Can Skin Care Products Cause Health Problems?
Assessing the impact of skincare products on your overall health.
The skin care market was valued at $146.7 billion towards the end of 2021, with the numbers continuing to rise in recent years. More people are conscious about caring for their skin, which is definitely the best thing to come out of the hype. But with all the waves and noise made in the scene lately, you can’t help but take a step back and assess.
Skin care is essential, and so is knowing exactly what you’re using.
You never know which ingredients in the serum you’re slathering on might break you out, burn your skin, or do something worse. The side effects may go beyond just your skin and affect your overall health.
So the question has to be asked, can skin care products cause health problems? Let’s find out!
Can Skin Care Products Cause Health Problems?
The simple, no-nonsense answer to this question is yes, skin care products can cause health problems. We’ll elaborate.
Before you run off reading just the excerpt above, wait up, we’ve got more to say. Skin care products are generally safe to use and have absolutely no impact on your health, unless there’s something in their ingredients or formulations that’s tipping you off.
So what could happen if you’re encountering an issue with your skin care product? We’ll discuss a few of them below.
1. Allergic Reactions
This is a common one. You can be allergic to something present in the product, maybe it’s an active or derived ingredient. Usually it could be redness, itching, swelling, or breaking out in hives. More serious reactions range from headaches, body aches, convulsions, and even paralysis.
Let’s focus on a trending ingredient at the moment, snail mucin, which has taken the skin care scene by storm. While it has its numerous benefits, snail mucin can be extremely irritating for those with dust or mite allergies.
2. Skin Irritation
Harsh chemicals or excessive or continuous use of certain chemicals or ingredients (like acids or retinoids) can cause mild to severe irritation. This can be dryness on the skin, redness, peeling, or burning.
Shedding light on yet another hyped product, hypochlorous acid spray for skin, is a revitalizing mist, that claims to improve all sorts of skin imbalances. It helps fight off bacteria, viruses, and even funguses, while also helping clear clogged pores, acne, and bumps.
But if you have pre-existing allergies or sensitivities, you might experience irritation or burns on the skin. Therefore, it’s recommended to find out the actual cause of your skin condition before remedying it with acid-based solutions.
3. Hormonal Problems
This is quite a serious problem skin care products can cause. Some skin care products might disrupt normal hormonal balance and functions. Particularly parabens, phthalates, and oxybenzone are chemicals studied for causing disruptions in the endocrine system. Products like moisturizers, sun protection, body lotions, and shampoos usually contain such chemicals.
So the next time you buy a new hyped sunscreen or moisturizer, check their list of ingredients to see if they’re paraben or phthalate-free.
4. Contact Dermatitis
Your skin care product’s fragrance, preservatives, or actives might cause contact dermatitis. Symptoms can be itching, redness, swelling, peeling, or inflamed patches of skin on the face or body.
Contact dermatitis can also happen if you use too much of a certain product or contaminate it with dirty hands or other potent ingredients from other chemically strong products.
5. Photosensitivity
This happens when a skin care product reacts with the sunlight, causing sunburn or irritation. Some of the most common and popular ingredients are prone to photosensitivity, AHAs, and BHAs. Using these can increase your sensitivity to the sun’s harmful rays and really worsen your skin’s health.
AHAs and BHAs exposure to sunlight can lead to increased pigmentation and long term damage to the skin barrier, which can be hard to repair.
6. Contamination
While we’ve mentioned it briefly above, contamination can be a bigger problem than expected. Not only can you contaminate with dirty hands or other skin care products, but bacteria and mold can also contaminate your skin care products and completely ruin their efficiency.
When your products are contaminated, you risk your skin and eyes to nasty infections, and even strep throat, toxic shock, and thrush, among other terrible diseases. Bet you never expected those!
7. Skin Sensitizing
Speaking of things you never expected to hear, did you know you could sensitize and, basically, make your skin more prone to infections and irritations by using the wrong skin care products?
We understand the commitment to skincare, but if those products are not working out and you continue to use them thinking the rashes or bumps are “purging”, you’re making your skin more vulnerable over time. The prolonged use of irritating products will thin out your skin barrier, causing it to break out or be inflamed by even the slightest drop of non-irritating stuff.
How To Get Skin Care To Actually Care For Your Skin?
Now we’re cooking! To make sure your skin care products are doing their job to make your skin look and feel fabulous, you need to follow these steps below, almost religiously.
Oh by the way, these will also prevent your products from causing overall health problems.
- Seeing a licensed and board certified dermatologist is going to be your best bet when it comes to doing your skin care the right way. Their extensive screening and tests will determine the products for your skin type and issues, and you can rest assured your skin will thrive!
- RESEARCH. RESEARCH. RESEARCH. Even when you’ve consulted the derm! There are innumerable amounts of misinformation out there today. Thankfully, there are just as many reliable sources that will help you find what’s the right ingredients for your skin.
- Use high-quality products. Your skin care should be an uncompromisable area for you. Even if you’re shelling out a few extra bucks, buy from reputable, highly reviewed, and top-quality brands.
- Wash your hands before doing skin care. Whether you have a 5-step, 10-step, or 20-step skincare routine, wash your hands before applying each product, and your skin will thank you!
- A healthy gut, a consistent routine, and a positive mindset are the trifecta behind sporting glowing skin. So ensure you’re paying attention to those and not just what products to use.
Conclusion
We hope this guide was insightful and informative enough for you to really start taking a second look at your skincare products. We live in a world crawling with misinformation and hype-trains, and sometimes, those can negatively impact your skin health.
So make sure you’re doing yourself, your skin, and your health a favor by reevaluating your choices.
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