If you’re like most people, you’re overwhelmed by the number of skin care products on the market. And, you’ve heard that the most expensive products are often least effective. So, should you opt, instead, for cheap skin care products? After all, they could be just as effective as the expensive ones and cost you far less, right?
1. Alcohols. Because it’s cheap and readily available, it’s commonly used as a preservative in body care products. It also shows up on product labels as ethanol, methanol, isopropyl, alcohol, benzyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol and SD alcohol. Most of us know it’s drying to your skin. But did you know it can also strip your skin’s natural acid mantle increasing the likelihood of viruses, bacteria and mold entering your body through your damaged skin?
2. Parabens. Another inexpensive preservative, you’ll know the cheap skin care product you’re buying contain them when you see this ingredient’s other names ethyl paraben, propyl, butyl, and methyl. These harmful chemicals are a cheap way for manufacturers to increase the shelf life of skin care and body moisturizing products. Yet, research shows they may be cancer-causing additives that increase skin rashes and allergic reactions to the products.
3. Mineral Oil. This inexpensive product is one of the most commonly found in hair and skin products. In fact, it’s the one most often found in cheap skin care products. If you seepetrolatum, paraffin wax or liquid paraffin on the label, you’re seeing mineral oil. But, this product clogs your pores and keeps your skin from breathing. This likely skin irritant can increase acne flare ups and keep your skin from eliminating toxins. Worse, over time, you skin may come to depend on your using it! A primary culprit in chapping and drying, the product can accelerate aging.
4. Fragrances. If you’re like me, you love fragrances and you buy products that have nice scents to them. But, you need to limit fragrances to colognes and perfumes you dab on certain areas of your body and avoid it in products you slather all over your face and body. Otherwise, you may be literally feeding your skin toxins that studies show can cause cancer.
5. Dioxane. Widely used in skin care products as 1,4-dioxane, this derivative of coconut oil is so toxic that the State of California, which has some of the most protective consumer laws in the country, warns that this chemical causes cancer. Do you really want to be paying to rub carcinogens into your skin?
So, you want to avoid cheap skin care products that don’t make your skin healthier and may actually harm it. You can determine how much (and how many) of these chemicals are in your products by reading labels with care. By law, at least in the US, labels are supposed to list ingredients in order of the concentration the more of these you see in the first five ingredients in a product, that more likely it’s a poor quality one that you don’t want to be using on your skin.
Instead, look for high-quality products without any of these ingredients. Remember, your skin is your largest organ so what you use on it is important. Rather than opt for cheap skin care products to save money, save your skin instead. Use only those that help repair damage to your skin, that are as natural as possible and that contain superior quality components in significant enough quantity to make a real difference. You get what you pay for and your skin may pay for what you get if you don’t invest in top quality skin care products.