ALCOHOL & PARABEN FREE

PARABEN & ALCOHOL FREE

BestIndian™ products are 100% free of Paraben and Alcohol because of the brand’s commitment towards creating the safest beauty and personal care products in the world. BestIndian™ creates products which are free of all possible harmful artificial ingredients.

Numerous independent scientists and researchers have established that Paraben and Alcohol are two of the most commonly used ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products, all over the world. These two ingredients are extremely harmful for the human body, and regular usage of Alcohol & Paraben based cosmetics can lead severe health complications including development of breast, ovary and testicles cancer, and premature aging. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) reports that Parabens have been known to disrupt hormones in the body and harm fertility and reproductive organs, affect birth outcomes, and increase the risk of cancer; in addition to causing immunological, neurological and skin irritation problems. For these reasons, many countries have banned the use of some parabens in personal care products intended for newborns and children. Unfortunately, almost all mainstream cosmetics and perfume brands continue using paraben and alcohol as the ingredients of their products, inspite of studies having detected parabens in nearly all urine samples taken from adults in the U.S., regardless of demographic.

Personal care products are the greatest contributors to paraben exposure, as seen in studies comparing paraben levels in the bodies of women, men, adolescents and children who regularly use cosmetics and those who do not. Adolescent girls who wear makeup every day had 20 times the levels of propylparaben in their urine compared to those who never or rarely wear makeup.

Usage of these harmful ingredients is legally permitted in quantities considered to be not harmful for the human body. However over the course of 24 hours, the human body absorbs paraben from various sources including food, drinks, etc., in addition to cosmetics. People can be exposed to parabens by eating foods and beverages that do not just contain parabens but are also preserved with them. While individual products may contain limited amounts of parabens within safe limits set by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), cumulative exposure to the chemicals from several different products could be overloading human bodies and contributing to a wide range of health problems.

PARABENS

Parabens are a group of EDCs commonly found in personal care products, foods, and pharmaceuticals. First commercialized in the 1950s, parabens are a group of synthetic compounds commonly used as preservatives in a wide range of health, beauty and personal care products. Since cosmetics contain ingredients that can biodegrade, these chemicals are added to prevent and reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and mold, increasing the shelf life of the product. If the product you are using contains methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben and isobutylparaben, etc., it has parabens.

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) reports that traces of five parabens were detected in the breast tumors of 95% of women, who were a part of a study by British researchers. The study detected the presence of intact parabens—unaltered by the body’s metabolism—which is an indication of the chemical’s ability to penetrate skin and remain in breast tissue. According to the group, a more recent study found higher levels of one paraben, n-propylparaben, in the axilla quadrant of the breast where the highest proportion of breast tumors is found.

Among preservatives, parabens are considered as a class of endocrine disruptors, especially propylparaben and butylparaben. Many studies observed that parabens were able to chemically imitate the oestrogenic activity leading to adverse health outcomes. Parabens could play a role in the development of human breast, ovary and testicles cancer https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6477564/

• United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), detected propylparaben in greater than 92 percent of Americans tested, and butylparaben in about 50 percent of those tested In National Health and Nutrition Examinations Surveys
• Similar Results were obtained the 2016 HERMOSA intervention study conducted in adolescent girls. Following just a three-day intervention, when the girls used products without parabens, propylparaben levels in urine dropped by about 45 percent.
• Parabens may also bioaccumulate in the body over time in fat tissue, as metabolites of parabens measured in fat were correlated with age 
• Parabens are also linked to ecological harm, as low levels of butylparaben can kill coral, according to laboratory tests
• Parabens have been detected in surface waters, fish and sediments
• When parabens are combined with chlorinated tap water, a number of chlorinated paraben byproducts can form
• Parabens have been detected in infants and older children as well as adults, including pregnant women. Therefore, exposure may begin in early life stages and be continuous.

ALCOHOL

Alcohol (ethanol, ethyl alcohol, SD alcohol or alcohol denat) is one of the most controversial ingredients in skincare as it speeds up aging, kills skin cells, and creates inflammation. 

Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, SD alcohol or alcohol denat) is mostly the same alcohol that’s found in alcoholic drinks. Denatured alcohol, often listed on skincare ingredient lists as Alcohol Denat or SD Alcohol (SD stands for specially denatured) is simply ethanol mixed with a small amount of an extra ingredient (e.g. pine oil or methanol).

The world is increasingly becoming aware of the dangers of using Alcohol based cosmetics and perfumes. Simple alcohols can dry out your skin and also impair your barrier function particularly if your skin is already weakened, dry or sensitive. Alcohol dehydrates the skin by evaporation of water and a breakdown of lipids in our skin's top layer, causing a disruption of user's epidermal carrier and increased skin sensitivity. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9163252/

ALCOHOL IN SKINCARE PRODUCTS

Ethanol is included in skincare products for different reasons.

DISSOLVES INGREDIENTS

Ethanol, as a solvent can dissolve some things that water can’t. It’s often used in fragrances since many fragrance oils and esters don’t normally dissolve in water, but can dissolve in alcohol.

