Like moisturizer, toothpaste and deodorant, shower gels are bathroom staples. They give us a feeling of cleanliness and freshness in the shower. But choosing the right shower gel isn't always easy. It's important to pay particular attention to their composition. Some shower gels may contain allergenic ingredients and can be irritating. Let's take a look at the ingredients to avoid in order to choose safe body washes.
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Body Wash Ingredients to Be Avoided.
Summary
- Choosing Your Body Wash: Carefully Read the List of Ingredients
- Problematic and Controversial Substances to Avoid in a Shower Gel
Published February 29, 2024,
by
Stéphanie, Doctorate in Life and Health Sciences
—
5 min read
Choosing Your Body Wash: Carefully Read the List of Ingredients.
Directly visible on the packaging, the INCI list enumerates the components present in a cosmetic product, classified in order of quantitative presence, providing greater transparency for the consumer as well as better identification of problematic body wash ingredients. The first 5 to 8 ingredients on the INCI list constitute the majority of the product.
Shower gels are generally made up of around 70% water (INCI: “Aqua”), followed by around 20% surfactants, which form the product's washing base, and the remainder of ancillary ingredients (pH adjusters, preservatives, gelling agents, etc.). However, for shower gels, the most important thing is to choose the right cleansing base. The surfactants chosen can be either irritating/allergenic and problematic for the environment or health, or very mild and well tolerated by all skin types.
Problematic and Controversial Substances to Avoid in a Shower Gel.
A shower gel is a cleansing product used daily to remove dirt from the skin's surface. However, to fulfill this role, some shower gels can be irritating and allergenic to the point of drying out the skin. Indeed, some body washes may contain additives that can be aggressive and sensitizing to the epidermis, especially if you have sensitive skin. In order to choose safe body washes, avoid the following ingredients, depending on the category:
Antibacterial preservatives: Some preservatives can be particularly irritating and allergenic, or even harmful to health. However, they are essential in the composition to preserve the quality of the shower gel and guarantee consumer safety by inhibiting the proliferation of microorganisms (composed of around 70% water). These include phenoxyethanol, considered to be harmful to health, and even more so to children, as it is suspected of being an endocrine disruptor, paraben derivatives recognizable by the suffix -paraben at the end of the name (e.g., : “Propylparaben”, “Butylparaben”, “Isopropylparaben”, etc.), and methylparaben, which can be found in many of our products or methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone for their high allergenic potential, to the extent that even their maximum concentration in cosmetic products has been lowered.
pH regulators: These components are used to stabilize the pH of cosmetics. Some problematic substances include alkalonamines such as “Triethanolamine” (TEA), which may form nitrosamines known to be carcinogenic in the presence of nitrite, or “Monoethanolamine” (MEA), presented as a potential allergen.
Surfactants: This category of body wash ingredients often appears at the top of the INCI list for cleansing products such as shower gels. In fact, these substances are foaming agents which are necessary to loosen dirt and facilitate its removal by trapping it. The best-known and most commonly used are sulfates, which come under various names such as “Sodium Lauryl Sulfate”, “Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate”, “Sodium Laureth Sulfate” and so on. Known to be irritating, they destroy the skin's hydrolipidic barrier, stripping it of its natural oils. Shower gels containing sulfates are therefore not recommended for those with sensitive skin.
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