There are some chemicals in the beauty or skin care products like phthalates, petrochemicals and preservatives like parabens are just like hormones in the body and can cause cancer in higher concentrations. But the council for Personal Care Products has passed these products as safe but the Environmental Working Group say that people should avoid them.

There are some problems with the natural products. The tern natural is not defined properly therefore the product may not contain any ingredients one is looking for them in it.

Reading the labels on the products is very important. If they contain ingredients like parabens as preservatives, petrochemicals and their products, all these are found in skin care products. Other harmful ingredients in cosmetics include lead in lipsticks, mercury in mascara and eye drops, dioxane in shampoos and body washes and phthalates in hair sprays and nail polishes.

It is important to know that natural ingredients also cause allergies.  A study published in a leading journal has found that many people are allergic or sensitive to the most popular natural ingredients like jasmine, tea tree oil, lavender and feverfew.  To check for the natural ingredients “sniff test” is good. Smelling the product for the smell of the ingredient which it is claiming to contain helps in checking for its presence. If the smell is like the natural one then the product contains that particular ingredient in natural form. If it has a smell like artificial flavor then it contains only the flavor and not the natural ingredient.

In another study various brands of baby care products were tested fir cancer causing chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane and it was found that most of the products contain one of these chemicals.

According to many experts the minute quantities of chemicals do not harm the body but others say that such minute quantities from many such products can be harmful to body and such study to find the collective effect has not been carried out.

The answer to this dilemma of skin care products is the use of home remedies. So instead of using Aloe Vera cream Aloe Vera preparation prepared at home is better. Instead of cold cream coconut oil or “Kokam oil” is better for winter skin care. Less use of soap is also a better option to prevent drying of skin in winter. Use of milk products instead of creams, use of coarse turmeric or sandal powder is better than scrub. Turmeric paste in milk can be used for fair skin instead of fairness creams.

Thus finding a home remedy for skin problem and skin care is better than solving the controversies and finding which product is better.