Good Looks
Cetaphil: Why the popular cleanser isn’t doing your skin any favors
Cetaphil probably has the best PR of any facial soap. Beauty magazines gush over it as a no-frills $8 must-have. Dermatologists love to recommend it as a mild and non-irritating facial cleanser for two reasons: it doesn’t contain fragrance and, more tellingly, because MDs have a big Pharma love affair with the manufacturer, Galderma, the offspring of Nestlé and L’Oréal, which also makes acne drugs like Differin.
And yet there’s nothing healthy about this face-washing prescription.
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser contains just eight ingredients: water, cetyl alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, stearyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben. All but the water are chemically manufactured (let’s hope), and propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, and the three parabens have a seat on the dirty dozen, a list of cosmetic ingredients to avoid as potentially toxic.
One look at the label and you’ve got to go “Wait a minute! What?”says Spirit Demerson, who analyzes skin-care ingredients for Spirit Beauty Lounge, her online natural beauty store. “Cetaphil does not contain even one single beneficial ingredient and what it does contain is the equivalent of toxic sludge. Whether you think it’s keeping your skin healthy or not, it is absorbed into your bloodstream and research has proven almost all of the few ingredients in it are carcinogenic. I know it’s hard to imagine that washing your face can give you cancer but it’s worth consideration.”
The ingredients in this popular Gentle Skin Cleanser don't support the name
Julia March, a top NYC facialist, says that so many New Yorkers believe that Cetaphil is healthy, they tend ignore the ingredients completely. “Cetyl alcohol, an emollient used in many cosmetics, is essentially a wax,” says March. “Propylene glycol is a common humectant (meaning it brings moisture from the air to the skin), but it also enhances product and chemical penetration into the skin and blood stream. Sodium lauryl sulfate is a foaming agent, and skin and eye irritant, that disturbs the healthy lipid barrier of the skin, and parabens are a group of preservatives being phased out for potential health risks.”
Given that there’s actually nothing clean about this cleanser, it’s rather amazing that millions of women think their skin will freak out if they use anything else. “It may not irritate skin very much, but it probably won’t help it much either,” says Nicole Yih, Assistant Spa Director at the Mandarin Oriental New York. That’s because there’s nothing in Cetaphil that nurtures skin. No antioxidants that help fight free radical damage; not a dribble of omega-rich plant seed oils that fortify the skin barrier; and not a drop of skin-calming botanicals.
A cleanser that you use twice a day should be judged on what it gives your skin. Consider this your new cleanser criterion. —Melisse Gelula
Who knew…now we do.
I am with you on this one!
I would go to a dermatologists if I had skin cancer, but I honestly don’t think they know that much about basic skin care, and this Cetaphil recommendation is evidence. As you say, look at the ingredients — it’s a chemical stew.
Beauty editors treat the dermatologists (and doctors) like the last word on everything, but neither have a holistic approach. In fact they tend to treat it as the enemy. And perhaps it is for them.
“Whether you think it’s keeping your skin healthy or not, it is absorbed into your bloodstream and research has proven almost all of the few ingredients in it are carcinogenic.”
I’d love to see the research that supports this claim. The owner of an all natural beauty store hardly seems like an authoritative source.
I’m not a fan of cetaphil, but the claims in this article are alarmist to say the least.
I agree Catherine. Completely alarmist and how would a cleanser absorb into your bloodstream? It is on your face for maybe two minutes tops and is washed away. I think hair color has a chance of being dangerous over time because it sits on your head for thirty or more minutes but not a cleanser. I don’t buy it.
whatever you put on the skin 26 seconds later it can be found in the bloodstream… great article. I am from the raw ingredient background…wouldn’t put 5 of these items on my skin!!! Never again. I know too much!
Yep, I completely agree with Catherine and Claudia. Sounds like scare tactics to me. And coming from an all natural beauty store owner hardly seems credible.
Catherine, Claudia, and Angie… please do your research! Anything you apply to your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream in less that 30 seconds. Laurel Sulfate has a pH level of 9 or 10. The healthy pH level for your skin is 5.5… when you was your face with something that has sulfate you are stripping your face from its protective layer called the acid mantle. You can be naive or stubborn and choose to look the other way… or you can research and educate yourself.
Everything you place on your skin topically goes into your bloodstream with in 26 seconds. It is more vital to watch what you use on your skin than what you eat. It is a fact, any physician will tell you this. No hype here. But unfortunately we have not been educated about this until recently in this country. There are people that go alittle nuts and try to alarm us about wellness , but this article is spot on.
“You can be naive or stubborn and choose to look the other way… or you can research and educate yourself.”
…which is why I asked for a source. It should be easy to provide a source if there is one available, and if you’re going to go around claiming that ingredients are *proven* to cause cancer, the burden of proof rests with you.
Repeating info from the article and telling people to do their research just makes it seem like you don’t have any credible sources to back up your claims.
