Recently, I was walking through the store looking for aloe gel. It was the beginning of summer, and I was preparing for a trip. I knew sun burns were inevitable, no matter how much sunscreen I used. Eventually I found the aloe gel, just the generic store brand. As I picked it up, I decided to look at the ingredients, as I often do out of curiosity. Here they are:
water, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, alcohol denat, glycerin, polysorbate 20, carbomer, triethanolamine, benzophenone-4, phenoxyethaol, benzyl alcohol, fragrance, yellow 5, blue 1.
Water, of course, makes sense. Next is the aloe, which of course, also makes sense. The next eight are various chemicals. I am no chemist so I have no idea what these do. But in good faith of the large corporations of the world, I read through these ingredients, assuming they had good reason to be there.
But the last few made me stop for a second. Fragrance and artificial dyes. I can’t say I was surprised, after all the gel was almost neon green. But it still didn’t make sense. Why would a company add unnecessary fragrances and dyes to a product for aesthetic appeals?
If I had to describe the smell of this product, it would be like an organic sunscreen. It definitely doesn’t smell bad, though. The ingredient list does not say what is in the fragrance, as it is considered a trade secret. So, there could be any number of chemicals.
What really caught my eye, though, is the artificial dyes. This particular gel contains yellow 5 and blue 1, combining to make the gel green. This adds an appeal on the shelf. Artificial dyes are generally recognized as safe. However, there are some concerning health effects associated with artificial dyes. The evidence largely shows they are safe but it still begs the question why they were included in this aloe gel. For me, I would much rather use a clear or golden aloe gel that looks natural with a simpler ingredient list. But the company seems to have decided that the appeal of adding dyes is worth it.
I do not think this aloe gel, or most things sold, are unsafe. But as stories continue to come out of harmful chemicals being found in over the counter products, I will remain conscious of the ingredients in products I use. I would like to see more transparency from companies and governments about the effects of ingredients.
