I recently bought a night cream by Burt’s Bees. It contains tocopherol, tocopheryl acetate, both of which are assessed as harmful by a website called Skin Deep. They gave it a rating of 6.0 out of 10, with ten being the most harmful.
Makes me wonder, if even natural products are unsafe, then what can we safely use?
Edit: Sorry, I just realized my mistake. Tocopheryl acetate is vitamin E. Wonder why they would classify that as harmful unless it has impurities?
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
Why would something be safe just because it is natural? There are plenty of naturally occuring substances that can kill a human being.
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
Yes but natural / organic products by companies like Alba, Burt's Bees etc are touted as being good for your skin / hair and harm-free, as opposed to those that contain SLS and other chemical ingredients.
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
Thats because 'natural' is a word associated with Good health by the average person and is now overused by companies to make their products sound like they are good for you.
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
Sarah its ittle off topic... i just brought a night cream by Dove..actually its their new line...so far i am really liking it. They have two kinds of night creams...one for young skin and another for older skin....i feel its better than those expensive creams out there.
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
Agree with maniac and Mad Scientist.
Nature contains things that can be both good and bad for you, lots of conventional medication sis made from poisonous stuff.
for example Deadly nightshade is a killer but is used for backache .
if you want something totally safe for your skin...use water...but only the distilled type.
I think i will add a little story now,
in the late 1980's a little company in the uk advertised a skin cream made of ONLY NATURAL ingredients which would make your skin smooth as... as a baby's bottom.
get rid of all wrinkles.
it advertised in national newspapers like the daily mail and cost £20 which was reasonably high at that time.
So poepl ordered it and used it and were absolutely amazed by it.
it got rid of all the wrikles and fine lines on their face and it moisturised their skin...the people who used it were amazed.
after a few months they started to notice that the skin their ankles, upper thighs and bottoms, and wrists had become thicker, harder and overlapped and wrinkly.
after complaining to the relevant authorities and the cream was investigated it was found that the cream consisted of
a cheap water based cream (the kind prescibed to babies if they have dry skin)
mixed with
Rhino saliva.
this was given to the company by london zoo (they didnt know what it was used for ...just that somebody was taking rhinos waste bodily fluid from them) rhinos naturally drool and so the zoo used to put out dusbin lids and the rhinos would stand over them and the saliva would be collected by the staff for disposal.
the people who made the cream stated that ladies who lived in certain tribes in africa would go to the places that rhinos inhabited, find the saliva nad just rub over their faces to make their faces smooth.
anyway the ladies in england that used the cream found that their faces had become smooth like rhino faces, but the places the rhino has wrinkly hard skin, ie ankles and bottom etc were where they had become wrinkly.
they were NOT happy bunnies.
Incidently the cream was called Dorian cream.
It has been taken off the market now.
So you are safe!
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
i love burt bee's chap stick!!
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
Vitamin E should not be used at levels greater then 400 micro units.. that's it's Safe upper Limit..don't forget natural stuff also interacts with other things..just like any synthetic product would..
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
aaaagggghhhhh!! I'm looking at the web site now. Holy frigging crap!
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
I used to purposely take double the RDA of evening primrose oil because I was getting good results from it so figured that taking extra would be even better with the logic that it couldn't do me any harm seeing as it's a natural product.
I found out later that taking high doses of EPO can actually cause breakouts of spots, which is silly considering I was taking it keep my skin clear in the first place.
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
yup i agree with Zakk ......for those taking Vitamin E daily ...do not over exceed the RDA....i read it somewhere recently that it might lead to block arteries....people do not pay attention to it since they think its something natural they taking and it should always be good for you.
Re: Even natural isn't safe?
I took evening primrose oil supplements as well, for about a year and took slightly more than they recommended. The stuff that it's good for, EFA and GLA, is in borage oil as well and in higher amounts but borage oil is kinda harmful I think. Those things are also in black seed oil, so why not take that Shahreen? It's the one mentioned in hadith as the cure for all ills except death. At one point I used to put the oil in warm milk with honey and drink that. Should start doing that again.
