Eczema Cream, Skin Allergy and AllergyCertified
AllergyCertified: Skin allergy can easily be prevented
There are things in the world of health we can do nothing about. Different diseases have random hit rates. This is not the case when it comes to skin allergy or contact dermatitis as your doctor would call it. Skin allergy is mainly a disease that may be caused for example by a mascara you’ve used or a baby oil, psoriasis cream / eczema cream or maybe a laundry detergent or some other specific ingredient you have been in contact with. This means, and here comes the good part, that you have a very good chance of preventing skin allergy (ref. AllergyCertified).
– We work every day to make skin-friendly choices
“No matter what you need – no matter where you are. We want the industry to make smart choices heavily based on current and valid research.
We want skin-friendly to be a widespread and easy lifestyle amongst consumers – so you and your family can sleep, wear clothes, shower, scrub, shave, moisturize, wash laundry, clean your home, play with children’s toys, use makeup and sanitary products with no known allergenic chemicals adding to your risk of developing a skin allergy and no known endocrine disrupting chemical messing with you and your loved ones fertility.
We wish to certify everything that is in direct contact with your skin often or for long periods of time.
Why? Because we want to minimize your risk of developing skin allergy.” says AllergyCertified.
What is AllergyCertified skincare products?
One of the most frustrating things is when your child develop skin allergy. To avoid using allergenic ingredients on your children’s skin, whether it’s a baby cream for eczema, a baby oil or an eczema cream adults / psoriasis cream or other, just choose products that carry the AllergyCertified label.
Why? Because AllergyCertified’s toxicologists have gone through every single ingredient and made a thorough risk assessment, and you can be sure this is a product where there is minimal risk of developing allergy due to usage.
According to AllergyCertified, skin allergy is one of the most common chronic diseases we know. If you do get skin allergy it is very likely it will be towards either perfume or preservatives.
Perfume allergy used to be called the old woman’s disease because it was old women who got allergic to their perfumes after they had used them for years on the same spots on their bodies, typically on their wrists and their neck.
Today we find perfume in many cosmetic products. This means that we are exposed to perfume very often and therefore the risk of becoming allergic has increased and the demographic has changed.
– Today we still see a lot of women in the perfume allergy group, but we also find children in a young age developing allergy towards perfume, the same for teenagers and men. says Len Stiil at AllergyCertified.
AllergyCertified, the organisation
One World – One label (AllergyCertified’s slogan). AllergyCertified is an international certification organization established in Denmark in 2015. AllergyCertified is founded by two Danish women: Ewa Daniél who is a toxicologist, educated Cand. Techn. and Soc. specializing in risk assessment. Lene Stiil is the CEO and has education in communication. They are both members of the European Society of Contact Dermatitis, which gives them access to the recent research within skin allergy and problematic ingredients as perfume, preservatives and other ingredients.
If you purchase for example a baby oil or an eczema cream / psoriasis cream that hold the AllergyCertified label the products are are safe as the organization’s toxicologists have gone through each ingredient and done a thorough risk assessment. With stringent quality requirements regarding the information provided by the various cosmetics companies. The end product is guaranteed to you as a customer.
AllergyCertified has certified more than 1000 products sold in more than 100 countries. The AllergyCertified label is designed so you easily can know what it stands for: A minimal risk of skin allergy. Therefore, you do not necessarily need to know about the label before you shop, as the label simply shows what it stands for: An AllergyCertified product. Before a company can certify a product, all information about the ingredients in the product must be sent to this organization. This means that the ingredients of every product are disclosed, the intensity of the ingredients and the name of the ingredients is written with use of the international professional chemical language INCI. In this way you can be sure that no known allergens are hiding in a product’s raw materials.
AllergyCertified skin products prevent skin allergies
As many as 27% of Europe’s adult population today has some form of skin allergy, and this is known as a growing problem. Skin allergies are negative for mainly two reasons; Mainly because skin allergy is a chronic disease, which means that there is no cure and that skin allergy is something you must learn to live with. Second, skin allergy can be prevented by avoiding ingredients that are allergenic. Skin allergy development can be related to the environment. This means that allergies are determined by what your skin is in direct contact with, and on how often this contact occurs.
