Formaldehyde can cause severe damage to health and skin condition. Some of the symptoms vary from contact dermatitis to cancer.
And it is important to know if you, personally, are sensitive to this ingredient in personal care products. So we will provide you with a quick method to identify if yous skin is reactive!
And if you are, don’t worry! Check how you can substitute the formaldehyde with other, harmless ingredients!
Let’s get started!
Formaldehyde sensitivity test
You can do a patch test. Buy a cosmetic product, which you are sure contains formaldehyde.
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Pick an area of your skin, which you have never had problems with before. Usually, that is the wrist or the inner arm.
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Put a small amount of the product on the picked skin area and monitor it for the next few hours.
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If you see that any changes occur (even small redness), then you are sensitive to formaldehyde. You can measure the level of sensitivity by evaluating how pronounced are the changes in the treated skin area.
Formaldehyde substitutes
There are many alternatives to formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing ingredients. Some of them are more expensive, and others are not as effective. Therefore, a more significant amount has to be used to achieve the same effect. However, the list of alternatives is long! If you decide to avoid formaldehyde, check the ingredients list on the product packaging for the following substances:
- Alcohols
- Benzoic acid
- Boraxitrus seed extracts
- Copper salts
- Fragrance oils
- Glycerin
- Hinokitiol
- Japanese Honeysuckle extracts
- Melaleucol (Tea Tree) oil
- Perillic acid
- Salicylic acid
- Silver Chloride
- Sodium Gluconate
- Sorbic acid
- Usnic acid
- Wasabi extract
- Zinc Salts
Find out why formaldehyde is used in cosmetics in our dedicated blog post!