ALLERGIC REACTIONS TO COCMETICS.
When you consider that there are over 100,000 differently formulated cosmetics, using several thousand ingredients, it is surprising not that some people develop allergies or sensitivities to one or more of them, but that so few of us do. The processes by which cosmetics are made are so carefully controlled and the ingredients so scrupulously screened, that most of us can put anything we choose on to our skins with absolute confidence and in perfect safety. Even so there is always a chance of reacting adversely to a product at some time in our lives and it may quite possibly be one, which we have been using happily for months or even years. With very few exceptions, once you have an allergy you will always have it. The only way of avoiding a reaction is to take appropriate evasive action, either by avoiding the type or types of cosmetics likely to contain the allergen or by going for cosmetic range that you know excludes the offending ingredient.
Sensitivities to cosmetics are much more common and often more puzzling than allergies, as they tend to be produced in response to a group of substances rather than to one particular component. You may, for example, develop sensitivity to perfumes in general rather than to geranium in particular. Because of this, sensitivities tend to be much harder to isolate and you may therefore, find it more useful to adopt the general strategy detailed below than to try to detect the precise culprit. you frequently have dry, red, itchy patches on your face, neck and body, you are likely to be what is known as generally sensitivity-prone. For this cause lanolin is an oil taken from the sebum of the sheep and used in a wide range of cosmetics, baby oils, moisturizers, night creams, nail varnish removes and some soaps and shampoos. ‘Super fatted’ or ‘moisturizing’ are the words to watch out for. Look for creams containing petrolatum instead. An allergy to lanolin can produce a dramatic reaction- a dry, scaly rash often accompanied by severe inflammation.
Vegetable oils and mineral oils (linseed oil, olive oil, sesame oil, cocoa butter, petrolatum, oleic acid and butyl stearate in particular) are less likely to cause an allergic reaction but have been implicated in intermittent breakouts of small pimples known as acne cosmetica. Perfume is a common sensitizers in cosmetics and even though they are incorporated into cosmetics at a fraction of the concentration used in pure perfumes, may produce irritant reactions.
