The cosmetic products are part of our daily life, because we use them to maintain personal hygiene, or to enhance the beauty, so to ensure that the ingredients in these products do not cause any harm to the time of use, they must go through studies known as safety tests, which are carried out before the product reaches the market, where it will be available to everyone.
is important because cosmetic products come into contact with our body in a superficial way, whether on the skin, eyes, nails, hair, among other parts of the body.
There are different safety tests, among which the most common are dermal irritation, eye irritation and skin sensitization tests, as the name implies, these tests measure the irritation or sensitization that a product can cause when it comes into contact with your skin or your eyes.
It should be noted that depending on the characteristics of the product and where it will be applied, it is determined which test is to be carried out. For example, a shampoo is applied to the hair, but it also comes into contact with your scalp, and it can also happen that due to carelessness a little fall on your eyes when you apply it; This is why some shampoos are tested for eye irritation in addition to the skin irritation test. Some makeup products go through the eye irritation test, because they are applied very close to your eyes and can come into contact with them. For a single product, more than one test can be carried out depending on its characteristics. The result of these tests indicates whether or not a product can go on the market, for example, testing for cosmetic products for babies must comply with a very specific primary irritation index, since their skin is much more sensitive than that of an adult.
One of the aspects that the final consumer does not perceive, takes for granted, and that in most cases does not take into account for the decision to buy a cosmetic, are the tests to which it was submitted for its sale. However, for the responsible industry and the health authority, the safety, efficacy and quality of these products is essential.
Initially, the determination of the bacterial content in cosmetic products is essential for their commercialization. Not only for the safety for the end consumer, since the presence of microorganisms can lead to health problems in the skin or hair mainly, but also to optimize the shelf life of the product, since the decomposition of the molecular structure can lead to physical, chemical and sensory changes that reduce the quality, the image of the company and the product as such.
Irritability tests can be performed once a risk analysis of ingredients has been carried out, verifying that they are not on the list of prohibited substances for cosmetics and that the national and international bibliography does not report adverse effects by dose, frequency or concentration mainly, which must be done by professionals in the field and with the experience to determine these risks.
It is important to note that, although these tests help us to confirm that the products are safe to use, they also serve to determine if a product should contain precautionary legends on its label, to which we must pay attention to avoid an unwanted effect: in many products we can find the legend “avoid contact with the eyes”, although we can also find some shampoos for children that have the legend “does not irritate the eyes” due to the information obtained with the eye irritation test.
So now you know, buy your personal care products within the formal market, from reliable companies committed to your health, beauty and well-being, which carried out safety tests on their products before launching them on the market so they will guarantee your well-being.