One of the ingredients often encountered in many skincare products is silicones. These ingredients appear in dozens of forms and make the application of care products easier.
How can silicones affect our skin?
- Regardless of our skin type, we often use moisturizing creams that support ‘48-hour hydration’. They are often a mixture of silicones, which function as a plastic wrap over the skin; this, indeed does not allow moisture to escape but also traps environmental pollutants, sweat, sebum, dead cells, other micro- particles, which, in turn, ‘block’ pores.
- Silicones interfere with the natural regulatory processes of the skin. Depending on the case, they may also cause acne, dryness, loss of skin tone and they may affect natural perspiration, which leads to the appearance of spots. Dehydrated skin can easily form fine lines and wrinkles.
- Silicones decelerate the natural regeneration of skin cells. Skin is prevented from discarding dead cells and, in doing so, from allowing newly formed cells to reach its surface; furthermore, skin cannot complete its 28-day regular moisturizing cycle.
- Silicones are difficult to remove from the skin. The commonest one, dimethicon, cannot be removed through ordinary face wash. The same is true about hair conditioners containing silicones. Even when rinsed with water, residues remain that cause capillary acne on the skin of our back.
- Silicones are not biodegradable. They accumulate in water resources and contribute to their pollution; they do not break down for hundreds of years.
Why do cosmetics companies use silicones then?
- Silicones are believed to be low-risk substances for the skin, although, according to Health Canada, they may be harmful for the environment.
- They give products a luxurious texture and make their application easier.
- They ‘fill’ in small wrinkles and make the skin look smoother and unblemished, which makes us believe the product ‘works’, although the result is only temporary and superficial.
- Silicones are hydrophobic, so they create a film, which allows companies to claim 24hr or 48hr hydration! For this reason, they are always contained in ‘waterproof’ sunscreen products.
- Silicones are truly cheap! Moisturising natural raw materials are expensive and have a short life span; therefore, they are not to the interest of mass manufacturing industries, which aim at minimal cost and maximum shelf-life for their products.
How can we recognise silicones in product labels?
Usually – though not always – their names end in -cone or -siloxane. The commonest silicones in ingredient lists are the following:
acrylamides, acrylates, amodimethicone, bis-PEG-18 methyl ether dimethyl silane, cetearyl methicone, copolymers,
cyclohexasiloxane, cyclohexasiloxane, cyclomethicone, cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone copolyol, dimethicone, dimethiconol, methacrylates, methicone, nylon, phenyl trimethicone. polydimethylsiloxane, polymers, polyvinylpyrrolidone, siloxane, triethoxy-caprylylsilane crosspolymer, triethoxycaprylylsilane, trimethicone, trimethylsilylamodimethicone
An ordinary example of daily silicone use:
Let us assume we are using a micellar water product that contains water, glycerine, silicones and other ingredients to cleanse our face from make-up, which also contains silicones.
What are we, in fact, doing?
We are covering our skin with a film that does not allow moisturizers or other beneficial ingredients of the cream applied to our skin to penetrate deeper; in other words, we deactivate the cream applied! If, of course, our cream also contains silicones, all its beneficial ingredients are wasted!
SOURCES: BLEASDALE B. (2015). THE USE OF SILICONE ADHESIVES FOR SCAR REDUCTION. NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV/PMC/ARTICLES/PMC4486716/ ROBINSON D. (2019). PERSONAL INTERVIEW. SCHAFER S, ET AL. (2015). BIOACCUMULATION IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES, MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT. NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV/PMC/ARTICLES/PMC5044975/ ZEICHNER J. (2019). PERSONAL INTERVIEW. JOURNAL OF WOUND CARE, JULY 2000, PAGES 319–324. THE CHEMISTRY AND MANUFACTURE OF COSMETICS, VOLUME 3, BOOK 2. ALLURED PUBLISHING CORPORATION, 2002, PAGES 833-839. CUTIS, OCTOBER 2008, PAGES 281-284. DERMATOLOGY RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, OCTOBER 2010, EPUBLICATION.
