Personal care products are formulated using hundreds of different ingredients to mask body odor, prevent perspiration, hydrate, style hair, conceal hair growth, or freshen the rooms we live in with a pleasant scent... However, some of these formulas are worrisome from a health perspective, and they "less problematic" can react with substances from our environment and create new polluting substances with largely unknown toxicity.
A study led by researchers with Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has detailed the emissions from the use of several popular personal care products. More than 200 different types of volatile organic matter have been identified in high concentrations.
Although most of the substances can be considered benign, especially in low concentrations, some of the more important classes of chemicals reacted quickly creating secondary organic aerosols, the consequences of which cannot be considered safe for health.
"Some molecules 'nucleate'. In other words, they form new particles that can coagulate into larger ultra-fine particles that can settle in our lungs. In my opinion, we still don't fully understand the health effects of these pollutants, but they can be more harmful than we think, especially since they are applied close to our breathing zone. This is an area where new toxicological studies are needed," says EPFL engineer Dušan Ličina Jutarnji list.
Natural alternatives
To determine the full range of potential contaminants, Ličina and his team tested several types of body spray deodorants, hand lotions, roll-on deodorants, perfumes and dry hair shampoos and conducted two different types of experiments.
A literal "smog" of particles was created in all but one case, the roll-on deodorant. Worryingly, the rate of particle growth was significantly higher than what studies typically show about outdoor air quality in urban or remote areas.
Given the growing concern about the impact of fine particles in the air on our health in surprisingly short periods of time, and knowing that we create similar pollution every time we style our hair or put on perfume, alarm bells should be ringing.
"We will have to reduce our reliance on these products or, if possible, replace them with more natural alternatives that contain fragrances with low chemical reactivity," says Ličina.
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