My experience tells me you are wrong
And there are good alcohol-free ASB out there that are not expensive
The lowdown on Aftershaves w/ Alcohol??
- Thread starter Manco
- Start date
My experience tells me you are wrong
And there are good alcohol-free ASB out there that are not expensive
Just in case anyone missed it, Patrick Bateman was nuts.
"The confusion begins" when we fail to understand each other. I certainly agree that some people overstate the deleterious affects of cosmetic alcohol (and I suspect those who do are referring to denatured ethanol). In my view, it's an overstatement to assert that alcohol is bad for EVERYONE's skin, just as it's an overstatement to invalidate someone's individual experience by claiming that, "the harmful effects...on your skin are greatly overstated." Each person's experience is valid for that person.
Similarly, the accuracy of this statement would be enhanced if one added, "...when it comes to my skin." I've been curious, however, about your prior statements that at least one ASB containing alcohol doesn't cause you any problems; how can this be, if "alcohol" is universally bad for your skin? Is it possible some other ingredient or combo would be a liklier suspect?
I had a skin problem a few years ago, and I was told that alcohol is drying to the skin, also was told if you a/s put a scent free moisturiser on after, I did follow this advise, but the probnlem has now gone, though if I use a a/s in the night, the morning after I put a moisturiser on, this has worked for me, I have not used a alcohol free a/s as yet, though do use a alcohol free w/h!
Whats up with all the alcohol threads in here this week? You guys made me read up on the subject 
So here's what I found...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2133.2007.07944.x/pdf
Not sure if it's accessible without a subscription to the british journal of dermatology so I'll paste the main findings.
The part that is relevant to aftershaves is the wash test. they took 105 people and washed one side of their arm with either alcohol, SDS, water, or a combination of those. They then washed the other arm with a different combo of the above for comparison. So they compared water to alcohol, alcohol to SDS, etc. on the same person at the same time. They measured skin dryness, water loss from the skin and irritation... here's the table of results:
View attachment $Untitled-1.jpg
The asterisks indicated a difference between the arms/treatments. If you pay attention to the last two rows, they tried water on one arm and ethanol on the other. They found no significant difference in water loss or skin hydration or even irritation between the two. Also they found SDS caused the most water loss/drying and irritation and combining ethanol with SDS actually reduced the amount of drying that occurred from SDS. They concluded that this reduction was from the alcohol removing the SDS residue.
They did find that alcohol soaked in a gauze pad applied to the skin for 24 hours caused skin drying...but that really doesn't apply to how people use aftershave.
So how does this apply to aftershaves? Well splashing on an alcohol aftershave does not cause any more skin dryness than splashing on water. The aftershave may actually improve skin hydration by washing away soap residue that would cause dryness and irritation.
Hope that helps....
So here's what I found...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2133.2007.07944.x/pdf
Not sure if it's accessible without a subscription to the british journal of dermatology so I'll paste the main findings.
The part that is relevant to aftershaves is the wash test. they took 105 people and washed one side of their arm with either alcohol, SDS, water, or a combination of those. They then washed the other arm with a different combo of the above for comparison. So they compared water to alcohol, alcohol to SDS, etc. on the same person at the same time. They measured skin dryness, water loss from the skin and irritation... here's the table of results:
View attachment $Untitled-1.jpg
The asterisks indicated a difference between the arms/treatments. If you pay attention to the last two rows, they tried water on one arm and ethanol on the other. They found no significant difference in water loss or skin hydration or even irritation between the two. Also they found SDS caused the most water loss/drying and irritation and combining ethanol with SDS actually reduced the amount of drying that occurred from SDS. They concluded that this reduction was from the alcohol removing the SDS residue.
They did find that alcohol soaked in a gauze pad applied to the skin for 24 hours caused skin drying...but that really doesn't apply to how people use aftershave.
So how does this apply to aftershaves? Well splashing on an alcohol aftershave does not cause any more skin dryness than splashing on water. The aftershave may actually improve skin hydration by washing away soap residue that would cause dryness and irritation.
Hope that helps....
Whats up with all the alcohol threads in here this week? You guys made me read up on the subject
So here's what I found...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2133.2007.07944.x/pdf
Not sure if it's accessible without a subscription to the british journal of dermatology so I'll paste the main findings.
The part that is relevant to aftershaves is the wash test. they took 105 people and washed one side of their arm with either alcohol, SDS, water, or a combination of those. They then washed the other arm with a different combo of the above for comparison. So they compared water to alcohol, alcohol to SDS, etc. on the same person at the same time. They measured skin dryness, water loss from the skin and irritation... here's the table of results:
View attachment 171576
The asterisks indicated a difference between the arms/treatments. If you pay attention to the last two rows, they tried water on one arm and ethanol on the other. They found no significant difference in water loss or skin hydration or even irritation between the two. Also they found SDS caused the most water loss/drying and irritation and combining ethanol with SDS actually reduced the amount of drying that occurred from SDS. They concluded that this reduction was from the alcohol removing the SDS residue.
They did find that alcohol soaked in a gauze pad applied to the skin for 24 hours caused skin drying...but that really doesn't apply to how people use aftershave.
So how does this apply to aftershaves? Well splashing on an alcohol aftershave does not cause any more skin dryness than splashing on water. The aftershave may actually improve skin hydration by washing away soap residue that would cause dryness and irritation.
Hope that helps....
Thanks, Quintar. This gibes with my own understanding and research. I've previously posted that detergents like SLS and regular soaps will remove sebum from the face just as (or more) effectively as alcohol. Since we don't wash or scrub the face with aftershave, even that sebum-removing effect is not terribly applicable. It makes no sense, scientifically speaking, for one to claim that cosmetic alcohol will dry out human skin.
That doesn't mean that everyone enjoys it or will get along well with it. It just means that one should understand it well, before believing (and especially before asserting and repeating) bad things about it in a general way.
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