I have some "not so good news" about women's "anti-aging", "rejuvenating" and "anti-wrinkle" face creams--they could be "messing up" your hormones!!
Several years ago, after noticing strange results on womens's hormone tests, a testing lab offered anonymous testing of women's face creams. They were not surprised to find that 90%-95% of all the submitted creams, lotions, potions, etc tested positive for progesterone. In addition, they found considerable numbers containing estrogens and androgens(male sex hormones)!! Then, the lab did saliva hormone testing on the women who had submitted their favorite face cream--and guess what????--the hormones in the face creams altered their saliva hormone tests!! The patients that they tested were likely dosed unknowingly with progesterone (non-bioidentical) contained within the creams or shampoos they used for long periods of time. This extra progesterone confused the body's normal essential hormone balance!
Face creams and shampoos are classified legally as cosmetics, and as such, are not under the close watch of the FDA. Not only can manufacturers add progesterone and estrogens to their products (up to 4%) but they are not required to list it on their labels!
Be highly suspect of any product touted as "anti-wrinkle"/"anti-aging"/ "rejuvenating" or "our own special formula." One prominent face cream manufacturer actually acknowledged adding progesterone to its creams as "nature's own anti-wrinkle substance" on its website!! This statement was then taken off the site when the manufacturer was confronted!
Women can not only mess up their hormones with face creams but with some sun screens also!! Studies have shown that estrogen compounds can be found in many sunscreens. (And we are lathering this stuff all over our children!!) Also, I have done saliva testing on many women who have taken DHEA supplements for long periods of time and found that DHEA supplementation can cause increases in estrogen and testosterone. This is why having a "baseline" saliva hormone test is the first thing to do before you start "self-supplementing" with progesterone creams and DHEA supplements.
So, the moral of this story is: don't put anything on your skin that you would not put into your mouth and eat! (and don't self-supplement any hormones prior to having a saliva hormone "baseline" test)
One more thing--if you are Celiac or gluten intolerant make sure you read the labels of the products you are putting on your skin and your shampoos and conditioners. Many contain gluten--and what you put on your skin, gets absorbed into your body!