Silicons are a pretty popular and common component of classic cosmetic formulas. You’ll find them in makeup, creams, serum, oils, hair treatment, shampoo, soap, etc. Derived from petrochemicals, they are synthetic components that are easy to spot in the ingredients list. Their names often end with –ane or –one such as dimethicone or Cyclopentasiloxane.
Use in cosmetics?
Silicones are makeup components. They are used to give a certain look to the skin/hair. It’s basically like a polish, these plastic components will give a shiny effect to your hair and smooth touch to your skin. They may even conceal lines and blemishes.
Silicones fit perfectly within the definition of makeup, which consists of a composition used to conceal or enhance certain aspects of the skin. But, when you use a serum on dry skin, let’s say, you don’t just want your skin to feel smoother, you expect the serum to balance and “fix” your skin. Well, that’s something that silicones cannot do.
Issues
Silicones are – for most of them – not bad for health. Though, they do have a huge negative environmental impact. Silicones are hardly biodegradable and are toxic for sea life – that’s why they’re banned by a lot of organic labels. These micro-plastics modify sea life organisms by causing tumours, attacking their immunity system and by killing some of them as well. We all know the negative impacts of plastic bags in the sea but micro-plastics may be just as bad and represent 3% of all the plastic in the sea.
Water treatment stations in developed countries do not have the capacity yet to filter “liquid plastic” and it’s even worse in 3rd world countries where 80% of used water is released in nature.
That’s where the question of health has to be raised. Few silicones are controverted as they may cause cancer other ones may be endocrine disruptors. The truth is that there aren’t many studies yet about the health consequences of silicones on our health.
But one thing is sure: we release plenty of micro-plastics through cosmetics in the ocean every day. These micro-plastics are extremely toxic for sea life and we will consume these micro-plastics too by consuming fish. When we eat sea products or drink tap water, we do drink contaminated water. Maybe it’s 100% safe for human health, but we don’t know for sure, yet.
One last big issue about silicones: they are extremely bad for oily skin. Silicones attach themselves to your skin and are extremely hard to be removed. With time, they accumulate and clog the pores which leads to blackheads, blemishes, etc. Silicon-based products will promise “perfect skin” or “lustrous hair” but that will only last for a little while.
Then…Why is it used?
Silicones are cheap and very stable. They give an immediate result on the skin/hair which make them appealing when you try them. Just like makeup, silicones will give you a nice effect that will last until you wash your face/hair. When they will accumulate, the nice makeup effect won’t even operate anymore. Hair will get greasy and heavy and the skin may experience blemishes.
The Discovery Skincare banned silicones
With the objective to have non-toxic skincare in mind, we decided to ban silicones from our formulas because our goal is to provide you with authentic skincare treatments that help to balance your skin and to nourish it. We don’t believe in short-terms promises. That’s what makeup is for. Don’t get us wrong, we love makeup, but in our opinion, skincare shouldn’t be makeup.
For example, Moonlight, our night cream is filled with 10% of Glycolic Acid which is a powerful active ingredient to fight dull skin, blemishes and lines. Ray of Light, day cream, balances and regulates the skin with soothing components and protects it by creating a non-occlusive shield. Our formulas are rich in powerful active components and the only “makeup effect” you’ll find in our product is the lifting effect from Primal Light and Ray of Light which is engineered by algae and plant extracts, while creating a natural shield, the shield mechanically retracts and lifts the skin at the same time but this natural film will be easily removable, biodegradable and 100% safe and natural contrary to petrochemical ones that remain controverted because of the lack of studies on the subject.
All of our formulas are 100% free from silicones and we will never add silicones to any of our treatments.
