The "Safe" Cosmetic Preservative That Ruined My Skin

1 year ago 2

In recent years my skin sensitivity has grown dramatically, but I couldn't put my finger on what was causing it. Since a damaged skin barrier is one of the causes of skin sensitivity, I looked for a gentle moisturizer for my skin. Wanting to try a product containing Beta Glucan, a gentle humectant, I purchased Volition Snow Mushroom Water Serum. The mushroom extract is a known source of Beta Glucan.

While the product was very hydrating, it irritated my skin. I decided to look for another serum with Beta Glucan, this time with a minimal list of ingredients, to minimize the chances of skin irritation. I ordered iUnik Beta Glucan serum from amazon. The serum contains only six ingredients, and I was sure it was a safe bet. I was wrong.

Baffled by my skin reaction, I compared these two products on InciDecoder.com, hoping to isolate the irritating ingredient/s. The two products had only three common ingredients: Water, Sodium PCA, and Ethylhexylglycerin. Since I know I’m not sensitive to the first two ingredients, I started to do some research to learn more about the third one - Ethylhexylglycerin.

Ethylhexylglycerin is a cosmetic preservative widely used in skincare and makeup products instead of parabens, which got a bad reputation in recent years. Many sources I've checked, like EWG, InciDecoder, and Paula’s Choice, consider Ethylhexylglycerin to be safe. Though, I found a few places, like Million Marker and Byrdie, where they mentioned that Ethylhexylglycerin could cause contact dermatitis.

To find out if Ethyhexylglycerin is the cause of my skin irritation, I started going over the list of ingredients of all the products that irritated my skin. There are many of them:

Many Korean skincare products that my sister swears by, but my skin can’t bare,Clarins products that I had used since 1989, but since 2018 my skin no longer tolerate, Lancôme Teint Idôle concealer, which I found to be very hydrating but at the same time very irritating, House Lab new foundation that I tried but had to wash off my face after two hours to stop the burning sensation on my face,Urban Decay Anti Agin eye primer that made my eyelids look older and feel irritated, ColourPop eye shadows that made my eyes go on fire,Innisfree Green Tea Hyaluronic Acid serum,The Ordinary Granactive Retinoid 2%

And more…

They all contain Ethylhexylglycerin.

Realizing that my skin was reacting to Ethylhexylglycerin, I eliminated all the products that are formulated with this preservative from my skincare. Finally, after years of frustration, my skin has reached a point where it’s calm. No more unexplained irritation.

I hope that this information will help someone out there.

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