A recently renewed concern of mine centers on any benzene related compounds (such as benzophenone) - and frankly some of the chemistries I've looked at are disappointing in this department. Of particular disappointment is AV - which I guess picked up this "feature" many moons ago in order to keep the GI's from getting drunk on it?! Now admittedly I can't really say how nasty benzophenone is in comparison to benzene itself, but would prefer to stay away from anything close to it. The problem is... what decent female attractant (aka, AV replacement) doesn't contain it, but yet have a decent reputation among y'all? Any recommendations?
While benzophenone is in fact listed as being a significant health hazard, the dose that caused death in 50% of tested animals was 3535 mg/kg for skin contact. Assuming a male somewhere around 200 pounds, that converts to 90.9 kg. For that weight, you would need to be exposed to 321.4 grams, or roughly 1/3 a kilogram, for a lethal dose. From what I could find online, it looks like the concentration that this stuff is used at in cosmetics and such (like AV, I'm assuming) is 0.05-0.2%. A standard AV bottle is roughly 100 ml. Assuming the higher concentration of 0.2%, that would mean, in each whole bottle of AV, you have 0.2 mg of benzophenone, which, assuming you dumped the whole bottle on you all at once (and being an avid AV lover, not even I would do that), then a 200 pound man (which I am, using myself as the measure for this hypothetical situation), would be receiving one 1,607,000th of a lethal dose. Considering that the average person typically splashes A LOT less than the whole bottle on their face after a shave, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that is in the safe zone. Their main reason for including it is that it is a photostabilizer - in other words, if they put it in with these products, they can sell them in clear glass and plastic containers. Otherwise, most chemicals tend to get broken down over time by light, and thus must be kept in opaque containers. Add a little benzophenone, and it absorbs the light, protecting the other chemicals for longer. It is a preservative. Without it, many of these NOS products would be worthless. Don't worry about it. Honestly, a lot of the chemical safety information out there is meant for scientists or industrial workers who are dealing with highly concentrated, if not pure, forms of these chemicals, at which concentrations they actually DO pose a health concern. Think of it this way - if I were to put you in a room where the carbon dioxide levels are extremely high, you would probably very quickly pass out, and eventually die if not removed from the environment. Yet in our everyday life, there is carbon dioxide everywhere, and you are constantly inhaling and exhaling it, but it simply is not at a high enough concentration to pose a health risk to you (ignoring the arguments regarding global warming).
Very good answer, Dr. Mike! The actual amount of benzophenone in aftershave (or anything, for that matter) varies depending on how dark of a color the liquid is and overall amounts of the other chemicals in the mix, but last I checked a seven ounce bottle of Ice Blue had roughly 0.3-0.4% overall benzophenone content. The AV Musk, which is a lighter color, has the standard 0.2% concentration. We're reaching a point now that everyone is freaking out over the chemicals in their cosmetics when it's all much ado about nothing. These "toxic" chemicals that are so bad for you have been in use forever, and in most cases are only lethal if you ingest a million times the amount that you would otherwise splash on your skin, at which point it's more like a billion times the amount that is required before you reach a lethal stage. I like to point out when I see "scares" like this floating around that too much of anything will kill you, including air and water.
Toxicity evaluation based on quantitative calculations isn't really the avenue I was heading down - but I hear what you're saying. I mean, just filling up the car, or preparing a special juice mix to use with the gas (as I love to do) probably exposes me to much the same in regards to overall risk, right? Really, I'm just asking what other benzo...-free alternatives to the traditional AV there may be and still have the same chick-snaggin' prowess of the blue mix but still feel oh-so neat on the flesh. BTW - I'm currently weighing in at 75% of the Doc's sample size...
I don't know that you are going to find anything - they would break down far too rapidly to be worth selling in large enough quantities, I imagine. You might check out products that come in opaque containers to see if they have left benzophenone out. Otherwise, if it is in a clear container, I think the company is going to put this chemical, or something similar, into it so that it isn't useless in a short period of time.
Good luck finding something that doesn't contain it. By law, it doesn't even have to be listed on the label of most products as it's such a mundane and commonly used compound that it shows up in most denatured alcohols and fragrant oils anyway, even when it's not used as a UV inhibitor.
I may have succumbed to my own concern, as I've obtained a pair of AV bottles for day-to-day use... quite affordable and pleasantly aromatic. I enjoy it despite the presence of benzo-compounds. Still on the look out for a more natural alternative to AV, but at least it doesn't give me a 'friggin headache after application. That Old Spice After Hours is, well, :sick007
Yes, but that is for pure, 90-100% benzophenone. This stuff is used at fractions of percents in cosmetic products. You won't be at risk for the warnings they list in the MSDS. Consider that the toxicity of an oral dose for a rat is more than 10 grams per kilogram body weight. I weigh ~95 kg. That means I'd need 950 grams - nearly a kilogram, or 2.2 pounds of the stuff to kill me. The toxicity for skin contact with rabbits was 3535 mg/kg. Again, given my weight of 95 kg, that translates to 336 grams, or 1/3 of a kilogram, or more than half a pound. Only if you were working with pure benzophenone would you ever be at risk of being exposed to that high of levels. You'd have to drink Aqua Velva by the gallon for the benzophenone to kill you - but I suspect that you'd die from other reasons long before the benzophenone killed you. Similarly, you'd have to bathe in AV, and soak for a good long time, before the benzophenone started having some kind of adverse affect. Now, I am sure there are some that might be naturally more sensitive to benzophenone, but I'm not sure the average guy here is going to know that. As was mentioned above, many products don't even have to list it as an ingredient. Short of doing a skin sensitivity test specifically with benzophenone at the levels found in these products, you can't know for sure. Just because a product that has it gives you problems, whereas one that doesn't list it does not, you can't rule out one of the other chemicals. And if they don't have to list it, are you sure your other products are actually benzophenone free?
