On 8/5/2025 at 1:34 PM, sethoflagos said:

I can certainly identify with this experience. After over 40 years of contact lens wear, I began to develop significant allergic reactions to the solutions (or possibly something else like protein residues) and had to give up and go back to wearing specs.

Did you switch to glasses recently? It was the opposite in my case a bit. I used to wear them when I was young but had to switch to glasses because my eyes kept burning which the doctors couldn't really figure out. Somewhat recently the eye doctor suggested to me to try new contacts and to my surprise they worked. They suggested that in the past the contact might have rubbed at the region where the stem cells are which will lead to reaction that is fairly similar to an allergic response over time.

2 hours ago, CharonY said:

Did you switch to glasses recently?

In the last two years. I used hard contact lenses from 1977 to maybe 2007 when my optician said I had some eye anoxia issues and should switch to gas permeable soft lenses. Since I stocked up during infrequent visits to the UK, there was a distinct tendency wear lenses somewhat beyond their serviceable lives, and eventually I began to get quite severe inflammatory reactions.

On 4/6/2025 at 6:12 PM, exchemist said:

If you think for a moment you will realise it is impossible to answer this question. There are innumerable substances that are not good to put on the skin. 

I guess you also need to take into account how those substances react with the body, if they get absorbed and react with something else in the body, either natural or even just simple painkillers.

On 4/6/2025 at 9:19 PM, npts2020 said:

In general, cosmetics and body care products are relatively benign since anything that causes obvious problems is quickly restricted or taken off the market. It would be a lot easier to discuss particular ingredients because there are so many (I have several hundred chemicals just for making body oils and fragrances).

Ah yes, the typical "if it's commercial, I'm sure it's good. I will look into this no further".

I was using a coal tar shampoo from Neutrogena sparingly and, recently, when trying to find it on the shelves, I discovered they weren't commercialising it anymore. Their website says it's because it wasn't safe to handle anymore, but apparently the lawsuit covers the customer side too saying the concentrations weren't low enough to not have any carcinogenic effect (with regular use as a shampoo is used, I assume). And that proves that things like this happen often enough. Another ingredient that has been found recently in too high quantities in hair products has been benzene.

And, give me one big second. We are talking about US/EU here.

Good luck to you anywhere else in trying to find stuff not contaminated with heavy metals.

Edited August 12Aug 12 by FreeStyle

1 hour ago, FreeStyle said:

Ah yes, the typical "if it's commercial, I'm sure it's good. I will look into this no further".

I was using a coal tar shampoo from Neutrogena sparingly and, recently, when trying to find it on the shelves, I discovered they weren't commercialising it anymore. Their website says it's because it wasn't safe to handle anymore, but apparently the lawsuit covers the customer side too saying the concentrations weren't low enough to not have any carcinogenic effect (with regular use as a shampoo is used, I assume). And that proves that things like this happen often enough. Another ingredient that has been found recently in too high quantities in hair products has been benzene.

And, give me one big second. We are talking about US/EU here.

Good luck to you anywhere else in trying to find stuff not contaminated with heavy metals.

Yes but there is nuance here. Components can get withdrawn on a precautionary principle without real evidence of harm and sometimes for what seem to be public relations reasons due to doubtful but popularised allegations of risk. The weedkiller glyphosate is an example. That is no longer available at my local garden centre, all the brands that used it having been reformulated due to popular pressure, even though it is considered by regulatory authorities not to pose a risk in normal use. The arguments are often borderline, regarding max safe concentrations. That may be the case with your coal tar soap. My guess would be that you will get more exposure to benzene when refilling your car at the pump than you will from any hair product.

23 hours ago, FreeStyle said:

Ah yes, the typical "if it's commercial, I'm sure it's good. I will look into this no further".

How do you get this ^

from this>? In general, cosmetics and body care products are relatively benign since anything that causes obvious problems is quickly restricted or taken off the market. It would be a lot easier to discuss particular ingredients because there are so many (I have several hundred chemicals just for making body oils and fragrances).

Pretty sure the above is commentary about chemicals compared to each other and not whether any particular one(s) is "safe".