More and more people are switching to natural and organic beauty products because they want to use safer ingredients. Yet if you are going through chemo therapy even natural/organic products might not be suitable.
This is a two part interview with Jennifer Young, creator of Defiant Beauty skincare, designed for those affected by cancer.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Young
Q: What has inspired you to create a range specifically for people going through cancer treatment?
The nurse team have very strict rules about ‘permitted ingredients’ and they won’t allow skincare products for cancer patients that don’t comply with their rules to be sold from the salon on their chemo ward.
Ingredients to avoid are many and varied. This is quite technical so I have separated each category.
Creams and Lotions
Creams and Lotions contain
water; they are a mix of oils and water. As these two do not mix naturally and
can be a breeding ground for bugs and moulds, many other ingredients such as
emulsifiers, pH adjusters, softeners and preservatives have to be added. This
means that creams, lotions and any other products that contain water have to
have many ingredients.These
extras can be ‘natural’ ie derived from plants and are often lovely but the
high number of ingredients means that there are extra things that the very
sensitive skin of cancer patients can react to. It is for this reason that we
don’t have any water based products in the Defiant Beauty Range.
photo courtesy of Jennifer Young
In addition, ‘chemo skin’ is very dry, oil and butter based products are far more moisturising
than a cream or lotion that can be mostly water.
Phyto-oestrogens
It is very important to
avoid phyto-oestrogens (oestrogens that come from plants) when going through
treatment for cancer. Phyto-oestrogens, or plant oestrogens, are
naturally occurring chemicals that have a structure similar to the female
hormone oestrogen. Oils such as borage, avocado, evening primrose and soy are
plant oestrogens. Aloe is another natural source of oestrogens
We do not include these oils in our Defiant
Beauty as some cancers, particularly breast cancer, are oestrogen positive.
About 7 out of 10 breast cancers are oestrogen positive. They contain receptors
that allow proteins or hormones to attach to the cancer cells. The hormones
cause the cancer cells to grow and divide, resulting in tumour growth. The
nurses I worked with described the oestrogens as food for the cancer – no way
are they going into my products.
Essential Oils
As I have said, cancer patients can be very
sensitive to smell. It is impossible to predict which smells will cause offence
and it was for that reason that the oncology nurses asked me to make
fragrance-free products.
There is much more to
essential oils than we have space for here but, in summary, some essential oils
should never be included in products for cancer patients and some are
wonderful, providing that they can be tolerated.
Anti-Oxidants
Cancer patients are often
advised to avoid all vitamin supplements whilst they are going through
chemotherapy. The reasons for this are based in biochemistry.Vitamins such as C, E and A are anti-oxidants commonly found
in skincare products (as anti-oxidants slow the aging process). We avoid adding
them to our products at levels that would be utilised by the skin. We add
Vitamin E to Defiant Beauty at a level that will stabilise the oils (prevent
them from becoming rancid) but will do no more.
Q: One of the biggest appearance
changes that I personally associate with cancer is hair loss, is there any way
to avoid it?
A: Yes,
and many women don’t know and aren’t told. Cooling caps are proven to reduce
hair loss in some cases if used at the time of chemotherapy. Cooling caps are a medical device and must be provided by a
medical team, be they at home via a private medical provider or by the NHS.
Chemotherapy
can also result in nail damage and cooling the nail bed can
reduce the damage. Moisturising the nails can also reduce the impact
of chemotherapy on the nails.
Q: Are
there any simple at home recipes that people could use to make their skin less
sensitive?
A: This
is the most difficult question. As you can see, there is a lot to consider when
recommending products for cancer patients. Skin becomes sensitive as a result of the
chemo treatment
and as such, could be considered a good sign. If skin were to stop being
sensitive patients may begin to worry. It is our approach to accept the
sensitivity and create products that patients are less likely to react to (we
make no promises as all are unique and react differently to different
ingredients). We also aim to soothe the sensitivity, soreness and itchy skin by
including ingredients associated with healing as well as those considered
suitable for sensitive skin.
If
your readers want to try something at home, they could experiment with the nut
oils available in the oils section at the supermarket. Nut oils are known for
their anti-aging properties and many are heavy moisturising oils. The only oil
that I would avoid is peanut oil. Generally, the more expensive the oil, the
better it will be.
In the second part of the interview we will be talking make-up. In the meantime, here are a few links if you are looking for more information regarding skincare.
Are there any simple at home recipes that people could use to make their skin less sensitive? This one is very good information for me. Thank you!!
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Thank you for your comment, happy it was informative:)
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