The Chemistry Behind Cosmetics Helena Garrood TEDxFrancisHollandSchoolSloaneSquare

The word chemicals probably evokes something scary or sinister. Perhaps something dangerous, even with skull and crossbones in front of it. The phrases artificial or chock-full of chemicals are used to imply something is dangerous or bad for us, or as anything free from chemicals or organic must be better or safer. However, everyone is aware that at its fundamental level, everything is chemical. So, nothing can ever truly be free from chemicals. In recent years, there's been massive rise in the term clean beauty, where products are labeled as natural, organic, or clean. But even these products are deeply rooted in chemistry in order to work. So, today, will be explaining the chemical processes behind some of our cosmetic products, debunking myths surrounding certain ingredients, and highlighting some of the issues with the clean beauty movement, as companies perpetuate fear in order to sell product. Cosmetic products are designed to cleanse, change, or protect some aspect of your external appearance. The key ingredients include water, emulsifiers, preservatives, emollients, color, and fragrance. Any potential impact on our health comes from the chemical compounds within these ingredients. But these doses are almost always too small to any adverse effect. If your product comes in bottle, chances are the first thing on the ingredient list will be water. This is because water is solvent and thus forms the basis of most cosmetic products. Then, an emulsifier is needed because most cosmetic products are also made from emulsions, which is when small droplets of oil are suspended in water or small droplets of water suspended in oil. Oil and water don't mix, so an emulsifier is needed in order to change surface tension and create well-mixed and even texture. Preservatives are then added to prevent the growth of microorganisms like fungi or bacteria, which could potentially harm the user. Common examples you might see are benzyl alcohol, parabens, or salicylic acid. Thickening agents work to give an appealing consistency, and then emollients moisturize the skin by prevent moisture loss. common example of emollients at work is in lip balms. So, petroleum jelly, lanolin, and beeswax are all common examples. Cosmetics can be quite complex mix of chemicals, but the way that they work is advantageous and ingenious. Soap is made and works through process called saponification. This is when oil containing fatty acids are mixed with sodium hydroxide lye. Lye is pretty dangerous by itself. It reacts vigorously with water, but in this instance, it breaks down the fatty acids into fatty acid salts and glycerin. Fatty acid salts have hydrophilic head and lipophilic tail. This means when you wash your hands, the lipophilic tail will cling to the dirt and oil on your hands, whilst the hydrophilic head will cling to the water, thus washing the dirt and oil away. In recent years, there's been rise in the term clean beauty. You may be familiar with celebrity clean beauty brands like those of Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, or Millie Bobby Brown. The issue is that clean beauty is not set scientific definition, so it has no regulation or legislation surrounding it. However, Dr. Anjali Mahto, who's consultant dermatologist, describes it as products that are labeled clean, organic, or natural and don't contain synthetic parabens. However, the labeling labeling of certain products as clean or non-toxic implies by definition that other products are dirty or toxic. The UK has really strict regulatory limits about which chemicals and which concentrations are allowed within cosmetic products. Aggregate exposure at maximal consumer usage is taken into account. The baseline is that unsafe chemicals are illegal to use in cosmetic products. Naturally though, the term clean beauty is very appealing. We all want the products we use on our bodies every day to be as clean, safe, and sustainable as possible. Clean beauty and wellness generally go hand in hand, but unfortunately, some clean beauty brands exploit lack of consumer knowledge and understanding. I'm not going to complain about social media too much, but celebrities who advertise the fact that they use clean beauty and brand endorsements mean that people with really good intentions can end up spreading misinformation. Free from is fear-mongering term you may have heard. Products are labeled as free from common ingredients, and these ingredients are not only deemed to be inefficient or mildly irritating, but genuinely harmful to our health. The prevailing misconception is that the chemical compounds are absorbed through your skin and into your bloodstream. However, this doesn't really happen, as the skin is barrier, and the small traces of chemicals that are absorbed will be metabolized and excreted. Some brands place particular emphasis on the fact that they don't use aluminum within their deodorants, citing studies linking aluminum to Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer. However, these studies have since been discredited and aren't accepted within the medical community. If chemical sounds intimidating, instead of looking at the wider body of evidence, companies will seek out outdated, unreplicated studies that support their agenda. These often have small sample sizes, poor methodology, or don't use the chemical in way that is relevant to cosmetics. Whereas natural products are assumed to be safe, no matter the relevant safety data. In addition, ingredient lists can be examined and criticized for containing potentially harmful ingredients. But ingredient lists are far more complicated than we may at first realize. We cannot tell from an ingredient list how different ingredients will interact and react with each other, and each ingredient is researched and tested and selected by cosmetic scientist, and can ensure you assure you that cosmetic brands don't want to harm you. Another common misconception is that clean beauty brands will be more sustainable or eco environmentally friendly. But unfortunately, being clean doesn't tell us anything about product's safety or sustainability. An easy example here is rose essential oil. To produce 1 lb of this oil, you need 10,000 lbs of plant material. This is huge amount of land, and agriculture is the biggest driver in biodiversity loss. Also, to create this amount of land for farming, deforestation is needed, which results in high CO2 emissions. Organically farmed peas in Sweden have 50% higher climate impact than normally farmed peas. It's not that the clean or organic option is never the eco-friendly one, it's just complex and depends on lot of different factors. When producing some of these chemicals, the synthetic the synthetic method can sometimes be more sustainable than the natural one. In the production of menthol, the synthetic method actually results in lower greenhouse gas gas emission. So, the Symrise synthetic method produces 8 kilos of CO2 per kilo of yield, whereas the natural method produces 50 to 100 kilos. Ultimately though, when it's talking about sustainability, it's case-by-case basis. Striving to be more sustainable is something know we are all passionate about, but we should inform our decisions with evidence instead of making assumptions. However, the easiest way to be more sustainable when it comes to cosmetics is simply to buy less and use all that you buy. However, it would be remiss of me to suggest that all clean beauty brands are bad, or that every chemical is safe or good to use for each person. People with curly hair often find that using shampoos without sodium laureth sulfate results in better moisture and curl definition. Or people with allergies find products that are clearly labeled as free from common ingredients really useful, because it advertises to them which products are safe for them to use or not. Other clean beauty brands have really strict ingredient sourcing and manufacturing processes in order to be sustainable, campaign against animal testing, and try and prevent the spread of misinformation. At the end of the day, it is completely up to you about which cosmetic products you buy and use. The cosmetics industry is multi-billion pound industry, so remember there's going to be huge amount of marketing to try and convince you to buy one product over the other. This is why it's worth knowing the basics behind the chemistry of your cosmetic products. After all, knowledge is power.