Allergens in beauty products are hiding in plain sight. It seems that just about anything can irritate the skin in a given person. Cosmetic chemists Victoria Fu and Gloria Lu note that because everyone’s skin is incredibly unique, it’s hard to pinpoint one main culprit. “This is why it can be such a guessing game when it comes to troubleshooting when our skin is suddenly having a reaction,” they say. “The best thing to do is actually see your allergist to get assessed and then consider getting a skin allergy patch test to help narrow down potential triggers. This isn’t completely foolproof since there are millions of ingredients out there used in cosmetics, but it’s a start.” While almost anything can be an trigger depending on your personal allergies, there are a few common allergens that tend to appear in beauty products.
Featured experts
- Daniel Schlessinger, MD is a board-certified dermatologist in Omaha, NE
- Martin Smith, MD is a board-certified allergist and immunologist in Cleveland, OH and co-founder of Untoxicated Skincare
- Victoria Fu and Gloria Lu are cosmetic chemists and founders of Chemist Confessions
What are common allergens found in beauty products?
- Fragrances
- Certain preservatives
- Propylene glycol
- Coco-betaine
- Dyes
- Lanolin
What products can you find these ingredients in?
Some of these ingredients, like preservatives, are near impossible to avoid as they’re pretty pervasive in beauty products, including skin care, hair care, makeup, aftershave and lip balms. “Fragrances are by far the most common allergens in beauty products. While we often think of fragrance as a strong perfume or scent, products that are labeled as ‘unscented’ can still have faint masking fragrance (often listed in the ingredients as ‘parfum’ or ‘fragrance’) to cover up unpleasant chemical smells from the other ingredients, says Omaha, NE dermatologist Daniel Schlessinger, MD. Cleveland, OH allergist and immunologist Martin Smith, MD warns that even “Innocent-sounding ingredients such as botanicals and essential oils are deceiving as they often each contain multiple fragrance molecules.”
While preservatives are necessary, they are common allergens, says Dr. Smith. Dr. Schlessinger notes that “nearly any product that contains water necessitates preservatives of some kind.” The most common allergen culprits “are formaldehyde-releasing preservatives such as DMDM hydantoin and quaternium-15. Some ‘naturally derived’ preservatives like benzoic acid, potassium sorbate and benzyl alcohol are top allergens,” says Dr. Smith. Certain formaldehyde-releasing preservatives in some shampoos and alcohols, particularly in lip balms, are known allergens, says Dr. Schlessinger. Parabens are not as common an allergen as previously thought, but can still be an issue, especially in people who suffer from chronic skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis, he notes.
Propylene glycol is often found in moisturizing lotions and creams, acting as a skin conditioner and emulsifier, says Dr. Smith. “Even though it was voted allergen of the year by the ACDS (American Contact Dermatitis Society) in 2018, it is still found even in some ‘derm recommended’ and sensitive skin brands.”
Cocamidopropyl betaine, often called coco-betaine, “is a foaming cleanser that is used in most face washes, shampoos and body washes. This is surprising, given the fact that it was voted as contact allergen of the year as far back as 2004,” says Dr. Smith. Additionally, lanolin is widely used in thick moisturizing creams and nipple care products, although it’s a pretty common allergen.
“As a rule of thumb, just because a product is labeled as ‘dermatologist-tested’ or ‘irritant-free’ doesn’t mean it can’t cause allergic contact dermatitis. If you’re trying a new product, you can always test it on a small area of skin and see how it reacts for a few days afterward,” says Dr. Schlessinger. “If you do have a reaction to a personal care product (it may be one that you’ve used for years with no issues) and aren’t able to pinpoint the exact ingredient that is causing the reaction, a board-certified dermatologist can perform a patch test to help determine which one might be causing the problem.”
What products can you swap them for?
“If you don’t have a starting point, we recommend using Vanicream ($15), which is an incredibly simple moisturizer with a minimal ingredient list to start with,” suggest Fu and Lu. Dr. Smith spends a great deal of his time in clinical practice identifying patient’s skin allergies and recommending how they can avoid them. The problem he continually encounters is that there are very few brands that don’t contain common allergens. “A brand may have a few products that are safe, but many SKUs are loaded with allergens,” he explains. To fill this gap, he created Untoxicated, “the first brand to eliminate 128 of the most common allergens and irritants, which are responsible for 99 percent of skin reactions.”
Since preservatives are hard to escape, Dr. Smith suggests opting for products that use phenoxyethanol. “It is one of the safest and most effective preservatives and is an exceedingly rare cause of allergies.” Alternatives to propylene glycol include glycerin, sorbitan olivate and squalane, all of which are great for skin conditioning, he says.
Cleansing products with less foaming, like sodium cocoyl glutamate and sodium lauroyl lactylate are much safer and gentler on the skin than those with coco-betaine, says Dr. Smith. An easy swap for lanolin is petrolatum. “It locks in moisture better than any other ingredient and has not been shown to be a skin allergen. It is so safe that we use it as a negative control when we patch test people,” says Dr. Smith.
“FixMySkin 1% Hydrocortisone Healing Lip Balm ($14) is the perfect lip because it is free of common allergens and irritants,” says Dr. Schlessinger of his own brand. “Instead, it contains shea and cocoa butter to soothe and moisturize everything from routine chapped lips to very dry lips as a side effect of medications like Accutane, and because it also contains one percent hydrocortisone, it actually heals irritations and dry, cracked skin.”
Swap strongly fragranced shaving creams for a product like The Art of Shaving Shaving Cream in Unscented ($35). “It’s void of irritating fragrances and includes coconut oil and glycerin to help keep skin soft and smooth while preventing razor burn,” he notes.
“If you’re struggling to troubleshoot the culprit, we recommend minimizing your beauty routine down to using one product a week (yes, that could mean choosing between cleansing your face or moisturizing, but it’s temporary),” say Fu and Lu. “As you add a new product in each week, you’re building back up your routine and hopefully narrowing down which product is the culprit causing the reaction.”