Well+Good’s Melisse here: The ingredients in Cetaphil are water and chemicals, not plants. So we thought we’d point that out, especially since so many people claim the cleanser’s healthy. Compare that to food you’d choose to eat—a meal made from water and chemicals or plants—and you see our point.
As for sources, in the U.S., the EWG independently assesses the components of ingredients used in skin care: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com. The FDA does not regulate cosmetic ingredients for safety. However, we provided a PDF of the Dirty Dozen ingredients that have been cited as potentially toxic internationally. Some of these ingredients, like parabens and petroleum-based derivatives, which I’m sure you’ve read about, are already being phased out of skin care because of their potential health risks and links to cancer. Even Estee Lauder, a giant parent company of beauty brands, is phasing out these ingredients, which can’t be sold in many markets outside the United States. “Proven to cause cancer” is Spirit’s opinion, although it’s shared by many passionate beauty-product makers, who like organic farmers, want better choices in the skin-care aisle. As soon as someone conducts double-bind, peer-reviewed studies on cosmetic ingredients—and repeats them, which is what’s done with drugs—we’ll let you know.
Wow, how’s this for timing: Today, Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) are introducing the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, which would close the gaping holes in federal law. It would phase out the most dangerous chemicals, set up a system to assess cosmetic ingredients for safety, require companies to be transparent about what’s in their products, and provide adequate resources for the FDA to do its job. http://huff.to/dfCgoF
As a *former* Cetaphil fan (as of a few minutes ago), I want to thank you for a very revealing article, Milisse.
I do sympathize with those who object to the alarmist tone, but I think they are reacting because there is such a huge gap between popular understanding and the latest medical research and epidemiological concerns about chemicals in our environment. Some of these ingredients are definitely toxic but as you point out in your follow-up it is hard to say exactly how toxic because the research hasn’t been done. So we are left guessing – is 30 seconds on our skin safe or not?
That is the real crux: should we be having to make these decisions? Not possible as we don’t have the skills or data. So taking a natural approach using generally recognized as safe ingredients is a much more sensible approach – it follows the “precautionary principle” of not using products that haven’t been proven safe.
The modern chemical and beauty industries have been able to conduct a huge biology experiment with few constraints in the last 50+ years – sometimes it works well and sometimes it turns out to be toxic, but I don’t want to be a guinea pig – we can and should do better.
By the way, as someone with very sensitive skin, I now have a hole in my regimen – can you recommend any very gentle face cleanser for sensitive skin?
Paul
Another timely item to look into – an awarenss raising video from the folks at Free Range Studios:
http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/
@Paul:
I wish I could send you this privately but there is a company out there called Arbonne that specializes in pure, safe and beneficial skincare.
The ABC Hair and Body Wash would probably do very well on your skin. This is a part of the Arbonne Baby Care line and is a very gentle cleanser.
Check out the website http://www.arbonne.com Yes, I am a consultant with the company and I joined Arbonne because I believe that my family’s skincare should be beneficial, not toxic.
I don’t normally post things like this but I really believe that Arbonne could be just what your skin is looking for!
@ Well + Good: it’s about dang time! Thanks for sharing.
Melisse here: I’ll be recommending a handful of natural facial cleansers for a variety of skin types next week on WellandGoodNYC.com. I list a handful right now on our Facebook page: http://bit.ly/9OyK8o
Nicotine patches and pain relief patches are just 2 kinds of patches now being used to deliver needed medication directly through the skin into the bloodstream without having to go through the digestive system. This may also become the preferred method of delivering vaccinations. If you doubt that the absorption rate, place some minced garlic between your toes and time how long it takes until you can “taste” it in your mouth.
I have been an Independent Arbonne Consultant for the past 2 years and have noticed a huge difference with my skin from using products that are botanically based and from a company whose motto is: Pure, Safe, and Beneficial.
Hi Catherine, Claudia, The last thing anyone should ever think of me as is alarmist. I respect people’s choices and preferences for natural or not-so-natural person care. I agree I should not have said “are carcinogenic” I should have said “are potentially toxic” which is a simple fact and what I usually do say but perhaps got carried away. You would like to see facts and sources? Well so would I! There is no law that says personal care products have to fully disclose their ingredients or test and prove their safety. http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product.php?prod_id=8634 There are some big question marks and I’d like to be on the safe side of them. As for absorption, interestingly, Cetaphil instructions advise “leaving a thin film of CETAPHIL on the skin” but even if you don’t, is it hard to believe that a couple minutes of exposure to a chemical (daily), especially formulated with an absorption enhancer (prop glyc), could result in dermal absorption of the chemical into the bloodstream? Certainly we’ve heard of a nicotine patch? Now here’s something that actually IS FDA regulated and what does it say right on the box? “The nicotine begins to be absorbed into your bloodstream as soon as an appropriate area of your skin makes contact with the patch.”
Arbonne is a CULT!
Why so much talk about dangerous chemicals from people who SELL all natural skincare products (at very high prices I’d like to add), yet color their hair ( chemicals there, no?) and consume/DRINK alcohol? Isn’t all the same? Is one less dangerous that the other?
