Falling For The Wrong Type - Carbomer
My initial introduction was a no-fail aloe vera gel that magically outdistanced all the others I had ever used. It had the perfect texture – light, yet firm. The perfect behavior – it went on smooth, melted in and simply disappeared with no tackiness or residue. It was almost too good to be true.
It was too good to be true.
The Bursting of The Bubble
After discovering it was carbomer that was responsible for (almost) everything I had fallen for in this particular gel, I looked elsewhere for the same properties – diligently. Before long I found myself comparing every other thickener/gelling agent/texturizer to it.Sigh.
Carbomer is not plant based. It's not even animal based.
Here comes the shocker.
But Maybe There's a Touch of Plant Something in There Somewhere... Right?
Not even close, I'm afraid. Carbomer is a generic name for 'synthetic high molecular weight polymers of acrylic acid commonly used as thickening, dispersing and emulsifying agents in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics' (see more at Wikipedia here). In short, it probably couldn't be any further from plants or plant-based materials.
Then There Must be Dangers, Warnings and Other Bad News... Right?
I tried, but couldn't find a thing. Carbomer is actually one of a very few petro-chemical based ingredients that I am unable to find any dangers, warnings, or even environmentally-worrying facts about – at all. Even the hard-core green sites can't find anything bad to say about carbomer.Why No One is Complaining About it
Carbomer won't cause irritation or allergic reactions – even if a product contains up to 100% of the stuff.
CosmeticsInfo.Org says
"Clinical studies with Carbomers showed that these polymers have low potential for skin irritation and sensitization at concentrations up to 100%. A carbomer polymer demonstrated low potential for phototoxicity and photo-contact allergenicity."
Carbomer is, in fact, so departed from nature that nature can hardly figure out what it's dealing with, so chooses to ignore it completely.
Cosmetics Scientist Colin Sanders says
"The chemistry of carbomer is totally synthetic and bears no relationship to anything in nature. This is a good thing. It means that your immune system has not encountered anything similar in its evolutionary history and so it is unlikely to react to it. There are millions of people in the world of course, and I dare say there are some of them somewhere who do react to carbomer. Whatever you use there is somebody somewhere who will react to it. But I have never come across or heard of a reaction to this particular material."(Read his entire post on carbomer here.)
Knowing all of these incredibly positive things about carbomer, a person could be tempted to make an exception to their stubborn plant-based rules and just give in and embrace this wonder ingredient, but ...
There May Just be a Plant-Based Alternative After All
I recently found a new gelling agent/thickener that is plant-based and advertised by my supplier as 'having qualities like carbomer' (nice to see I'm not the only one comparing gelling agents and thickeners to carbomer). I am in the process of testing this new ingredient and promise to update soon.
Meantime, even though carbomer did sneak its way in through the back door, I've decided not to be mad at it for not being plant based. How can you be mad at something that nature can't even be bothered about?
Meantime, even though carbomer did sneak its way in through the back door, I've decided not to be mad at it for not being plant based. How can you be mad at something that nature can't even be bothered about?
Comments
Lise. Er der ikke noget med, at petrokemi er basert på råolie? Og så vidt jeg er informeret, så er olie "lavet af" meget meget meget meget meget gamle planter. Jaaa, se det er jo plantebaseret. Så er den reddet ;-)
Kh Rikke
Do you have an update about the plant-based carbomer-like thickening agent? Thanks!
I have been prescribed eye gel that contains carbomer and have really bad itching that only gets worse. I was looking for info about the ingredients and came across your blog. The gel also contains sorbitol (E 420), which seem to be totally uncalled for as it is a sweetener and I am obviously not going to eat the eye gel. Anyway, I can not say what substance is causing the itching, but I will have to stop using the product and I thought it could be useful for other people with similar problems. As you say, info about carbomer is suspiciously scarce.
The addition of sorbitol in your gel is as a humectant. The company could just as well have used glycerine - the 2 function just the same in skincare products. You are correct in that they are indeed both sweeteners. Glycerine and Sorbitol are both multifunctional ingredients and are used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. I hope you find some relief from your itchiness!
I am sure carbomer can be useful in skin products, but less sure about using it in eye products. I have used a different make of eye gel before without any problem, that does not contain either carbomer or sorbitol. This is why I can not be sure what ingredient is causing the itching. Although I should say, the leaflet states quite a few possible side effects without revealing which substance that could be the cause.
Here is my experience and the reason I've been looking for information on carbomer: I have arthritis and the homeopathic remedies I have been applying on and off are carried in carbomer. Well, I began to realize that after some initial relief, if I used the carbomer gel rubs more than a couple days in a row, the skin and flesh around my joints began to swell and I felt even lousier. No more carbomer for me. We didn't evolve ingesting these petro-chemo substances so I cannot imagine a scenario where they would be helpful. Convenience and/or product 'feel' are not important to me, but good health is. I'm even worrying now about all the medical exams where these gels play a role -- such as ultrasound imaging; isn't it like adding another thing to the toxic load of an already ill-feeling person needing diagnostics? This is something I hope is given more serious safety research. Thanks again.
Soil Association in UK won't approve Carbomer as an ingredient as it's totally synthetic, so I have some criteria to go by in buying cosmetics, but it can be expensive.
The chemistry of carbomer and acrylates in general is like all polymers somewhat complicated. Superglue and carbomer have some similarities but they are not the same and you can't predict the behaviour of one by reference to the other. If you are allergic to superglue you just might be allergic to carbomer as well, but there is no particularly strong reason to expect it. Perspex is an acrylate polymer as well, just to illustrate just how diverse this family of materials is.
Petrochemicals is an even bigger family and the idea that all members of it could possibly be harmful is quite wrong. (Avoiding petrochemicals for the effect their manufacture has on the planet is a totally different argument and one I personally am very sympathetic to. )
Polymers in general are large molecules which don't easily penetrate the skin so on the whole they are low risk from an allergy point of view. There is a possibility that some polymers might shrink on the skin and cause small scale damage which in turn provokes an allergic reaction. This is as likely to happen with natural polymers as synthetic ones. I haven't ever come across such a case myself nor seen any medical reports, but I have sometimes read things people have posted online for which this could be a possible explanation. The anonymous account of getting a reaction several days after rubbing the product in for example might be explained by this. Normal allergic reactions are usually quicker. I am not a medic and am not qualified to offer advice on specific cases I should hastily add.
Finally just to point out that carbomer is used really really widely. I think every human being on the planet must have come into contact with it. While we can't rule out something hitherto unsuspected coming to light, at the moment its track record is pretty much impeccable.
As I have used the original eyedrops with no problems, I bought the carbopol version and have just tried them an hour ago. $5 minutes after using them, I had an intense itching in my throat. This happens when I am allergic to something and I had not eaten or drunk anything between applying the gel drops and having the reaction. I've taken an antihistimine now and the itching is subsiding.
Given that the only difference is carbopol and sorbitol (no previous reactions), I think it's the carbopol but I will try again and update you.
Petroleum products are carcinogens, no amount of marketing can change that.