As consumers are looking for more detailed information on daily products, be it food, appliances, toys, cosmetics or toiletries, all sorts of ranking and scoring systems seem to appear to help access this information. These can include apps developed by third parties, designed to provide information which consumers are invited to use to understand the composition of certain products. Various apps and systems are available for cosmetics and personal care products but how do you know if the content being provided is accurate? Here is some information which can help you decide where to look for reliable information on cosmetic ingredients.
All cosmetic and personal care products must be safe
First, as a fundamental rule, all cosmetic products and their ingredients which are placed on the UK market must be safe, by law. In the UK, the manufacture and supply of cosmetic products are governed by the UK Cosmetics Regulation (UKCR). Legislation covering the safety of cosmetic products in the UK and EU has been in place for over 40 years.
All ingredients within cosmetic products must be safe, and ingredients are regularly reviewed by independent scientists to ensure that the latest scientific information is taken into account. If the panel of independent scientists has any doubt about an ingredient’s safety when used in a cosmetic product, it will be banned. The UKCR contains extensive Annexes of banned and restricted substances.
Before it is made available for sale, each cosmetic product must undergo a safety assessment by a duly qualified and experienced safety assessor, whose qualifications are stated in the UKCR. The UKCR also provides guidance on how this safety assessment must be carried out. The safety assessment takes account of all the ingredients used in the cosmetic product, how the product will be used, by whom, where and how often. This is irrespective of the source of an ingredient – whether it is made in a laboratory or is extracted from a plant. They all have to be safe when used in a cosmetic product. The thorough safety assessment ensures the cosmetic product is safe to use.
Read more here:
How do I know my cosmetics are safe?
Consumer information apps can be misleading
With this in mind, apps which claim to inform consumers about so-called harmful cosmetic products or ingredients are misleading, because, as mentioned, the stringent UK cosmetics law requires all cosmetic products and their ingredients to be safe.
Apps that claim certain ingredients to be harmful to our health do not take into account how ingredients are used within the product and how we are exposed to them. The information only considers the ‘hazard’ properties of chemicals, which means the effects they can have at very high levels, or if eaten rather than applied to the skin. How we are specifically exposed to chemicals makes all the difference; for example, exposure to a low concentration of oxygen is essential for us to live, but breathing 100% oxygen can be fatal. Vitamin A (retinol) is essential for our vision, cell functioning, immunity and more, but ingesting too much causes liver toxicity. In the same way, some chemicals used as cosmetic ingredients which are safe and effective in our products may cause harm if they were eaten or applied to our skin at thousands of times the concentration they are present in our products. Our cosmetic products are applied to our skin or hair where it is far more difficult for the ingredients to pass through the body’s extremely effective barrier system - our skin. Nevertheless, this possibility must still be taken into account in the robust cosmetic safety assessment. Some apps do not make these distinctions and therefore the information they provide could be alarming and misleading.
The basis for how the apps reach a decision about ingredients or products is not always transparent
Interesting research also notes that some of these apps’ algorithms seems to be based on the following principle: the more regulated an ingredient is, the more dangerous it is considered and therefore the more severely it is rated by the app[1]. This affects the overall scoring of the cosmetic product containing the ingredient. However, this logic is flawed. The risk that the ingredient could pose is removed because it has been thoroughly evaluated and strictly regulated by authorities.
Therefore, it is not advisable to rely on these apps for information about whether to use a cosmetic or personal care product or not. Since all cosmetic products and ingredients must be safe by law, consumers can be confident in choosing a product that best suits their skin or hair type, lifestyle, budget and other factors, without needing to be concerned about safety.
[1] Margot, PATERNOTTE. Analyse du fonctionnement des comparateurs cosmétiques, business model, pertinence et approche règlementaire. 2020. Université Libre de Bruxelles et Université de Liège.
Cosmile Europe – reliable cosmetic ingredient information
In order to provide consumers with factual and helpful information about cosmetic products and ingredients, Cosmetics Europe, the European personal care association, has launched its own database of cosmetic ingredients that can also link to the App, COSMILE Europe, for product information. The COSMILE Europe website and app aim to get consumers closer to the science behind their products. At the heart of the app is the intention to make unbiased, scientific information about the ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products readily accessible to everyone. All information in COSMILE Europe comes from verified sources and is based on independent expert knowledge. The sources used to build the content of the ingredient database are:
- The European Commission’s CosIng database, an official technical glossary of cosmetic ingredients for manufacturers of cosmetic products and European regulators. Learn more by clicking here
- Peer reviewed scientific publications, relevant encyclopaedias and textbooks from independent experts
- Scientific assessments and opinions published by European and national expert bodies
- Technical documentations from cosmetic ingredient manufacturers
- Information shared by the Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK) used to build the app feature that allows people to track cosmetic ingredients to which that they may be allergic to
- Cosmetic product information from cosmetics companies
The COSMILE app contains searchable science explaining what each ingredient is and the purpose it serves in cosmetic products. COSMILE Europe users can search for ingredient information by scanning the ingredient list on the label of the product and search for information on an individual ingredient manually. The app also allows consumers to keep track of the ingredients in cosmetic products that are of special interest to them or those to which they have an allergy confirmed by a dermatologist. The Cosmile Europe database is available in Europe in 13 languages including Bulgarian, Dutch, English, Finnish French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian and Spanish.
NB: The COSMILE Europe database provides regulatory information on cosmetic ingredients based on European Union (EU) regulations. While the COSMILE Europe app is available in European markets outside of the EU, for example the UK, it does not provide regulatory information for these specific markets. A disclaimer is found under all ingredient entry that states: “Regulating cosmetics - Cosmetics Ingredients are subject to regulation. Please note, different regulations may apply to cosmetic ingredients outside the EU”.
