Are Mainstream Skin Care Products Safe?

Most of us use some type of daily health or beauty product, so it is certainly fair to ask whether or not these skin care products are safe. By safe, I mean - will they unnecessarily age the skin or cause long term damage to skin cells? To work this out, we basically need to analyse each and every chemical in a particular skin care item. This would be extremely impractical, so instead - lets take a look a one of the commonly used ingredients.

Most skin care products targeted towards teenagers contain a chemical named salicylic acid. This is intended to dissolve dead skin cells which remain attached to new skin - a contributing factor to the common teenage problem of acne. Whilst this is an excellent ingredient for this specific group of people - it unfortunately has a drying affect on skin that is not over-oily. Therefore - people who don’t have an acne problem and who use skin care products with salicylic acid, run the risk of over drying their skin. Have a look on the back of the cleanser you are using - and if in doubt, ask a skin care professional.