Mineral oil, the big problem with lip balm
It’s no surprise that the contents of products we use to protect our lips end up in our bodies — after all, we do tend to lick our lips
That’s a good reason to take a careful look at what’s inside your lip balm of choice. German consumer magazine Oeko-Test examined 20 products, almost half of them promoted as natural cosmetics. More than half (eleven) of the lip balms were rated “very good”, but two were rated “poor” and three “insufficient”. The main problem ingredients in these were mineral oil components that accumulate in the body and are considered carcinogenic.
Mineral oil-based fats and waxes are of course not allowed in products billed as ‘natural’. But some conventional cosmetics manufacturers have also switched to mineral oilfree care.
The testers also looked for other potentially harmful ingredients such as hormonally active substances, fragrances with an allergy risk, and plastic compounds.