BB Creams: Skin Care Miracle or Hoax in a bottle?
- mandymbeauty
- Jan 23, 2017
- 4 min read
We all have the same goal: flawless skin without having to use 6 different products to achieve it. If only there was some kind of product that could replace everything else in my foundation routine....wait! What about a BB Cream?
Do they really work? What about chemicals? What even IS a BB cream?
In this post you'll find all the answers and more.
What is a BB Cream?
BB Cream stands for Beauty Balm or Blemish Balm. The way these products are marketed make it seem like they will solve all your skin care worries, giving you a flawless finish without being cakey or having to pack too many products on our faces.
The first formulation of what became BB Cream was invented in Germany (heyyyy!) in the 1960's by dermatologist Dr. Christine Schrammek. She created it to help her patients skin after facial peels and surgery. (1.)
So, What's The Problem?
Well, the best way to say it is that not all BB creams are bad. The issue them is really the way they are presented to the public. Most creams are marketed as "all-in-one" miracle creams, when that's not really the case. Let's take a look at a drugstore brand BB cream and it's ingredients.
This is the Garnier Skin Clear (Hautklar) BB cream. It is sold for 6,45€ in my local drugstore for 50 mL. Now, here are the ingredients:
B170603/1 INGREDIENTS AQUA / WATER, DIMETHICONE, ISODODECANE, GLYCERIN, DIISOSTEARYL MALATE, KAOLIN, DISTEARDIMONIUM HECTORITE, SALICYLIC ACID, PEG-9 POLYDIMETHYLSILOXYETHYL DIMETHICONE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, PHENOXYETHANOL, DIMETHICONE/POLYGLYCERIN-3 CROSSPOLYMER, PEG-10 DIMETHICONE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, SODIUM DEHYDROACETATE, CHLORPHENESIN, DISODIUM STEAROYL GLUTAMATE, ACRYLATES COPOLYMER, ZINC GLUCONATE, TOCOPHEROL, ASCORBYL PALMITATE, ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE, PEG-9, DIPROPYLENE GLYCOL, MORINGA PTERYGOSPERMA SEED EXTRACT, PARFUM / FRAGRANCE, [+/- MAY CONTAIN CI 77891 / TITANIUM DIOXIDE, CI 77491, CI 77492 / IRON OXIDES ]
Now if you take those ingredients, and paste them in to Google, it will show you products that have similar formulations. (I learned this trick from the amazing Stephanie Nicole on YouTube).
This is the webite that Google gave me: http://www.codecheck.info/product.search?q=bb&p=2
it shows other products with exact or very similar ingredients to the above mentioned cream. Now, what's wrong with that?
First of all, the cream in this example is a drugstore brand. If you go through the list, there are a few expensive brands such as Shiseido and Babour that have very similar formulations. That being said, if you're used to buying from these brands, you are basically paying a very high price for the same thing you can get for 7 bucks at the drug store.
The Shiseido BB cream is 38 dollars per 30 mL, and the Garnier is 645€ for 50 mL. There is a huge price difference for basically the same formula.
Basically the point is most of these are over-priced for really nothing.
Now, take another look at the ingredients. See some that aren't super great for skin? Especially all of those Dimethicone ingredients? While the FDA has approved Dimethicone for use in skin-care and cosmetic items, it can cause your skin far more problems than it can fix. Dimethicone traps everything under it. Which means, if you have oily skin, all of that will be trapped underneath your BB cream which can cause break outs and clogged pores.
Dimethicone also keeps your skin from performing normal activities, like sweating and temperature regulation. (2.) Doesn't sound like a mircale skin care ingredient, does it?
So should I avoid all BB creams?
In no way am I telling you to stop using your favorite BB cream. What I am telling you, is to be careful and to watch for what brand you buy. There are plenty of creams out there from natural brands that don't contain the harmful chemicals and other nasty ingredients that others do. If you have a BB cream that you swear by, love and use daily, great! As long as you're not having problems with your skin, you're happy with the way you look, and feel comfortable in your skin, then there's nothing to worry about. You do you gorgeous!
Bibliography:
I don't normally put these in, since I normally don't need them, but for this post I used a number of outside sources to ensure I was delivering correct information to my readers.
1. "BB Cream." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
2. Aragon, Britta. "Setting the Standard for Safe Self-Care." Cinco Vidas RSS. Cinco Vidas, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
3. Alison. "Why to Avoid Buying BB Creams." Alexami. Alexami, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
4. "Garnier Hautklar BB Cream Hell Dauerhaft Günstig Online Kaufen." Garnier Hautklar BB Cream Hell Dauerhaft Günstig Online Kaufen. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
5. Moleti, Nicole. "Why You Actually Do Not Want to Wear BB Cream - Ever Again!" POPSUGAR Beauty. POPSUGAR, 22 Jan. 2017. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
6. "Suchresultate." - Suche – | ||| | || CODECHECK.INFO. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.
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