u/noCFU4you

Update: A few weeks back, I sent 10 commercially available lotions to an ISO 17025 Accredited laboratory for heavy metal testing via ICP-MS. I was telling the story on Reddit, and lots of people had asked to see the results. Then, shortly after I tried to post them, Reddit suspended my account and removed all of my previous posts. I have some theories around why that happened (probably not "big lotion" acting in the shadows, lol), but the account suspension has passed and I don't want this update to become about the legitimacy of that action.

Instead, I'm doing some things differently here to maximize the chances that this stays up:

1. Not including any links to white papers or to previous posts (which were removed by reddit anyways) to try not to trigger the filter.
2. Not referring to users who made next step suggestions by name. Previously i though "give credit" but apparently Reddit filters may flag that.
3. Not naming brands/products. Possibly Reddit would flag that because of legal exposure.

I have a bigger write-up with cited papers, comprehensive methods, and more comprehensive results, but i think I'll have to create a little website to host that and share links or something. Let me know if you're interested.

Now for the Results:

• We tested for Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, and Arsenic. The lab had a detection limit of 1 part per billion (ppb).
• Four products had at least one detectable heavy metal.
• The highest detection was 20.4 ppb Arsenic.
• The remaining 6 of 10 samples had no Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, or Arsenic detected (above the 1ppb lab reporting limit)

Note: This testing was one unit of each product from a single point in time. For this reason, it would be incorrect to say that this is indicative of all products from a company, or all units of a manufacturing lot or product line. This tells us just what a small lotion mass of each of those 10 units contained as evaluated by the laboratory.

Conclusions: Heavy metals aren't healthy and they serve no function in a lotion, so you'd obviously prefer they weren't present at all, but the detection we saw was overall pretty low.

Next Steps: A few people asked about phthalates and PFAS previously and I think that's what I'm going to test next. I did some research and found a whitepaper out of Spain that found phthalates in lotion products. In the US, "Phthalate Free" legally means "No phthalates added deliberately" but doesn't mean anything about phthalates that leach from packaging or come from the production process. I think that will be an interesting analysis.

An interesting challenge with these is that they are really diverse chemical groups. Should I test broadly, or should i look for specific members of each group that are noteworthy from a health or 'likely to be present' prospective? Anyone have an opinion on that? I have a call with the lab later today to design an approach.

TLDR; 10 products are on their way to testing - results expected in approx. 2 weeks.

Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/moderatelygranolamoms/comments/1uq8u0v/would_anyone_be_interested_if_i_tested_handbody/

Full Update; Since my original post, I’ve had a surprisingly hard time finding a lab willing to touch this project. The first few labs I contacted actually declined. One large national lab even directed me to there general TOS, which said that I couldn’t share the test results with any third party (hilarious). They apparently provide testing but its a secret. That's not going to work for this project, lol.

I also put an inquiry out regarding the ICP-MS I have access to here. The responsible person was receptive, but has been out all week sick, so that's still in limbo a bit.  Definitely want to get that together in case I want to do this with additional cosmetic products. It costs something like 80% less to do it here, so I want to have that option for initial screening for anything I do beyond this. Someone before mentioned hand sanitizer, which i think is interesting because the alcohol disrupts the skin barrier and increases permeability.

I did ultimately find a US based ISO17025-accredited analytical lab that was receptive. I agreed not to identify the lab, and their position was basically: “You accept responsibility and hold us harmless for whatever happens after we give you the data, and we’re fine with it.” Fair enough!

I shipped 10 lotions, unopened, and in original packaging on Saturday, so this is officially happening! Shipping + Testing + Report will probably take something like 2 weeks.

TLDR; 10 products are on their way to testing - results expected in approx. 2 weeks.

Original Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/cleanbeauty/comments/1uq8xl3/if_i_tested_handbody_lotions_for_heavy_metals/

Full Update; Since my original post, I’ve had a surprisingly hard time finding a lab willing to touch this project. The first few labs I contacted actually declined. One large national lab even directed me to there general TOS, which said that I couldn’t share the test results with any third party (hilarious). They apparently provide testing but its a secret. That's not going to work for this project, lol.

I also put an inquiry out regarding the ICP-MS I have access to here. The responsible person was receptive, but has been out all week sick, so that's still in limbo a bit.  Definitely want to get that together in case I want to do this with additional cosmetic products. It costs something like 80% less to do it here, so I want to have that option for initial screening for anything I do beyond this. Someone before mentioned hand sanitizer, which i think is interesting because the alcohol disrupts the skin barrier and increases permeability.

I did ultimately find a US based ISO17025-accredited analytical lab that was receptive. I agreed not to identify the lab, and their position was basically: “You accept responsibility and hold us harmless for whatever happens after we give you the data, and we’re fine with it.” Fair enough!

I shipped 10 lotions, unopened, and in original packaging on Saturday, so this is officially happening! Shipping + Testing + Report will probably take something like 2 weeks.

Question: if I tested common daily hand/body lotions for heavy metals like lead and cadmium, would anyone be interested in the results?

I’m honestly a bit cleanliness-obsessed and I’ve been trying to minimize unwanted chemicals in my household for basically forever. I was thinking, "our hands touch everything." Food, dishes, faces, family, etc. That made me curious about what’s actually in the products we put on our hands, beyond what shows up on an ingredient list. So i thought, "maybe I'll just test some."

If I did that, would anyone else want to know? I was thinking about looking for cadmium, lead, arsenic, and mercury since those aren’t going to show up on an ingredient list. I've got a chemistry background and access to ICP-MS. It could detect even trace amounts.

Maybe if there’s interest, I’ll look at other things in the future too.

Question: if I tested common daily hand/body lotions for heavy metals like lead and cadmium, would anyone be interested in the results?

I’m honestly a bit cleanliness-obsessed and I’ve been trying to minimize unwanted chemicals in my household for basically forever. I was thinking, "our hands touch everything." Food, dishes, faces, family, etc. That made me curious about what’s actually in the products we put on our hands, beyond what shows up on an ingredient list. So i thought, "maybe I'll just test some."

If I did that, would anyone else want to know? I was thinking about looking for cadmium, lead, arsenic, and mercury since those aren’t going to show up on an ingredient list. I've got a chemistry background and access to ICP-MS. It could detect even trace amounts.

Maybe if there’s interest, I’ll look at other things in the future too.