Five tips to avoid skin allergy
Here we share AllergyCertified’s tips on how to avoid skin allergy:
Here are five tips to prevent skin allergy – listed from the ideal to the difficult:
Tip 1:
Look for AllergyCertified label
The simplest and most effective way to avoid sensitization and developing a skin allergy is to buy products with an allergy certification, whether it’s a mascara, eczema cream or laundry detergent.
Why? The INCI lists on the back of products have limitations. As a consumer you cannot see the concentration of each ingredient and you have no way of knowing what the individual ingredient is made of. We know.
That way you can rest assured that a toxicologist has made a thorough risk assessment of all the ingredients (and the ingredients’ ingredients).
Tip 2
A) Avoid perfume all together
This is a big one. Because perfume is everywhere and in everything. Even where it is not needed.
Mascara – Who is going to smell my eyelashes?
Dishwashing soap – Can porcelain really absorb fragrance?
Detergents – Is it truly cleaner because it is smelling like pot pourri?
This includes essential oils.
All perfumes are allergens – both synthetic and natural perfume such as essential oils. And it is sadly not enough to look for the words “perfume” or “parfum” on the products.
Ingredients of natural origin such as “lavender”, “rose” or “lemon peel” is not declared as a perfume even though it only adds fragrance.
And it might sound super natural and healthy, but all these essential oils, extracts or water often consists of the same allergenic components such as “Linalool”, “Coumarin”, “Geraniol” and “Limonene”.
Look for the chemical names of the EUs 26 allergenic fragrances and avoid them in all your products:
- Alpha isomethylionone
- Amyl cinnamal
- Amylcinnamyl alcohol
- Anisyl alcohol
- Benzyl alcohol
- Benzyl benzoate
- Benzyl cinnamate
- Benzyl salicylate
- Butylphenyl methylpropional (Lilial)
- Cinnamal
- Cinnamyl alcohol
- Citral
- Citronellol
- Coumarin
- Eugenol
- Farnesol
- Geraniol
- Hexyl cinnamal (Jasmonal h)
- Hydroxycitronellal
- Hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde (Lyral)
- Isoeugenol
- Limonene
- Linalool
- Methyl 2-octynoate
- Evernia furfuracea (Treemoss) extract
- Evernia prunastri (Oakmoss) extract
B) Start with the products you use every day
Make sure they do not contain perfume and the 26 from above.
Product types that are the most common reason to an allergic reaction towards perfume are: deodorants (25,3%), fragranced lotion (24,4%), perfume and essential oils (16%), shampoo (13%) and liquid soap (10,8%)[2].
C) If you are finding it painful to let go..
and difficult to live without perfume, then just spray a little onto your clothes, the tips of your hair or other items that is not in direct contact with your skin.
NB: Be extremely careful with essential oils – besides being a common allergen – they can also cause chemical burns when in contact with your skin if not diluted properly.
Tip 3
Avoid products with methylisothiazolinone (MI)
It is a highly allergenic preservative and used to prevent bacterial growth in a variety of products, for eczema creams, water-based paints, detergents and glue.
The EU still allows MI in paint and cosmetic rinse-off products such as shampoo, hand soap and face wash. So if you live inside the EU make sure that there is no MI in when you buy new rinse-off products and paint.
Tip 4
Think twice before you color your hair or get a black henna tattoo
Avoid P-phenylediamine (PPD). There has been a big increase in the frequency of positive allergenic reactions towards P-phenylediamine (PPD) over time, probably because more people are dyeing their hair at an earlier age.
Severe allergic reactions happen when PPD is added to henna and applied directly on the skin for a non-permanent tattoo.
PPD is also used printing ink, oil, gas, rubber products and textiles such as black clothes and nylon stockings, which all become issues for your skin once the allergy towards PPD has developed.
Imagine not being able to wear nylons ever again because of that one time you dyed your hair..
Tip 5
Wash your new clothes before you wear it
This is an annoying one – We know! But it is a good tip nonetheless because the clothing industry often add excess amounts of coloring, unnecessary fragrance and formaldehyde to stiffen and keep the shape of the garment. We are working hard to certify clothes, but until then our best tip is to wash before wear. That way you wash the worst of it off and spare your skin of the exposure.
Mori of Norway’s nappy cream and baby oil are both AllergyCertified.
Most of the information used in this article have been found on AllergyCertified’s website.