Ingredients to Avoid in Skincare

“Keep an eye out for these nasty ingredients…”

Because our skin is an organ, it drinks, breathes, and consumes whatever it is in contact with. Those ingredients end up in our bodies, our tissues, our other organs, and toxic build-up has been measured in hair follicles and breast milk.

When we have a fresh, or even healed tattoo we want to protect and last, the last thing we want to expose it to is a chemical load. Keep an eye out for these nasty ingredients and disruptive compounds found in many standard brands of moisturizers:

Fragrance

While a sweet scent may make you feel a fleeting moment of joy, the components that make up this “single” ingredient on your labels is vast and almost always disruptive to the human body. They are so loaded with chemicals and endocrine (hormone) disruptors, that science has deemed them “slow poisons.” Avoid unnatural fragrance at all costs.

BHA

Butylated Hydroxyanisole aka BHA, is a preservative and stabilizer found in both food (yikes!) body lotions, and makeup. It is also an endocrine disruptor, and is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” by the National Toxicology Program.

Retinyl Palmitate

The most risky form of vitamin A (think retinols) is retinyl palmitate. It can assist with anti-aging, but is especially harmful for tattoos because it does this by breaking down the top layer of skin, quickly fading and drying out any color ink. But the worst part? It’s been largely linked to cancerous tumor development. Hard pass.

Parabens

Parabens are found in almost any standard or generic brand body-care product, and for good reason. They prevent bacterial and fungal growth from occurring in your bottle, so that they have a longer shelf life not only with you (because brands don’t really care about it after you’ve already made the purchase) but so they can produce in bulk and it won’t go bad on their shelves. Unfortunately, they are linked to breast cancer, and hormonal imbalances. There are more natural, less harmful alternatives.

All in all, your best bet is a natural, rich emollient, like the ingredients in Savior Salve. Skip the worries, understand exactly what’s in your product, and save yourself the (often literal) headache. Safety isn’t just our promise, it’s our guarantee.