This week: Looking at ingredients – am I allergic to lanolin?
Lanolin has long been accused of being an ingredient which causes irritation to sensitive skin. Like preservatives though, it is something that is often unfairly seized upon by people as being a ‘baddie’. We get lots of women calling in claiming they are sensitive to preservatives and lanolin. Yet, when you ask if they have had patch tests, they say ‘no’ and further probing reveals they just think these are causing their problems because they’ve heard vague mention of them somewhere.
Lanolin is an excellent ingredient with a very good track record. It is used in all sorts of products from lipsticks and lip balms to body lotions and face creams.
I have always liked the www.cosmeticscop.ca website which is run by a woman called Paula Begoun, an ex-make-up artist and now a writer and the owner of her own cosmetics line. Her ingredients directory says:
Lanolin: Emollient, very thick substance derived from the sebaceous glands of sheep. Lanolin has long been burdened with a reputation for being an allergen or sensitizing agent, which has always been a disappointment to formulators because lanolin is such an effective moisturizing agent for skin. A study in the British Journal of Dermatology (July 2001, pages 28–31) may change all that. The study concluded “that lanolin sensitization has remained at a relatively low and constant rate even in a high-risk population (ie patients with recent or active eczema).” Based on a review of 24,449 patients who were tested with varying forms of lanolin, it turned out that “The mean annual rate of sensitivity to this allergen was 1.7%”—and it was lower than that for a 50% concentration of lanolin. It looks like it’s time to restore lanolin’s good reputation. That’s a very good thing for someone with dry skin, though it can be a problem for someone with oily skin, because lanolin closely resembles the oil from human oil glands (see here for more http://www.cosmeticscop.ca/dictionaryL).
There is also some interesting info about lanolin on the Lansinoh (they sell a lanolin product for use on nipples by breastfeeding mothers) website:
“Lanolin has been used for over 8000 years. The ancient Egyptians used to put blocks of it on their head, which would melt in the sun and provide soft smooth skin. Directions for its use appear in medical and pharmaceutical texts throughout the last 2000 years. The term lanolin comes from the Latin lana for wool and oleum for oil, though chemically it is a wax rather than oil. It is the secretions from the sebaceous glands of sheep, which protect the fleece against rain and other elements. Lanolin comes from the fleece of sheep after shearing. No harm comes to the sheep in extracting lanolin. It is a natural and renewable raw material not a processed synthetic compound.”
Of course, you may be one of the very tiny percentage of people who does have a sensitivity to lanolin in which case you do need to take care. Skin patch testing can diagnose an allergy or you can, of course, try products without it as these are easy to find. As we always say, just read ingredients labels carefully. For the most part, however, you should be able to use products containing lanolin without any problem which means you can benefit from its wonderful moisturising and protective qualities.
