Parabens are a class of chemicals that are found in many personal and beauty products that we use from day to day including cosmetics, anti aging and skin care products such as anti aging moisturizers and anti aging creams.

Parabens are used in these products as preservatives and they work very well as preservatives and are exceedingly cheap. There are other alternatives for use as preservatives however these are generally more expensive. But there is some doubt about the safety of parabens in our personal products.

Some studies have linked parabens in our personal products to breast cancer. One study in particular took tissue samples of cancerous breast tissue and found parabens in 18 out of 20 samples tested. Of course this doesn’t prove that the parabens caused the cancer but is certainly worrying.

It is well known that parabens in personal products such as skin care products, when applied to the skin, will immediately penetrate the skin and can be found in the blood within a matter of hours. So clearly parabens penetrate our bodies and enter our bloodstream and this is also of concern.

And it has also been discovered that some parabens can mimic the action of estrogen, a female hormone. Again this doesn’t provide proof that parabens are dangerous but is certainly worrying.

You may have heard of the precautionary principle which says, in these situations, the presumption ought be made that the ingredient cannot be used until proven safe. However the current situation is that these ingredients continue to be used until they are proven to be unsafe. The precautionary principle argues otherwise.

You can see there are solid reasons why the market for paraben free anti aging skin products such as paraben free anti aging moisturizers is growing fast and so many people are now choosing paraben free personal products. There are excellent anti aging products that do not use parabens and which work exceedingly well.

There is raging debate about the safety of parabens in our personal products and although it’s not entirely clear that parabens are dangerous it does seem questionable and to this reason many are choosing to go paraben free. However of course the choice is yours alone.

There are now small companies that make excellent anti aging products who choose to make those products entirely paraben free. They are excellent quality paraben free anti aging products that work exceptionally well, and are also free of a range of other suspect ingredients as well.

I try to educate consumers about the dangers of so many ingredients found in so many of our personal products such as anti aging products. I do this on my website where I also point out the alternatives for excellent quality paraben free anti aging skin care products. Find out more on my website.