Pass on Petrolatum

Considered a “possible human carcinogen” by the EPA, petroleum is found in American-made personal care products under the name “liquid paraffin,” and is banned in Europe for use in these products. Petroleum—and its derivatives petrolatum, mineral oil and paraffin—is the old-school go-to for an ingredient that softens skin; unfortunately, it’s also derived from fossil fuels. Why worry about the fuel consumption of your car only to turn around and slap the stuff on your skin? In that light, fair trade made products that depend on natural ingredients like shea butter and argan oil for skin softening are a much better bet.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2014 at 9:25 am. It is filed under Sustainability and tagged with beauty, paraffin, personal care, petrolatum, petroleum, skin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.