It says on Shell.au.com that:
“Mineral base oils come from crude oil that is processed in a refinery to separate out the fractions with useful lubrication properties and remove unwanted components such as waxes.”
.. and we’re talking about car maintenance here. How does it sound to use the same oil on your face that you use to take care of your car parts of furniture? Pretty extreme.
I got familiar with mineral oil when I first started at my new job at an organic skincare salon. My boss was a cosmetologist with a long career and she knew a lot about skincare and told the truth quite frankly. She took a look on my face and could tell which cream I had been using for many years. And she was right. I was using this cheap cream from a drugstore ’cause I thought that it was safe to use since it was from a drugstore.
As a cosmetologist I was quite shocked to realize how much of the products that we’re sold to are – well – crap. Drugstores and supermarkets all sell this cheap waste oil, plus some other bad ingredients just to put a product together. Mineral oil can be found in your products in names such as Mineral Oil or Paraffinum liquidum.
Mineral oil is a side product of crude oil. It’s odourless and well tolerated, which means that it causes only a little reaction that we can see and it makes your skin look smoother and softer. That’s why it’s used so much. But it’s impacts go on a lot deeper. If your skin is prone to impurities I’m a hundred percent sure it will clog up from mineral oil (and many other ingredients as well). Mineral oil makes this plastic-like wrap on your face that let’s nothing in or out. And that is no good.
Mineral oil is not recommended on baby’s skin, organic products don’t allow it and many brands advertise themselves with “contains no mineral oils” -sentence. I also read that it’s impact on skin cancer is investigated (whaaat!). Internet is full of the topic both for and against but my logic says that if there’s that much smoke, there’s gotta be a fire. It’s also interesting that many professional skin care lines (used by professionals such as cosmetologists) don’t contain mineral oil.
I’ve also noticed that after I left the mineral oils out of my skincare routine my skin is better.
And when I left mineral oil out, I also left out silicones, preservatives, additives and parabens. How did I do that?
Simply by using ecocertified organic skincare products. Why did I ever use something that’s INCI- list was miles long and impossible to understand, even for me, who has had some education on the topic?
Now I can read the ingredients on my creams and really understand them. I’m not horrified of using it on my skin. And the best thing really – it feels better and more effective than some cheap drugstore cream.
Sources:
http:/www.virpivaisanen.fi/kauneudenhoidon-kemiaa-mineraalioljy/
http://www.point-of-skin.fi/content/safe%20skincare/Mineral%20Oils.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/moisturizers-linked-to-skin-cancer/