief that the safety of their products should come before any other consideration. When briefing the formulation of their natural skin care range they demanded of their formulation team that they use only ingredients that were “safe enough to eat”. This is evidenced on their website.

Thirdly they commit to only using ingredients over which they have total control. They do not buy products or ingredients from wholesalers but manufacture everything themselves in their own manufacturing plant to ensure total control over product quality.

Fourth is their skin care philosophy. Rather than quote it in full we shall direct you to the page of their website where you may read it for yourself. Read the Xtend Life skin care product philosophy.

So if you’ve had a nasty reaction to the chemicals and petrochemical ingredients used in so many big name anti aging skin care products there is good reason for you to be looking for hypoallergenic skin care and anti aging products. You just don’t know what to believe when you read the labels. Read the rest of this entry

Why should even the best anti aging products be avoided, (and what alternatives are there)?

There’s so many anti aging products around, it’s very difficult to choose between them. So many people search for the best anti aging products not understanding that so many skin care products on the market contain ingredients that should be avoided.

The advertising is seductive. Gorgeous models, wonderful scenery and beautiful music. Those creams and moisturizers just have to be good.

But the first thing to consider when looking for the best anti aging products is not how well they work, but how safe they are.

Safe? What has safety got to do with the best anti ageing products? Well actually quite a lot because so many of the big name skin care brands that you see on the market today contain ingredients which are potentially harmful to your health and to your skin.

We have focused on some of these ingredients in such products as anti aging creams and anti aging moisturizers and you can see these stories listed on the right. Today we want to talk about Propylene Glycol.

Propylene Glycol is found in a wide range of anti aging products. If you search at the Cosmetic Safety Database you will see that it is listed as being an ingredient in 945 moisturizers, 1118 facial treatments, 546 facial cleansers and 690 general anti aging products.

Whether or not the advertising says it is the best anti aging product on the market if it contains Propylene Glycol then it should be avoided. Here’s why.

If you visit the page on Propylene Glycol at the Cosmetic Safety Database you’ll see that it is linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, allergies and immunotoxicity, irritation of the skin, eyes or lungs, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity as well as some other worries of slightly lesser concern including neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption and more.

Scary?

Maybe now you’re beginning to see why any anti ageing products, including those advertised as the best anti aging products on the market, should be avoided if they have Propylene Glycol as an ingredient.

And Propylene Glycol is only the beginning. You’ll see that we talk about many other dangerous ingredients in skin care products on this website.

Propylene Glycol is used in anti freeze. There might be some in your cars radiator right now. The EPA actually requires people who work with Propylene Glycol to wear protective gloves as well as goggles and protective clothing if they are working with it and it is likely to come into contact with their skin.

How in the world could a substance such as Propylene Glycol be used in so many personal products (and this includes many other cosmetics, bath products and deodorants) when there is even the slightest risk to your health?

The answer is simple. The big name skin care companies put it there because it’s cheap, and because they can. The FDA is not required to satisfy itself that any ingredient in skin care or anti aging products is safe for consumers to apply to their skin.

The skin care industry is self regulating. In other words the manufacturers decide what goes into their products. And we know from so many previous examples that big business doesn’t care all that much about the safety of their products as long as there is a profit to be made. Just look at the tobacco industry.

So if you’re a woman who is starting to notice the first signs of skin ageing then what do you do? The good news is that not all manufacturers of anti aging products such as anti aging creams and anti aging moisturizers are lacking in ethics. There are manufacturers with a powerful commitment to product safety and an equal commitment to product quality.

These manufacturers make the best anti aging products. These are generally small companies that seek to compete with the big players in a huge marketplace. They have an evidenced commitment to product safety, for example by signing the compact of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics demonstrating their commitment to using only known safe ingredients in their products.

One company in particular makes what we consider to be the worlds best anti aging products that are made from all natural ingredients known to be safe and which are particularly effective. When it started it’s product research it’s brief to it’s researchers was that they wanted products made from ingredients that are “safe enough to eat”.

One of the reasons the big players use so many of these chemical ingredients in their products is that they are extremely cheap. There are excellent natural ingredients sourced from plants which are well known to be highly effective at anti aging skin care. But they are invariably much more expensive.

This one small company chooses to make its products from these ingredients. The products are safe and highly effective. But of course the obvious conclusion is that they are way more expensive than the big name brands.

Under normal circumstances they would be however this company chooses to market it’s products with no marketing budget. They don’t advertise on TV, in the women’s magazines or anywhere that costs big time. Chances are you’ve never even heard of them.

For this reason the product is competitively priced, in fact very competitively priced, with the big brand names. This is because a large proportion of the cost of the big name anti ageing products is television advertising and magazine advertising. By removing this cost this small company can market it’s ultra high quality anti aging creams at a price that might surprise you.

So if you’re asking yourself what is the best anti aging product then remember, the most important consideration is the safety of the ingredients used in the product. Many of the big name products contain chemical ingredients you don’t want to be putting on your skin. Read the rest of this entry