When a (real) alum stone displays a natural origin and offers multiple uses, it seems to be a ready-made product for mums (and dads!). It responds, in fact, to a major trend: the attraction for natural and/or organic cosmetics, specific to parenthood. However, this rock is not so clear: sometimes adored, then decried, it questions.
Alum stone, a rock with multiple uses (face, deodorant, shaving, etc.)
Until the early 2000s, alum stone was quietly going its own way, being mainly sold as an antiperspirant or natural deodorant. It was also said to have fireproof properties following shaving, and even “blood cutting” following a cut. On the face, the armpits or the legs, it might thus prove useful, especially since it is enough to moisten it before passing it on the zone concerned. Couldn’t be easier to use!
Alum stone, a carcinogenic product?
With the craze for natural products in cosmetics, alum stone quickly became a godsend for manufacturers. We then saw more and more alum stone deodorants » on the shelf. Until the publication of several scientific articles, making a link between breast cancer and alum stone, following the publication of studies dedicated to this subject.
A american investigation from 2003involving 437 women with cancer be you thus highlighted the age difference between those who had frequently used an antiperspirant while shaving their armpits during their lives, and those who had never applied one. For the former, the average age at which they developed breast cancer was 59, versus 67 for the latter.
Other studies have concluded that cosmetics can be a greater source of exposure to aluminum compounds than food once more making the effect of a bomb.
At the end of 2011, on the basis of scientific data, the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (Afssaps) recommended reduce the concentration of aluminum authorized in cosmetics, however, the link between exposure to aluminum and an increased risk of cancer has not been established. She then specified that “more than twenty-five aluminum compounds are among the substances likely to be used in cosmetic products” and pointed the finger at aluminum chlorohydrate, “one of the most used, in particular in as an antiperspirant. However, although the link with the onset of cancer might not be proven, the consequences of taking aluminum at repeated doses on animal health tipped the scales (neurotoxic effects and consequences on the testicles, embryos , and the development of the nervous system). As reminded the article published at the time by Premium beauty news, the human impact had also been taken very seriously “effects in humans (neurotoxicity, bone damage, anemia) are also known in renal failure patients chronically exposed to aluminum, as well as in premature babies fed with parenterally. »
So much data which had led the Afssaps to declare that “exposure to antiperspirant products with concentrations of 20% of aluminum chlorohydrate does not ensure the health safety of consumers under normal conditions of use. She had therefore recommended restrict the concentration of aluminum in antiperspirant or deodorant products to 0.6% ; and encouraged not to use cosmetics containing aluminum on injured skin, a recommendation which she then enjoined to include on the packaging.
Gradually, sales fell and some brands replaced this ingredient in their products, thus going beyond the recommendations of the ANSM (National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products which replaced the Afssaps in 2012). Also implicated in the potential occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease, alum stone has, in fact, lost popularity.
The return to grace of alum stone, and more broadly, of aluminum
In April 2020, the Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety (CSSC), a scientific body made up of independent experts responsible for advising the European Commission on the possible risks associated with non-food consumer products, issued a final opinion on the use of aluminum in cosmetics. He considered it safe, as long as the concentrations respected those recommended. That is :
- 6.25% in non-spray deodorants and antiperspirants,
- 10.60% in spray deodorants and antiperspirants,
- 2.65% in toothpastes,
- 0.77% in lipsticks.
The CSSC affirmed that in view of recent studies, the risks mentioned a few years earlier had not been proven. He then declared that the aluminum was ultimately almost not absorbed by the skin, even just shaved, and that it was not stored there either.
For its part, the Federation of Beauty Companies (FEBEA) stated in a press release “All the latest evaluations and bibliographies carried out until 2017 by other scientific committees have been reviewed and confirm that aluminum in cosmetics plays no role in breast cancer “. What to question the past incriminations of aluminum salts. To date, alum stone and aluminum derivatives are still considered risky ingredients by some brands, which prefer to avoid them. Real precautionary principle or marketing argument? Difficult to decide.
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