Aluminium salts are used in antiperspirants to block excessive perspiration and prevent bad smells.
Summary
Aluminium is a natural metal found in the air, water and soil. Aluminium is part of our everyday lives, and substances derived from aluminium are now commonly used in kitchen utensils, coffee capsules, teas, food additives and even medicines.
Aluminium comes in many forms. Cosmetics applied to the skin most usually contain aluminium salts.
Examples of names that you might find in a list of antiperspirant ingredients include aluminium chlorohydrate, aluminium zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly and aluminium sesquichlorohydrate.
Aluminium salts are excellent for treating hyperhidrosis, and they improve quality of life in people suffering from the condition.
When in contact with sweat, aluminium salts act by blocking the orifices of sweat glands, thus slowing down their activity.
In recent years, aluminium salts have been singled out and criticized. They have been blamed for causing the development of certain diseases...
But rest assured, the aluminium salts used in cosmetics are safe!
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), which is the committee in charge of controlling cosmetic products, ruled on their safety in 2019. They are therefore safe to use in antiperspirants. The results of scientific studies have shown that the aluminium contained in antiperspirants is not absorbed by skin, even freshly shaved skin. They are therefore not stored in skin, but on the contrary eliminated on clothes and through the natural process of skin desquamation (=elimination of dead cells).
Despite the opinion of the SCCS, one institute – the BfR (German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment) – did continue to question use of aluminium salts in antiperspirants. But after conducting a new study, they aligned with the CSSC’s opinion in August 2020.
The entire scientific community therefore now agrees that aluminium salts are safe and can be used in cosmetics in antiperspirants.
