Hypoallergenic?

Is there one line of cosmetics that’s best for sensitive or allergy-prone skin? It would be great if there were, but it just doesn’t exist. Hypoallergenic has always been a completely inane term given that no one knows what anyone is going to be allergic to. There are no agreed – upon standards or regulations that establish what ingredients are of concern, so any cosmetics company can stick the hypoallergenic claim on a label with nothing to back it up.

Allergic skin reactions are amazingly random and dissimilar. What you’re sensitive to often has little to do with what someone else reacts to, and beyond that there’s the intricate interaction of ingredients being combined on the face. The culprit may not be the product you think caused the problem. You may think a new moisturizer made your eyes swell, but it could be the resins from that reliable nail polish you were wearing in combination with the new moisturizer that triggered the problem.

Updated: September 27, 2015 — 10:09 am