Parabens in Acne Treatments

This post is about an unnerving topic in talk about acne and acne treatments. The topic is parabens, preservatives found in nearly all acne treatment products and other products that many have begun to believe are linked to cancer. Paraben-containing products have been banned from shelves of European markets. So, why haven’t we realized the risk yet?

While some will argue that parabens are safe, others note that parabens are oestrogenic, which means that they increase estrogen levels, similar to steroids, which everyone knows are bad for us. A cornell study on http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/research/endocrine/videos/makeup.cfm refers to them as “environmental estrogens” because of their ability to produce estrogen.

Despite these alarming warnings, parabens remain on the shelves. It’s amazing how many paraben-containing products their are and how many we unknowingly use. This can be very concerning when talking about acne treatments because of how frequently we use them. If you go to the supermarket to buy an OTC acne treatment, chances are that 9 out of 10 times you will buy a treatment that contains at least one paraben. The fact is…90% of all acne treatments contain parabens.

Imagine applying these paraben-containing products to your face twice daily, day, after day, after day. And this is on top of paraben formulated hair products, deo, shaving cream, lotions, ect.

It’s our responsibility to read the ingredients labels carefully rather than taking the risk and seeing what develops later on.

Please share your comments.

Gender and Acne?

A lot of facts are beginning to circulate around the net that connect gender to acne, so I thought I would address it here.

Some of the talk is centered around the differences of males and females and how that makes it necessary to have gender-specific treatments that account for differences in guys and gals such as skin thickness, hormones, sebacious glands, etc. 

The differences that are addressed are factual. It is true that a guy’s skin is 25% thicker than that of a girl. What this means for you guys out there, is that treatment has to be strong enough to penetrate 25% deeper. What this means for a girl, however, is that a treatment that could penetrate that deep for men could be harmful to a girl. You see the connection?

From what I understand, and from what many are beginning to understand is that there are enough differences in the acne of guys and girls to require a gender-specific treatment.

Some differences in Guys and Gals:

1. Guys’ skin is 25% thicker than a girl’s
2. Males contain more collagen than women
3. Guys have more DHT receptors on the sebacious gland (which produce sebum aka oil)
4. Different acidity levels

If anyone has some additional insight into this subject, please post a comment. This seems like a real issue that could become prominent in the near future. 

Why You Shouldn’t Use Benzoyl Peroxide

If you’re like me, a college student, or just anybody for whom every day is a busy day, you don’t have time to waste on 3 or 4 step treatments. The reason these 4 step systems exist is because they generally use benzoyl peroxide as their active ingredient. Benzoyl peroxide has proven to be overly harsh and irritating, which is why these treatments require multiple steps to compensate for the side-effects. 

Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it. Why would I use a treatment to cure my acne if it’s just going to leave me yet another skin problem. I want a treatment that treats my acne without destroying my skin and I think everyone would like that. I prefer Salicylic acid. It’s gentler and just as effective.