I’ve often seen “clean” advocates say that they’re “just asking hard questions” about product safety (re- why they avoid parabens). Kinda seems like they’re actually just making arguments based on ignorance. They are assuming the ingredients in their formulas are safer because they’re more natural, or aren’t vilified, despite the lack of evidence. Notes: Based on the fears around breast cancer, the common fear for parabens is estrogenicity, which is only observed at very high doses, far greater than what anyone would be exposed to via cosmetics. Even then, very it’s very weak. E.g, the estrogenicity of parabens increases with chain length and branching (hence what is and isn’t approved). Comparing butylparaben, one of the more estrogenic of the approved parabens in cosmetics, to estradiol, which it should have to outcompete at the estrogenic effect, it’s ~10,000 x less estrogenic Different parabens aren’t all the same. I often see fear-mongerers citing studies about parabens not relevant to cosmetics to prove their point. Note, cherry-picking data is a red flag for pseudoscience. But what about cumulative exposure? This is taken into account when regulatory limits for ingredients are set. Aggregate exposure is regularly reviewed, taking a conservative account of current consumer habits and practices. It considers all sources of exposure to a single chemical (e.g. hair care products, cosmetics, detergents, foods, environmental media, etc.) via all routes (oral, dermal, and inhalation). To assess aggregate exposure, it’s usually measured by adding up worst-case exposure for each exposure scenario. E.g. in cosmetics, it’s assumed that everybody in the population uses all the possible products containing the chemical, at the maximum allowed concentration, day in and day out. The end result - when calculated acceptable “safe levels” are determined, those levels are extremely conservative - usually set by multitudes of 10+ lower than the actual calculated threshold value. Regardless of how indulgent you are with the products you use, when purchasing from reputable brands, this isn’t something you need to worry about. Pinned comment for sources 🏷