When it comes to cosmetic products it’s all chemistry to professor Alice Roberts, anatomist, author and presenter of several BBC documentary series, including “Coast” and “Food Detectives”.
Usually when you hear the word chemical, you think of something synthetic, cooked up in a laboratory, but ingredients extracted from plants and minerals are chemicals too.
“A natural ingredient is a chemical, and a synthetic one is also a chemical; it doesn’t mean that just because it’s natural that it is necessarily best for you,” Alice said.
For one company, its “natural” credentials might be used as its selling point, while for another its “scientifically engineered compounds” are touted as the best for your skin. Both approaches can be misleading and are a source of frustration for Alice.
“If you’re thinking about the interaction with the body, where a particular chemical comes from is not necessarily going to give you a good indication about whether it is good for you or not, you actually have to look at that interaction,” she said.
“Our bodies are built on chemistry; everything in us is chemistry.”
Look at the ingredients label on a typical moisturiser or shampoo and there will likely be a list of unintelligible chemical names, which most of us won’t have a clue what they are. But there’s a growing interest among consumers, and safety concerns about certain ones have been raised in recent years.
SLS and parabens, for example, while considered safe by the EU, have been cited as possible hormone disrupters and irritants. As a result, you might have spotted SLS-free or paraben-free labels on some of your favourite products.
Because of strict UK and EU regulations that govern what can go into our food and cosmetic products, and extensive safety testing, Alice thinks consumers should not be overly worried.
But, without mentioning any ingredients in particular, she does suggest, “It is a question of keeping an eye on the research and seeing whether those things do turn out to be bad for us or not. We see changes in the regulations all the time as new research is done, looking in detail at particular compounds.
“If there is concern about a particular compound, you can always apply the precautionary principle and avoid them, but you have to be careful you don’t get paranoid about it.”
Ethics and The Environment
When it comes to buying both everyday and luxury cosmetic products for herself, Alice says ethics plays a big role in her choices.
“If you’re buying something like that, it is really important to know it is ethical and you’re buying something that feels luxurious and is lovely for you, but you’re doing it with concern for the environment and with concern for all the people who’ve been involved in it as well,” she said.
