Ecofeminism

Throughout the day I use moisturizer on my hands and on my lips. And on my face. And my hair, and skin. I did not realize how much moisturizer I squished onto my body until I had to do the body work log – both looking at the list after it was completed, and every time I went to write down a product. I found myself questioning if I really needed another few swipes of lip balm. Toxicity did not even cross my mind until I started the log. I assumed the products I used were somewhat bad for me, but not they could not be too bad.

For my toxicity report I looked up Eucerin Original Moisturizing crème, since I have been using it all my life. Both the jar and the company website boasted “dermatologist recommended,” and my experiences coincided with this claim. The site had a decent FAQ section that addressed potentially concerning ingredients, such as alcohol and urea. Neither of these specific ingredients were in my product, however there was lanolin alcohol. The website explained that lanolin alcohol is a moisturizer, while alcohol dries out skin. The site stated that the company does not test their products on animals, but only on human volunteers. This information pleased me, as many companies do not abide by the same standards.

So, Eucerin seems like a pretty good company. I checked out the product’s toxicity ratings and I was relieved that the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database gave it an overall hazard score of 3/10. Upon further investigation, two chemicals increased this score with their individual ratings of 6: methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone. These chemicals are “widely-used preservatives.” Both chemicals are associated with allergic reactions, and methylisothiazolinone may be neurotoxic. Both chemicals are restricted in Canadian and Japanese cosmetics. This alarmed me – if another country’s government decided it was too risky for them, why would the United States allow it in its products? On the other hand, if only two countries restrict its use, is it really that bad? And how much of it is in Eucerin, anyway?

Regardless, I have been using this product for as long as I can remember. I started to get a little nervous about how many jars my skin has absorbed over the years. But, neither of the two chemicals bioaccumulate. Perhaps this is one of the reasons other countries are not as concerned with the two chemicals.

Despite the scare the two chemicals gave me, overall the product is not that bad for me – its overall rating was 3, and the two worst chemicals were rated 6. There is no doubt that I will keep using this product.