Face and body creams, available at the supermarket or at the perfume store, use to follow production standards intended to fulfil aesthetic and olfactory requirements, such as an attractive packaging, a strong and persistent fragrance, a soft consistency and feeling of the cream.

Often such products hide some unpleasant features, which make them hardly suitable for a continuous contact with human skin: as they are “leave-on” products, only slightly rinsed away, they are bound to be absorbed by the skin. This is the reason why they should be made with very safe.

An example of controversial chemicals are cyclosiloxans, used as viscosity and consistency controller (in addition to their antistatic, humectant, emollient and hair conditioning functions), particularly octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5): very recently European Commission regulated not to exceed 0,1 % in rinse-off products (as shampoos, etc.) due to their high persistence and harmfulness for the environment. As they are volatile chemicals, the Commission is less concerned for their presence into creams, due to their low persistence on the skin… but this opinion is not shared worldwide: for example, the French Medicine Board (session of 2013 december) assumes that at least 10% may be absorbed by the skin; in addition, inhalation should be considered too. Toxicological data are not less concerning than environmental: D4 and D5 are toxic for reproduction and suspected endocrine disruptors (source: NIOSH); considering their tendency to bioaccumulate, Bensos considers prudent to avoid their use in cosmetics, as it is not necessary.

About perfume Bensos chose a cautious position, both selecting very careful raw materials (excluding in particular essential oils) and adding to products very low amounts of fragrance. Also antioxidants, as BHT and BHA, that usually are added with the aim to prevent natural greases from turn rancid, should be avoided as they are suspected endocrine disruptors.

And so on… Raw materials used in cosmetics are a huge number, but also numerous are values to be taken into consideration, as creams get in prolonged touch with our skin. In general, natural oils and greases seem to be the most compatible with skin and, in case of rinsing off, with the environment. But co-formulant chemicals must be non-toxic and highly biodegradable too.

Therefore, a cream with the features just described may have not – for example – the perfect consistency, or a strong perfume, or… not aesthetically the same as some industrial products, but in our opinion it would be both safer and more ecological.

Among high quality 99% natural creams, Benè creams have the virtue, as all Bensos products, to be allergen-free.

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