Like most men, I take pride in my appearance, I keep my haircut sharp, I go to the gym, I watch what I eat and I use grooming products such as pomades, colognes, deodorants and creams to stay looking fresh. When I started to put more thought into what I was eating, I also started to pay more attention to the ingredients used in my grooming products, as well as home cleaning products, to ensure a holistic lifestyle. This opened a massive rabbit hole to which I still find myself today. For us men who enjoy living a healthy life, this small but critical aspect of paying attention to the ingredients in our grooming products is a crucial step. A lot of these chemicals are often found in small doses but are so widespread that we interact with them on a daily basis, and as they accumulate and build in our systems, they can potentially lead to health issues over time.

In this 3 part blog series, I will be focusing on the dangers of Fragrances, Coal Tar Dyes and PEG Compounds, chemicals found in most conventional men’s products. My hope to is to illustrate how important it is for us who use chemical containing products to understand their effects, as well as show examples of healthy alternatives. Once the series is complete, I will offer suggestions for products I have found to be acceptable replacements, as well as DIY solutions for those who are interested in making their own.

*(Please note that I am Canadian and therefore reference many statistics from Canada but also include information from Europe as well as the United States to make it relevant for everyone)

Part 1 — Fragrances

Under current Canadian regulations, manufacturers of cosmetic products are required to list all intentional ingredients in what they sell, but there is one exception, the ingredient “Fragrance”.

In May 2010, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit and research advocacy group based in Washington DC, released a study called “Not So Sexy: The Health Risks of Secret Chemicals in Fragrance “. The report states that “Laboratory tests revealed 38 secret chemicals in 17 name-brand products, with an average of 14 secret chemicals per product.” Most troubling with these finding is that “none of the chemicals labelled or found in the Canadian products are on the Canadian Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist, a list of prohibited substances in cosmetics”. It appears that the labeling of “Fragrance”, also listed as “Parfum”, can contain ten’s to hundreds of unknown ingredients, some of which may be very harmful and even toxic to the user. If this is the case, why is wide spread testing not being done? The fragrance industry makes the claim that by releasing their fragrance ingredients, it would allow their competitors access to trade secrets. If the fragrance industry were not accountable for their consumer’s health, we would hope that a government body would step in to assure product safety, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Currently, there are more than a 1000 chemicals banned in Europe, which range from suspected carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins, that do not appear on Health Canada’s Cosmetic Ingredient Hot List.

The EWG states that “Canada does not require manufacturers to systematically test the chemicals used in personal care products for safety. After these products are on the market, government product testing is often only done in special circumstances. As a result, people using perfume, cologne, body spray and other scented cosmetics, such as lotion and aftershave, are unknowingly exposed to chemicals that may increase their risk for certain health problems.” However, Health Canada does state that a manufacturer may be asked to show evidence that their product is safe for the market place, but that such actions are voluntary and rarely, if ever, result in fines for non-compliance.

In fact, the EWG states in its report “Heavy Metal Hazard: The Health Risks of Hidden Heavy Metals in Face Make Up” that importers and manufacturers of cosmetic products have up to 10 days after a product is on the market to submit a list of ingredients, and that once the submission has taken place, the companies are not required to report the impurities or the purity of the product. To add to the confusion, even products that are labeled as “fragrance free” or “unscented” may in fact contain the same amount of harmful chemicals in the form of masking agents that prevent the brain from perceiving the smell.

The harmful chemicals found in Fragrances are to numerous to mention but here are some of the main offenders in our body sprays, aftershaves and colognes, which I feel deserve notice.

Phthalates are a group of chemicals that have been linked to hormone disruption, fertility and development, mainly due to the chemical diethyl phthalate, or DEP, as well as DEHP, which has been banned in Europe. DEP is used to make the scent of a product linger for longer periods of time and can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion and skin contact. It has been found that 97% of Americans tested by the US Center for Disease Control have DEP in their systems. Most problematic for men is that DEP has been linked to sperm damage and other reproductive issues such as infertility. In the case of women, DEP has also been linked to infertility as well as breast cancer.

Phthalates are also thought to have a strong connection with asthma as well as other reactive airway symptoms. In the David Suzuki Foundation report “What’s Inside? That Counts: A Survey Of Toxic Ingredients In Our Cosmetics”, they list Phthalates as part of their “Dirty Dozen”, as well as stating that Phthalates metabolites have been suspected of obesity and insulin resistance, especially in men. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report in 2009 that identified Phthalates as one of six chemical groups considered for regulation due to the adverse effects of its properties on water and aquatic life.

Neurotoxins, chemicals that specifically affect the brain, have also been found in fragrances. The US Academy of Sciences in 1986 “identified fragrance ingredients as one of six categories of neurotoxins … that should be thoroughly investigated for impacts on human health”. Unfortunately, this testing never occurred.

Synthetic Musk’s appear in Fragrances and have been found to contain such chemicals as Galaxolide and Tonalide. These two chemicals have been found to “bind to and stimulate human estrogen receptors and have been shown to affect androgen and progesterone receptors. Tonalide has also been reported to increase the proliferation of estrogen-responsive human breast cancer cells.”

Galaxolide and Tonalide have also been shown to have an adverse effect on the health of aquatic life and have been found to accumulate in the food chain of these animals. The Suzuki report states that “Environment Canada has categorized several synthetic musk’s as persistent, bio-accumulative and/or toxic”. Environment Canada has also found measurable levels of the musk’s in the fish and sediments of the Great Lakes.

At this point, no long term study has been tasked with finding out the overall health affects these synthetic musk’s have on human health, but a EWG report from 2009 did find Galaxolide and Tonalide in the umbilical cords of pregnant women who were tested suggesting that most of are born with these chemicals inside of our systems from birth.

Other potentially harmful toxins found in Fragrances are; hormone disruptors such as Octinoxate, Oxybenzone, Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), Benzyl Salicylate, Benzyl Benzoate and Musk Ketones; as well as Chemical Sensitizers such as Geraniol, Amylcinnamaldehyde and Linalyl Acetate.

Fragrances are not only associated with perfumes and colognes but also cleaning products. Take for instance, the common ingredient Limonene. This fragrance chemical is also used as a solvent and degreaser in house hold cleaning agents where it is often referred to as “citrus oil”. In combination with other chemicals, Limonene is known to produce deadly offspring such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and ultrafine particles. Similar compounds such as Gernoil and Linalool have been shown to produce similar by-products and adverse health effects.

Fragrances are now considered some of the worst allergens in North America and Europe. Some of the general health effects most associated with these are headaches, dermatitis, asthma, mucosal irritation, chest tightness and wheezing. It is suspected that long-term exposure to these ingredients can accumulate in the body and begin to trigger a histamine response, increasing a person’s chance of developing allergic symptoms later in life.

The proposed US Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 is attempting to regulate all ingredients, even those protected by trade secret laws, and to make sure the ingredients were labeled on all cosmetic products. The David Suzuki Foundation proposed a similar measure but unfortunately at this time, Health Canada has not considered adopting this practice.

There is a desperate need for tighter regulations to be placed on the Cosmetics Industry to allow for appropriate labeling and health warnings on products containing Fragrance. But in the meantime, us men who use aftershaves, pomades and colognes need to be more aware of the chemicals we are absorbing through our skin in the name of looking fresh.

In my next instalment, I will highlight the dangers of Coal Tar Dyes, a common chemical found in hair products.