Your beauty routine may be exposing you to a continuous stream of toxic substances every day.

A few years ago, researchers at England’s University of Reading turned the cosmetics industry on its head when they discovered six different parabens in samples of breast tumors. The detection of these widely-used preservatives raised red flags because parabens are readily absorbed through skin, where they can enter the bloodstream and accumulate in the body’s fatty tissue. Since so many cosmetics and personal-care products on the market contain parabens, our beauty routine may be exposing us to a continuous stream of these substances every day.

Problems with Parabens...

Listed on cosmetics labels with the prefixes butyl-, ethyl-, methyl-, or propyl-, these broad-spectrum preservatives are popular among cosmetics manufacturers because they are stable and inexpensive. For years they were considered a safe way to preserve makeup and personal-care products—until it was discovered that parabens mimic the body’s own estrogen, leading researchers to recommend reassessing the safety of these preservatives.

Since then, Danish scientists have found that the estrogenic properties of propyl- and butylparabens are as potent as bisphenol-A, a hormone-disrupting petrochemical used to make plastics. More recently, Japanese research linked the estrogenic activity of parabens to male reproductive system damage, including low sperm count and decreased testosterone levels. More frightening, the damage occurred at doses well below the accepted daily intake.

Parabens can also make your skin look older, diminishing skin tone and accelerating the formation of wrinkles and age spots. Researchers from Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan discovered this when they applied methylparabens to skin in amounts similar to what you would find in cosmetics. When the skin was then exposed to ultraviolet light, 19 percent of the cells died compared to just 6 percent in untreated skin. The level of lipid peroxide, a substance that speeds up the aging process, was also three times higher in the paraben-treated skin.

And Other Preservatives

Although parabens are the most controversial type of preservative used in cosmetics, they aren’t the only ones suspected of causing health problems. Since mainstream cosmetics often sit on store shelves for months before you buy them, many manufacturers insist on adding a cocktail of strong preservatives to keep bacteria at bay. Yet many of these preservatives release formaldehyde as they degrade. Formaldehyde is an irritant and suspected neurotoxin; studies have shown it to cause cancer in animals. Researchers from the National Cancer Institute have recommended that, because formaldehyde can interact with other cosmetics chemicals to produce mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, it should be further investigated.

Common formaldehyde-releasing preservatives lurking in your cosmetics include quaternium-15, diazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin, and 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol. Another popular formaldehyde-forming preservative is imidazolidinyl urea. Found in skin creams, sunscreens, shampoos, deodorants, hair dyes, color cosmetics, and even baby lotion, imidazolidinyl urea releases formaldehyde at temperatures over 50 degrees Fahrenheit—well below the average temperature in our bathrooms and makeup bags.

Healthy Alternatives

Despite the mounting evidence of the darker side of cosmetics preservatives, cosmetics companies claim that they are critical to protecting their products from spoilage. Fortunately, a growing number of natural cosmetics companies have begun using safer preservatives to keep their products fresh and germ-free. Look for the following nontoxic preservatives on the ingredients label the next time you’re shopping for cosmetics or personal-care products.

• Grapefruit Seed Extract: While not a traditional preservative, grapefruit seed extract is an antioxidant that helps prevent rancidity.
• Neem Extract: Derived from the azadirachta tree in India, neem is a potent antibacterial that, when combined with other botanicals, forms an effective preservative.
• Neopein: This innovative, broad-spectrum preservative is a proprietary blend of natural plant extracts that protect water-based products from bacteria and fungi.
• Phenoxyethanol: A nontoxic, broad-spectrum preservative used to protect against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Phenoxyethanol must be used in conjunction with other preservatives like potassium sorbate to be effective.
• Polyaminopropyl biguanide: Kills a wide range of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. An excellent alternative to parabens, polyaminopropyl biguanide does not disrupt hormones or release either formaldehyde or volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
• Potassium sorbate: Derived from the mountain laurel ash, potassium sorbate is a mild antimicrobial that also protects against yeasts. It is used in conjunction with phenoxyethanol to protect against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.
• Rosemary oleoresin: An oil-soluble antioxidant that helps to prevent rancidity.
• Tetrasodium EDTA: A bonding agent that links with minerals to prevent them from causing microbial growth.