The couple who set out to crack the cosmetic code

Those of you who have an unscented soap-and-water approach to personal hygiene and don't bother much about any of the extras will find plenty of reassurance for your ascetic avoidance of cosmetics and toiletries in a new book, Cosmetics Unmasked, by Dr Stephen Antczak and his wife, Gina Antczak.

Dr Stephen Antczak is a chemistry teacher in a comprehensive school in Dorking, Surrey. Gina Antczak is an editor of tax and accountancy manuals. Their mission to identify all the chemicals used in cosmetics and toiletries and to indicate those that contain potentially harmful - including, in some cases, carcinogenic - properties, began quite simply.

"A friend of ours had a very bad reaction to a face cream and cleansing lotion. Her skin became red, blotchy and sore. She brought the products over to Stephen - who is a qualified chemist - and asked him what could be causing her skin's extreme reaction," explains Gina Antczak.

While Stephen Antczak ruled out some simpler chemicals immediately, he couldn't identify many of the ingredients because they were described with shortened non-scientific names. A closer look through chemical suppliers' manuals revealed the culprit to be oxybenzone, an ultra-violet light absorber usually used in sunscreens. But why was it present in a cleansing lotion?

This discovery led Antczak to look further.

"I wanted to know why there were six different preservatives in my shower gel and whether the sodium nitrite in the mouthwash was good for my teeth or if it was there to stop the manufacturer's machinery from rusting," he writes in Cosmetics Unmasked.

While they perused the chemical suppliers' manuals, the Antczaks also discovered that four ingredients (used as preservatives) in a shampoo Gina had bought to treat scalp dermatitis, could actually cause contact dermatitis.

"In this age of suspicion over genetically engineered foods, it is ironic that we are not only unconcerned about the chemicals that we plaster all over our bodies but have in fact embraced them with open arms in the vain hope that they will relax us, make us more beautiful or stop us from ageing," they write.

"People shudder at the idea of the cosmetics used in the last century, which contained arsenic and lead compounds, but they don't blink an eyelid at colouring their hair with similar lead compounds or soaking in a bath of chemicals that cause contact dermatitis."

There are more than 7,000 ingredients available to manufacturers for use in cosmetics and toiletries, including nearly 1,000 aromatic and perfume chemicals. More than 1,000 of these chemicals are known to have harmful effects and many of them are subject to some level of legal restriction. Another 900 may have been manufactured in such a way as to be potentially contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals.

This means more than one out of every four of the ingredients listed on the label of a bottle of shampoo or jar of face cream is either on a restricted list or may be harmful in some way. But before you throw out the entire contents of your bathroom cabinet, the Antczaks are careful to point out that "this doesn't mean that all these products are harmful but that they contain potentially dangerous ingredients that the user should be aware of".

In Cosmetics Unmasked, the Antczaks provide a list of almost 2,000 chemicals commonly used in cosmetics. They include a dictionary of terms used to describe our skin, various allergies and the constituents of products (everything from astringents to exfoliants to surfactants) applied to satiate our cosmetic desires. They also challenge many of the false claims, misleading information and meaningless jargon on many of the cosmetics and toiletries we buy every day.

For example, through their research, the Antczaks discovered that an expensive "hypoallergenic" conditioner seemed to have more or less the same ingredients as a cheap supermarket brand. So-called "natural" products, meanwhile, often contained "a plant extract way down the list of ingredients, hidden in a sea of synthetic chemicals".

They also explain that lemon does not cut through grease, but because we think it does, it is often included in shampoos alongside the synthetic detergents which do the job. Also, the much-vaunted protein and vitamins, which we believe nourish our skin in moisturising creams, cannot pass through the skin's external layer, the epidermis. And, the lather we like to raise with soap and shampoo has absolutely no cleansing function at all.

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration prevents the use of the word vitamin in cosmetics because the molecules are too large to penetrate the hair follicle or the epidermis.

"There may be no difference at all between the ingredients of each product," says Gina Antczak. "In fact, the branded product may be more perfumed (and therefore potentially irritating to the skin) than the supermarket's own-brand shampoo. The price difference is due to the advertising, packaging and is often simply to create a feeling of "exclusivity" rather than due to the cost of the ingredients or research undertaken in product development."

WHILE the Antczaks claim that more expensive cosmetics don't always mean better cosmetics, cheaper products can, at times, contain more potentially harmful preservatives, used solely for their cheapness. For example, formaldehyde is an inexpensive and commonly used preservative in budget or family shampoos, shower gels, bubble baths and hand washes. It has suspected carcinogenic properties and is banned from cosmetics in Japan and Sweden.

Secretly, many of us probably know that often we are being duped by exaggerated claims, but we go along with the charade anyway. The bigger issues raised in this book are to do with the potential long-term damage that may be caused by commonly used colourants, fragrances and preservatives.

In 1994, the US Food and Drug Aministration (FDA) carried out a survey of allergies relating to cosmetics and toiletries. Nearly one in four of the people questioned claimed to have suffered an allergic reaction as a result of using a cosmetic or toiletry, including make-up, foundation and moisturiser.

In 1997, representatives of the hairdressing profession told the EU Commission that hairdressers' health was being impaired because of the large amounts of cosmetic products they were exposed to.

It is the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that a cosmetic product is not harmful, but the Antczaks question the adequacy of their safety tests. Stephen Antczak also points out that cosmetic manufacturers can omit "secret ingredients" from their ingredient lists. There are many other "legal loopholes" - including having a cosmetic licensed as a medical product, in which case different levels of chemicals are permitted - through which dangerous levels of certain ingredients can get through.

"Formaldehyde is banned from all products in Sweden and Japan because of its carcinogenic properties. Yet Western countries are putting pressure on Japan to relax its laws on this chemical so that they can export certain cosmetics there," says Stephen Antczak.

Throughout the book, the Antczaks are careful not to mention brand names. Also, they reiterate that the cosmetics industry has a very good safety record. It is the unknown and yet unidentified links between many skin and respiratory conditions and the use of certain cosmetics and toiletries which they believe deserve further attention.

"I think there is a need to produce much stricter regulations so that consumers will not be misled by so-called scientific wool being pulled over their eyes," says Stephen Antczak.

Every product which is manufactured or imported into the EU should have a product information package (PIP). This PIP should contain evidence for any claims made about the product. Maybe, we should all be seeking access to these PIPs before we reach for yet another well packaged, expensively priced bottle of hydrating bath oil.

Cosmetics Unmasked - Your Family Guide to Safe Cosmetics and Allergy-free Toiletries, by Dr Stephen and Gina Antczak, will be published by Thorsons on February 10th, priced £9.99 in UK. Also check www.cosmeticsunmasked.com