Some actives in skincare are too oily (non-polar) to dissolve in water, but ethanol can still dissolve them – one example is salicylic acid (beta hydroxy acid). A lot of skincare products use glycols as solvents (propanediol, propylene glycol), to leave a shiny look on the skin

PLANT EXTRACTS

Ethanol is used to help extract ingredients from plants, due to its superior solvent abilities compared to water.

CLEANING AGENT

In older toners and makeup removers, alcohol is sometimes used to help remove lipids, oils and waxes from the skin. It can also be used to prepare skin for treatments like peels.

PRESERVATIVE

A high concentration of alcohol can be used as a preservative.

APPLICATION

Ethanol’s volatility (ability to evaporate quickly) is used for product application to help formulas spread and set quickly, and give a cooling effect. This is often used in sunscreens to help make their textures lighter.

DEEPER PENETRATION

Ethanol is used for deeper penetration of the active ingredients, and in a higher concentration.

Isoprppyl alcohol aggravates skin problems and harms the skin. Some harmful effects of alcohol in cosmetics to the skin such as: Causes dryness, disrupts the surface of the microflora and the skin barrier, increases the risk of premature skin aging.

DANGERS & HARMS

Breast Cancer

“Of greatest concern is that parabens are known to disrupt hormone function, an effect that is linked to increased risk of breast cancer and reproductive toxicity,” reports the non-profit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC). Systemic exposure to parabens has been confirmed by the ubiquitous detection of parabens in human blood and urine samples. Parabens mimic estrogen by binding to estrogen receptors on cells. Research has shown that the perceived influx of estrogen beyond normal levels can in some cases trigger reactions such as increasing breast cell division and the growth of tumors.

Various scientific studies and journals published by United States Govt's National Library of Medicine have established that there is a significant relationship between malignant ovarian tumor tissues and increased exposure to high paraben concentrations. Additionally, Paraben have been found in human breast tumors; and may play a role in increasing the incidence of breast cancer.

The main concerns regarding parabens use in consumer products are their potential mimicry of endogenous hormones, possible cross-talks with other signal transduction pathways, such as HER2 signalling pathway, that are pivotal in the development of breast cancer, and modulation of key enzymes involved in local estrogen metabolism. Estrogen receptor is a key transcriptional factor that drives the oncogenesis and growth of hormonally sensitive breast cells.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8834979/

Reproductive harm

Parabens can severely interfere with the production of hormones in the human body. Parabens act like the hormone estrogen in the body and disrupt the normal function of hormone systems affecting male and female reproductive system functioning, reproductive development, fertility and birth outcomes. The U.N. Environment Programme has identified parabens as a group, including propyl- and butylparaben, as endocrine-disrupting chemicals or potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals (U.N. Environment 2017).

Scientific studies have reported the

In various studies, propyl-, isopropyl- and isobutylparabens disrupted hormone signals, and exposure to all these parabens and butylparaben harmed female reproductive development. In another study, developmental exposure to butylparaben both female and male reproductive systems. Such exposure resulted in lowering testosterone levels.and reduction in sperm production. Sperm count was decreased at very low doses of only 10 mg/kg of body weight per day.

Various human studies have linked butylparaben and total urinary paraben levels with decreased fertility, as indicated by decreased menstrual cycle length. Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found decreased fertility was associated with urinary propylparaben. Butylparaben levels in the mother’s urine and levels in cord blood were associated with increased odds of pre-term birth and decreased birth weight. Estrogenic activity and potency of parabens increases with the chain length of the paraben.

Skin irritation

The skin can become sensitized to products containing parabens, which results in irritation. The potency of sensitization has been shown to be related to the side-chain length of parabens.

Skin Barrier Disruption

In vitro, on isolated skin samples, enzymes that are important in skin shedding and production of lipids can be disrupted by ethanol, so they don’t work as well. If this occurs in skin, then the stratum corneum (responsible for most of the skin’s barrier function) could work less effectively.

There are also some in vitro studies that suggest that ethanol can cause temporary lipid disorganisation, or lipid extraction (removing lipids from skin). It’s thought that these effects are how ethanol helps ingredients penetrate.

Skin Dehydration

One effect that can seem to happen with alcohol is skin dehydration. Alcohol can damage the skin and make acne worse

Owners of oily skin claim that alcohol-based cosmetics can remove oil from the skin. However, alcohol-containing products can aggravate swelling and inflammation and make pores appear larger.
On the other hand, according to many studies, alcohol can increase the amount of oil, not the oil-control effect as many people think. Thus, with the information mentioned above, alcohol can be harmful to the skin,

Inflammation

Inflammation is linked to aging, acne, rosacea and all sorts of other issues. And in in vitro studies, alcohol causes inflammatory markers to be released

Premature Aging

The research is clear about Paraben and alcohol being extremely harmful for the human skin’s protective surface, as they deplete vital substances needed for healthy skin, and makes oiliness worse. Using cosmetics with high alcohol content for a long time will trigger faster skin aging process because of erosion of important nutrients needed for the skin’s perfect health.