by Wanda Waller, our beauty columnist Bio Oil is another product that didn’t really do much for me, it didn’t make my skin worse like Lucas’ papaw did, I just haven’t seen any changes or improvements because of it. I never understood why is it so expensive as the main ingredient is mineral oil (even though they tried to hide that fact under the fancy “paraffinum liqidum” label). I definitely don’t think that mineral oil is unnatural or toxic; first of all it is natural, as most often, mineral oil is a liquid by-product of the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum-based products from crude oil. But just because it is natural, it doesn’t mean it is good for you! Second of all I don’t believe its toxic if it’s used in its most purified form that meats all the purity and safety standards, however, I definitely think it’s shouldn’t be used frequently on the skin or as a base for a moisturizer. In my opinion mineral oil and petroleum should be only used in barrier creams and be clearly labeled as such, so the consumer knows exactly that they are getting!
Back to the bio-oil, the ingredient list is very interesting and very long, it’s like they tried to make it sound as complicated as they could, so no one would even be bother to read it.
“Bio Oil contains 29 ingredients of which four are plant extracts found in almost every body product on the market, two are vitamins used in a lot of cosmetic formulas, the main ingredient is mineral oil and everything else is slip agents, fillers, fragrance or dyes”. The number of artificial fragrance ingredients is worrying as there is 12 in total plus 1 synthetic ingredient responsible for the orange color. “There is not one significant ingredient to improve scarring that cannot be found in numerous formulas for less money” (quoted from: http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/
It is definitely not a miracle cure, just a very good blend of various synthetic and natural ingredients mixed with a great marketing strategy.
When I was doing my research for this post I found it strange that over the years Bio Oil has only been tested on very small, limited number of people. The biggest group consisted of 80 individuals; however, most research groups were smaller than 30 people. That number of people is definitely not large enough to get any conclusive results. The thing that keeps getting repeated is the need for the product to be massaged into the skin daily. This makes me believe that it’s the action of massaging the skin, not the product itself that improves the look of scars and stretch marks. Take any organic natural plant based oil and massage it twice a day for 10 minutes and you will get the same if not better results(for less $)!
Because of the presence of high content of synthetic fragrance, alcohol and artificial colorants this product is a complete miss for me and I would never recommend it to any of my clients. Another product with very similar ingredients list and claims is INNOXA SoS Skin tissue oil.
You can get much better results, without the marketing BS, by using natural plant based oils, something like:
-rose hip oil (no specific brand here, just make sure its certified organic and its cold pressed)
- MooGoo Skin Care oils (online & pharmacy)
- SheaMoisture mommy and/or baby range (Iherb.com)
Or you can make your own oil, there is plenty of amazing recipes online using organic argan, almond, coconut, olive or jojoba oil
If you are trying to get rid of pigmentation problems, stretch marks or scars it is important to use SPF of at least 15 on the affected areas.
P.S I definitely don’t think a product that is mainly mineral oil, paraffin or petroleum can help hydration or dry skin as it doesn’t penetrate the skin, it just sits on top of the surface. If you would like to actually fix the problem instead of using something that will make you dependent on it try going with something that has hyaluronic acid in it -more on it in the next post!