Now when I turn on the TV, the overwhelming "silicone-free" shampoo ads seem to be insecure. "Silicone is carcinogenic!" "Syringe hair loss with silicone oil!" "Silicone is the source of all evil." Is it really a curse to use silicone oil? So what is silicone oil? What is the role of silicone oil in the formulation? Is silicone oil safe?












Definition and classification of silicone oil


Wikipedia defines silicone oil as a semi-organic polymer and heterogeneous polymer compound composed of silicon and oxygen. Silicone oil is generally divided into ordinary silicone oil and modified silicone oil. Silicone oils commonly used in cosmetics include polydimethylsiloxane, polycyclic siloxane, polymethylphenylsiloxane, amino-modified silicone oil, and the like. Different silicone oils have different volatility. For example, polydimethylsiloxane is a non-volatile liquid, and polycyclic siloxane is a volatile liquid. Depending on the product, different product formulations will add different volatile silicone oils.






Characteristics and application of silicone oil


Silicone oil is non-toxic, odorless, tasteless, and has good lubricity, gas permeability, stability and antistatic properties. Based on the characteristics of the above silicone oil, it is really suitable as a component of shampoo and conditioner. Smooth and non-static, isn't the ultimate dream of hair care products? In addition to silicone oils, silicone oils also contain silicone oils in many creams and foundations. When buying a product, pay attention to the label. Many international brands have polydimethylsiloxane, cyclopentasiloxane and cyclohexasiloxane. For example, a brand of black bottle essence and a lady brand platinum eye cream contain polydimethylsiloxane, which adds a greasy feel to the formula and enhances the smoothness and smoothness of the skin. For example, a brand of high moisturizing cream and another brand of velvet feather liquid foundation have added cyclohexasiloxane. This silicone oil is a volatile silicone oil. After volatilization, the skin feels not sticky, and the active ingredients remain on the skin. ,very useful.


 


Silicone oil safety assessment


The US CIR (Cosmetic Raw Materials Evaluation Committee) expert group concluded through a series of experimental data, polydimethylsiloxane, cyclomethicone, cyclotetramethicone, cyclopentasilane Oxyalkane, cyclohexasiloxane and cycloheptasiloxane are safe as cosmetic raw materials (due to the wide variety of silicone oils, I can't refer to them one by one, it does not mean that other silicone oils not listed are unsafe). As for the remarks that silicone oil is harmful to the human body, it is basically based on animal experiments of silicone oil. For example, the use of silicone-containing cosmetics for eye diseases is indeed a direct injection of high concentration silicone oil into animal eyeballs in animal experiments. The experimental result is that the animal's eye produces lesions. [1] Since silicone oil has been shown to be harmful to animal health in many animal experiments, silicone oil has been assessed as a potential risk in the risk assessment of some international health agencies. For example, cyclotetramethicone, cyclopentasiloxane, and polydimethylsiloxane are classified as medium risk by another US EWG (US Environmental Working Group). However, if the results of animal experiments are directly equated with the human body, many drugs on the market will not be sold. These animal experiments were carried out by subcutaneous injection, oral silicone oil, etc., but the cosmetic formula was only used externally and the concentration was not high, and there was no clinical data to support the direct damage of silicone oil to the human body. It is worth mentioning that studies have shown that silicone oil has a small amount of deposition in the environment [2]. Therefore, from the perspective of environmental protection, the cosmetics producers can consider the environment when selecting raw materials. However, the safety of silicone oil to the human body is unquestionable, otherwise there will be no baby products containing silicone oil on the market.


In an age when food safety is not 100% guaranteed, consumers can't stand the rumors. Some shampoos run out of such problems, but in addition to silicone oil, shampoo has many ingredients, surfactants, conditioners, preservatives and other ingredients can be safe? Merchants do not reflect on the overall formula, but let a single raw material back to the pot, this behavior is extremely irresponsible to consumers. There are specializations in the industry, and the business is taking advantage of the knowledge of cosmetics to create one after another. Improving product quality and integrity management is a long-term solution.