Secret behind the beauty industry you should know about

Are the same chemicals that clean battle tanks cleaning your face?

A woman starts and ends her day with cleansing. She buries her face in white fluffy foam and washes away a heavy coat of makeup. But did you know that this pretty foam contains the same chemicals that were used in wars to clean battle tanks?

Surfactants are great for foaming, but awful for your skin

Commonly found in detergents, shampoos, tooth pastes, and cleansers, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) are powerful cleaning agents that were used during World War II to degrease battle tanks. The military valued them for their ability to easily cut through the toughest grease, but using them in consumer products is another matter. Chemical surfactants like SLS and SLES remove even the sebum that your skin needs, destroying its oil-water balance. Excess sebum is a problem, but sebum in itself plays the crucial role of preserving moisture in the outer layer of skin and maintaining a stable internal environment. That’s why when chemical surfactants strip away too much sebum and dead skin cells, they damage the skin barrier and cause your skin to dry. If this happens repeatedly, your skin can become chronically sensitive and experience redness or itching.

How about cleansers with natural ingredients?

Water alone can’t fully rinse off the daily build-up of dirt and sebum. So natural cleansers contain surfactants derived from plants such as coco-glucoside, which is extracted from coconut oil. Natural surfactants wash away unnecessary waste without drying your skin. The more sensitive your skin, the more important it is for you to use a gentle product made with natural ingredients.