What are parabens? And what parabens free means?

What are parabens? And what parabens free means?

Parabens, or  the esters of para-hydroxybenzoic acid, including methyl- (MeP), ethyl- (EtP), propyl- (PrP), butyl- (BuP), heptyl- (HepP), and benzyl-parabens (BzP), they are now among the most common biocides, and they have been widely used as preservatives in cosmetics, hair care products, and lotions, and food for a very long time, as antimicrobial agents and preservatives in many categories; in vegetables, fats and oils, seasonings, sugar substitutes, coffee extracts, fruit juices, pickles, sauces, soft drinks and frozen dairy products. And even in pharmaceutical industries for more than 70 years.

The most commonly used members, independently and in combination with each other or other biocides are; methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben. And methylparaben and propylparaben are by far the most used ones.  Some companies use these preservative because they are very cheap and easy accessible.

Parabens in the skincare and makeup

The parabens are basically in everything that contains water, helps to increase the shelf life of beauty product by stopping bacteria and mold life from growing. One of the reasons that makes people are hell bent on going parabens free because public health research show that parabens disrupt hormones from functioning correctly, and this lead to breast cancer and reproductive issues.

Is parabens bad for you?

We have to avoid parabens because they mimic estrogen in our bodies, the ingredient that mimic estrogen know also as hormone disrupters, and because of that some parabens in Europe are banned.

In order to limit and stop using the product that contains parabens because they have been proven as danger to our life, some companies started to make parabens free products which means they contain zero parabens witch interpret hormones and they become the healthier and the safer choice to consumers.