I was stunned as I read this month's Allure and found a plug from dermatologist Doris Day for propylene glycol (page 69). She remarked that it's a good humectant for sensitive skin.Propylene glycol is a humectant. It makes the skin feel moist and soft, and it keeps your products from drying out. It's also a carrier in fragrance oils, a solvent, a de-icer used on airplanes, and an anti-freeze. It's ubiquitous. It's used in so many beauty products (cosmetics, skin care, toothpaste, deodorant, and more), you'll be amazed if you start reading labels. Unfortunately, it's bad for the environment (it depletes oxygen in surface water), and it can cause contact dermatitis when used in concentrations over 2% (and for some skin, even lower concentrations). The findings on the effects of propylene glycol have been published in respected medical journals.
The Material Safety Data Sheet for propylene glycol says it may be harmful by ingestion or skin absorption. Remember, that's at a very high concentration. Chronic exposure may cause gastrointestinal disturbances, nausea, headache, and vomiting, along with central nervous system depression. If you get it on your skin, wash with soap and water - the very premise of Dr. Day's recommendation for cleansers! Granted, full-strength, industrial propylene glycol isn't in your beauty products, but what strength is OK for daily application to your skin? We don't know.
I disagree with Paula Begoun, self-described Cosmetics Cop, on most of her product reviews. In her Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary, she describes propylene glycol as harmless. Could that be because she uses propylene glycol in her products?
Why do so many beauty companies use it? It's cheap. Plain and simple - it's cheap. It's legal too. Many companies prefer to use it over better, but more expensive humectants, and they count on having uninformed customers. Chances are good that you've been using products containing propylene glycol for years. That doesn't necessarily make them good for you.
I read labels. When a product has a high concentration of propylene glycol (near the top of the ingredient list), I skip it and select something else. Remember, you can still buy cigarettes, but that doesn't make them good for you.
Photo courtesy of Dow, which believes that propylene glycol is non-irritating to skin and harmless to aquatic life. They sell it.
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7 comments:
Thanks for this - - now I have another thing to watch for on labels!
Thanks, Leigh. Read labels carefully (as you know), and you will find all kinds of things to avoid.
I was asked to review a moisturizer from a company I like. I saw propylene glycol as its third ingredient. When I asked, I learned that it was included at 4%. I didn't feel I could recommend it.
That doesn't mean I don't use products with PG. I do try to avoid them, particularly in high concentrations.
I often wonder how many chemicals we apply topically, or ingest into our systems daily. Put all of them together, and you probably have a cancer cocktail. We DO have to be better educated consumers! Thanks!!
Thanks very much for this info - and for teaching me to read the fine print on cosmetic labelling, instead of just the product's claims. Keep up the valuable ivestigating!
Hi Val and Bari,
We do need to keep reading! I don't want to overreact, but I do want to avoid chemicals I can. There is no need to use PG as a humectant when we have much better choices.
As for what we ingest, I keep hoping to avoid salmonella! A friend of mine got it years ago, and she was hospitalized for a week!
Oh no! That's another thing that seems to be in the news more often. I live in MN and we threw out our eggs when the scare was on because they came from one of the Iowa farms.
Oh, I would have thrown those eggs out too. Salmonella is nasty!
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