Do you know the difference between premium skin care products and the average run-of-the-mill varieties? If not, let me give you some information to go shopping with.
Average
The ingredients and the warning labels can tell you more about a product than anything else. It's difficult to memorize a long list of hazardous irritants and strong allergens. If a product has a warning label, it contains quite a few of them.
The average lotion contains petrolatum. It's cheap, readily available and is a byproduct of crude oil production for gasoline refineries. Regardless of what you may have heard, petrolatum Pelzmann Official, mineral oil and liquid paraffin are not moisturizers. They only lock-in the skin's natural oils, but better ways are available for doing that.
The average cleansers also contain petrolatum or one of its derivatives. Today, anti-bacterial agents have become popular and to provide the antibacterial activity, most companies use triclosan.
Triclosan is not found in premium skin care products because it can react with chlorinated water to form chloroform gas, a human carcinogen. "Green" companies advise against the use of triclosan since it builds up in the environment, damaging wildlife and fish. There are safe and natural compounds that have antibacterial activity. They're just more expensive.