Melissa, perhaps the difference is choice. People can choose to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes (even organic ones!), get botox, whatever they want! What isn’t right is when we are misled, or told it’s safe – even healthy, when it’s not, and are not able to make an educated choice. Botox comes with a list of side effects and warnings as required by law but skin cream doesn’t even though it enters the bloodstream. Is it because there are no side effects or is it because it’s not regulated? How can we know? I just want women to have the information and look into it for themselves. Remember Philip Morris had tons of “evidence” and “research” that “proved” cigarette smoking was NOT hazardous to your health. Some of us SELL natural solutions BECAUSE we care about womens health, not the other way around. And just like it costs organic farmers more to produce a $3 nectarine than a conventionally grown $1 nectarine, so does it cost an organic skin care formulator more to create a nutrient rich, non-toxic, ethical and sustainable cleanser more than it costs to create a chemical one. And sadly both the organic formulator and organics farmer’s margins are much smaller. Cetaphil probably spends less than $1 making their $7 cleanser while the “high priced” natural alternatives may be 70%-80% ingredient cost. I know of formulators who actually sell their cleansers AT COST, just hoping that as demand grows, eventually their costs will go down so they can eventually make a profit.
Spirit, if ARBONNE is selling AT COST, whom is paying for the WHITE MERCEDES BENZ vehicles that sales people are awarded?
I don’t consider Arbonne an organic skin care formulator for one. I’m certainly not familiar with their costs.
[...] Here it is. A well-written breakdown as to why Cetaphil is not the life saver so many think it is. I love dissecting skincare products and Cetaphil was the next on my list but Well and Good NYC did such a great job I don’t feel like I have to! Enjoy. “Cetyl alcohol, an emollient used in many cosmetics, is essentially a wax…Propylene glycol is a common humectant (meaning it brings moisture from the air to the skin), but it also enhances product and chemical penetration into the skin and blood stream. Sodium lauryl sulfate is a foaming agent, and skin and eye irritant, that disturbs the healthy lipid barrier of the skin” [...]
As a Cetaphil user for years I understand why people tend to freak out when they learn that it’s filled with some not-so-helpful ingredients. How can it be so bad if your dermatologist told you that it will help your skin? That it is so gentle, you don’t even need to use water to take it off! I used to think that there was something really wrong with my skin, I went to countless dermatologists looking for help. They claimed to understand my dry, sensitive skin and told me to use Cetaphil and Aquaphor. I believed that they were on my team, that these products would really help heal my skin. Well, let’s just say that the products didn’t help at all. I now know that my skin is totally normal BUT what it was sensitive to- were the irritants in those very products that the doctor was telling me to use.
So to all of those ladies (and men) who are skeptical about what folks are saying about Cetaphil- let me invite you to experiment- to stop using it- try one of the products that are recommended on the site- or even just try using raw/organic coconut oil to clean and moisturize your face…. I promise you, your skin will improve. My skin has changed 100% for the better since I stopped using Cetaphil and the other products that the dermatologist suggested.
68% off all things that you put on your skin are in your system in 28 seconds.
I have not used Arbonne products, but what I know of their products has not convinced me they are any different than the mainline cosmetic companies.
My approach to choosing skin care and cosmetic products is to only put things on my skin that I would feel safe to eat.
If you are interested in safe and healthy products for your skin, it pays to do a bit of research and find a producer you trust.
One producer I like is Daisy Blue Naturals. There are plenty of other excellent choices out there, but sadly I have yet to find one in a mainline retail store. Your local food co-op should be able to help you, but always read the label and ask questions!
Be well.
Thanks for the detailed information on Cetaphil. Never have used it and am thankful for that. The products I use are the polar opposite of Cetaphil. I am happy to say that they are 100% certified organic botanicals that nurtures the skin and is filled with anti-oxidants. I totally feel that they are feeding my skin with good health. You can see for yourself at http://www.MiBetterChoices.com
the skin is our largest organ… yes, i did say organ. that means it can easily absorb toxins just as you can absorb them through your mouth, nose and any other organs. hope this helps you understand how you might be absorbing toxins from cetaphil…
I agree with Jessa-I was a Cetaphil user for years. Then I started having symptoms similar to rosacea and just could not figure out what was going on. So, I threw out my whole skin care regime and started researching on the parabens, SLS, and other ingredients in practically all of the skin care lines. Once I tried more natural products the change in my skin was dramatic. Also, my life long struggle with dandruff and psoriasis ended too. In the beginning, I was skeptical about chemicals being absorbed through skin too, but like another poster said, if nicotine patches, birth control patches, etc, can be effective then there is something to it.
As for Arbonne, I’ve tried it and I’m not impressed. I know a lot of people who like their products but a little bit of research will show you that it’s got all the same chemicals (and sometimes more) than anything else.
I’m not selling anything and I think anyone who is looking to test this out will be able to find options out there that are inexpensive. I agree with Spirit, it’s about having the information to make the choice.