05/02/2020
Petrolatum / paraffin wax / soft paraffin / petroleum jelly
The chemical petrolatum (also termed paraffin wax, soft paraffin, or petroleum jelly) is common in so many cosmetic products like lip balm, moisturisers and nappy and skin rash cream.
This ingredient not great in cosmetics for 2 reasons.
Firstly, is functionality.
So, petroleum jelly has a melting point that is close to that of skin temperature, so when you put it on your skin it obviously starts to melt.
Once it’s there, it evaporates rapidly in the early stages then its evaporation rate slows down (its evaporation rate is logarithmic).
So, you will feel immediate relief, but because it dries up quick and during that drying up time it has prevented any moisture from getting in to your skin, it’s not going to help the underlying problem. You just keep wanting more.
The 2nd point is that petrolatum is made by refining crude petroleum. And if any part of the refining process was incomplete, then PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) can enter the final product.
Some PAHs are classified as carcinogenic because of how they can disrupt cell cycling and DNA repair. Even short-term exposure to PAHs can cause skin irritation and inflammation.
In the EU, petrolatum is permitted in cosmetics only if its full refining history is proven to be non-carcinogenic.
But with Brexit we are unsure how that law will unfold in the UK. For instance, in the USA, the FDA does not impose any purity criteria for petrolatum’s refining history.
What we can be sure of – no matter the country, is that none of Arbonne’s products will contain petrolatum, because it is one of its top 20 banned ingredients.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S102194981930016X
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jdv.15946
paraffin
