Hi, I recently discovered I am allergic to cobalt and nickel, can someone please help me to identify these metals in skincare and makeup products? I have been suffering a lot, but it is rarely written Cobalt or Nickel anywhere and yet allergies appear, even on a simple MAC eyeliner pencil that only says it has irons. And are all the blue colors Cobalt? I am so lucky that I even have one + on Balsam of Peru besides ++++ both on Nickel and Cobalt, Thank you
1
Log in or sign up to leave a comment
Oh my God this is the first time I find so much information to help me, you don't know how much I thank you. I will explore all of this as soon as I can and... thank you
1
Oh, sorry you have to deal with this - this is definitely not easy. Re the metals, unfortunately you might need to avoid all iron oxides unless the manufacturer specifies that their ingredients were purified to eliminate traces of nickel & cobalt. Maybe this quote can help: "Mineral pigments such as iron‐ (Fe), manganese‐ (Mn) and titanium‐ (Ti) oxides are often blended and used for colouring of cosmetic products.3, 4 These pigments may naturally contain different metal impurities such as Ni and Co." (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9826512/) In this study, the researchers tested a couple of pigments and found the following: Unipure Yellow LC 182, Unipure Red LC 381, Unipure Pink LC 583, Unipure Violet LC 581, Unipure Black LC 990, Zeosafe CL‐07 contained some nickel or both nickel and cobalt. Mica GH 103, Mica GH 108, Mica GH 603 and Unipure White LC 981 did not contain the metals at detectable levels according to this study. "Findings of this study reveal that impurities of both Ni and Co can be present in inorganic metal oxide pigments used in cosmetics. Their presence was associated with metal oxides rich in Fe and Mn. These pigments are usually darker and/or more colourful compared with less coloured or white pigments containing silicon‐ (Si) and Ti‐rich pigments. A similar trend was observed in a recent study on tattoo inks 3 showing a strong correlation between the content of impurities of Ni and Co from the ink with several metal constituents, including Fe and Mn, and also between each other.... Note that the used concentration of these pigments in some facial cosmetic products, such as eye shadow, can be a significant fraction (a few to more than 50%) of the ingredients".
For makeup, you could consider going for brands that take extra steps in purifying their pigments, like this one: https://www.idunminerals.com/pages/about-us (disclaimer: I haven't tried this brand myself).
As for Balsam of Peru, it's a mix of different fragrances, so the safest option for you would be to avoid all fragrances in cosmetics, both synthetic and natural (including essential oils). Hope this helps!