Have you ever looked at the ingredients in a beauty product and recoiled in horror if the dreaded Mineral Oil was listed?! Well I have, many times in fact. I was told by my (beauty) college lecturer many moons ago that Mineral Oil clogs your pores and to avoid using it on yourself and on your clients at all costs. So I did without question.

But lately I have been asking the question; where’s the proof?

There are many outspoken influencers in the beauty industry regularly stating that ‘they won’t use ‘product x’ because it contains mineral oil’ but as far as I have seen there has been no evidence or papers written on the subject to prove that it is bad for us?

The first thing to understand is that there are very different grades of mineral oil, for example; petroleum (Vaseline) is mineral oil and so is liquid paraffin (not to be confused with what you would buy in a hardware shop for a paraffin heater). In fact, as a chemical mineral oil is fairly boring- it is only made of 2 atoms, carbon and hydrogen and it is very unreactive. The lack of reactivity means that skin reactions to mineral oil are almost unknown and certainly unproven.

Mineral oil does not dissolve in water either which gives it excellent barrier properties; if you have dry skin, it is usually due to the outer layer of your skin letting too much moisture escape. A thin layer of mineral oil will slow down the loss of moisture and rehydrate your skin very quickly. It would also be beneficial as a skin barrier if your skin is sensitive to washing powder etc.

In a cleanser, in my opinion, mineral oil is a fantastic ingredient to have- oil attracts oil so it will very efficiently remove all traces of makeup and grime from the skin, it will not absorb into the skin (so therefore cannot clog the pores) and will leave a protective barrier to prevent any moisture loss. Hence the popularity of the famous hot muslin cleanser.

So in summary I would say that in terms of skincare, mineral oil is innocent! It seems perfectly fine to use and could be particularly beneficial on dry skin and in cleansers. It is so inert that it could also be the perfect option for sensitive skin too.

BUT!!! If we were to talk in terms of the environment, as a non-renewable material, mineral oil is certainly not green but that’s a whole other story…..!