I am very new here, so perhaps this subject about parabens has been covered before. I have read elsewhere that parabens were introduced into cosmetics in lieu of preservatives. I have also read that parabens are potentially not the best things to be exposed to. My Bigelow shaving cream has two forms of paraben as ingredients. I do not use this cream everyday, but rotate it with Kiss My Face Cool Mint, Valobra stick, Azulene and a couple of others. What if I decided to make Bigelow my daily cream? Do I have any cause for concern; particularly since it topical and not ingested internally? I don't want to come off as a paranoid, but would like some input. Warmest Regards, David
Well,Im against parabens and SLS but if you use them on regular basis nothing its gonna happen to you unless that you already have develop an alergic reaction to them.Its just "cheap" chemical stuff added and a good cream or soap shouldnt contain it to perform great.Im not a big fan of Proraso as you can read,but its a middle of the road shaving cream(at least for me). You can get better stuff like TSD cream or soap(both good),Soapbuddy(Irena)cream and soap and of course classics like Tabac,Michael Wool Fat and dont be exposed to that "cheap" stuff on their ingredients.
+1 ...well sort of. Teiste is total correct on parabens and SLS. Although I do like having SLS in my bath soaps since I have very hard water. I prefer better shaving soaps (well to be honest I prefer Joanne's soaps) and those usually do not contain either.
What would be a good TSD cream or soap that would best emulate Proraso Green? So far, I have had no allergic reaction to my Bigelow/Proraso. I must confess, however, that I have a very fond if perhaps somewhat plebian love for Bigelow/Proraso. For the summer, at least, I like my creams and soaps to be cooling. David
Proraso has a bit of a different base then TSD cream does but Eucalyptus with menthol added might be the closest. Not totally sure on that though. Joanne will probably chime in soon and let you know the best. But she makes a lot of wonderful scents that you can choose from and she can make custom ones as well.
I do to the soap,but that could be the camphor or the extra menthol... A good alternative could be TSD soap Iced subzero.I havent tried yet(i have ordered one last week) but as far as I know its kind of "cold" like Proraro and doesnt have the parabens or the SLS on its formula.Also JoAnna is making a shaving cream with weat germ as Proraso red (now discontinued)and its worthy to try,but again,I havent tried it,however with wheat germ on it I can tell that is good.
My advice - don't worry about the parabens. The data linking them to health issues is suspect at best. They are ubiquitous. They aren't in lieu of preservatives - they are preservatives. If you go through an item so quickly that long-term storage is not an issue, then you probably don't need any kind of preservatives. Honestly, there has been a lot of stuff spread about chemicals that sound unnatural in products - some of it has been spread by companies that market "all natural" products to drive people to their products. Lots of research has been conducted to know the toxicity of all these various products. Even the ones that do have legitimate toxicity are used at such low levels that your chances of something bad happening from using such products is virtually nil. I'd worry more about meteors killing you. Chemicals are not our enemies. Life is chemistry. If we were to start using technical chemical names for everything around us, then we could make even breathing sound like a highly dangerous activity. Use them properly, and many are perfectly harmless. And remember, just because something is toxic at really high concentrations doesn't mean it is going to do anything to you at the concentrations you are likely to be exposed to. If I stick you in a room where the air is 99% carbon dioxide, you will probably suffocate and die. However, you inhale carbon dioxide all the time at much lower levels and there are zero side effects. Eat a ton of carrots a day, and you'll probably die. But no doctor, based on that information, is going to tell you to completely cut carrots from your diet.
Parabens and SLS's, etc., have their debates, both reasons for not using them, and reasons for not avoiding them (although I've never really read anything FOR them...). I personally made the decision to try and avoid them, but sometimes you can't, the obvious example is Proraso. Read the research, for both sides, and decide for yourself. My feeling is they're not necessary, and worth avoiding if you can, but sometimes you can be so enslaved to the details you miss the big picture...it's like straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. I say it's worth avoiding if you can, but unless you already have a reaction to them, I wouldn't sweat it if you can't. YMMV, TEHO, TGIGOTOS, etc.
I don't seek them out - I just don't even bother looking. Honestly, probably my favorite cream in terms of performance is the Tom's Of Maine Mint, and it is paraben free. Excellent cream. I also love Proraso Red. It has parabens. Excellent cream. Then there is my TOBS Mr. Taylor. Parabens. Love it. I also tried the TOBS Jermyn St. that is paraben free - good cream as well. If you don't want them, don't get products with them. There are some out there. Unfortunately, the Tom's is discontinued, but luckily several members here have helped me stock up. If you are worried they will hurt you, though, I wouldn't. Think of it like chlorine in your drinking water. Sure, nobody likes that taste, and maybe it would be so much better without it. Not to mention the fact that chlorine is a fairly noxious chemical. But it does serve its purpose, helping to keep the drinking water drinkable, and at the levels that they use, we really don't need to worry about toxicity issues.
To answer an earlier question, Joanna can add menthol to any of her products thus giving you the cooling effect. She'll even tailor it to your desired level of cooling, ie: adding less or more menthol crystals. The only question you have to answer then is which scents interest you?
Any water based product, which includes all shaving creams, will need some sort of preservative. Most preservatives that are suitable for this are synthetic. There was some research done some time back regarding parabens and they found that a few of the chemicals in the class were harmful. Those particular parabens have been banned for years. Additionally, some people freak out when they see 3 or 4 paraben listings on the back of a package, but that's actually a good thing. Each individual chemical is thus present in smaller quantities, reducing any theoretical risk for each chemical. The mixture also improves the efficacy, as the different chemicals have slightly different activities versus microbes. Because of the paraben scare, a lot of alternative preservatives have been introduced to the formulation market. People assume that they are safer because they are "not parabens" but in reality, most of them are fairly new chemicals that have very little history to assert their safety. Parabens have been in use for many years and have an excellent track record for safety. Also, if any product claims to be preservative free and contains water, any water containing substances, or surfactants I would avoid it like the plague (or any other number of nasties that could be growing in it). Barclay, what's the shelf life on that shave cream? It looks like your preservative is sorbic acid, which really only works in acidic conditions. Shave cream is very much basic, considering that it is alkaline salts of fatty acids.
Yes,I can see your point and Dr Mike one.Thats the good thing about forums,that we can learn but my question is:do we need them to create a great shaving cream or soap?Tabac,MWF,La Toja(stick,the cream has SLS),Speick(both soap and cream),Irisch Moos,Martin de Candre soap,Lea/Bea stick,Palomive stick,Nivea,Musgo Real..dont use them in their formulas and it seems to me that they works fatastic(personal opinion). However Im totally agree that parabens or SLS are not gonna kill you,but I refuse to paid 6 or 7 euros for Proraso,Omega new formula(and even more for the ripped off of Santa Maria La Novella shaving cream) knowing that contains "cheap" chemical preservatives as parabens.Again,this is my personal opinion,and I do respect your point of view about it.
There are alternatives to parabens that work well, such as phenoxyethanol, but the majority of them require multiple things to be used together (one chemical for bacteria, one for yeasts, one for molds). The alternatives do tend to cost more, but not always. It is quite possible to make products that don't use SLS and/or parabens, but there's not necessarily anything wrong with those that do. I don't really associate SLS with quality products, mostly because there are alternatives that work better (for specific traits) if you're willing to pay. As for parabens, I prefer parabens over most of the other options (or better yet, some of the preservative mixes which contain both parabens and others to keep the concentrations of each to low levels).
