Nowadays good personal higiene is one of the main humankind concerns. We massively use deodorands and antipespirants to prevent and to cover the unpleasant body odour. Because we use these products on daily bases, we were interested in their safety. With the use of antiperspirants we reduce the amount of perspiration. The process of perspiration (e. g. sweating) and the production of fluids secreted is explained in one of the chapters of this Bachelor's degree. Human sweat is the main reason for reproduction of bacteria, causing the unpleasant body odour. Deodorants have different effects on skin bacteria: they can cause a difference in pH of the skin surface, their fragrance can cover up body odour or they contain chemical compounds that kills the colonized bacteria. In this Bachelor's degree we examined and estimated the safety of active compounds of deodorands and antiperspirants, avaliable on Slovenian market. We annalized 446 different products and their ingredients and classified the products into 4 groups, based on their activity and the sex of their user. Those groups are categorised in several subgroups, based on cosmetic form. We compared the groups, to found out which products prevail. The predominant products in Slovenian market are for women. Women antiperspirants represent 40 % of all products. We were looking for most commonly used active compounds for each individual subgroup. In antiperpirants the most frequently used ingredient is aluminium clorohydrate (86 % in women and 71 % in men products), whereas in deodorants the mostly use compounds are parfumes, alcohol, potassium alum, citric acid, triethyl citrate and ethylhexyl glycerol. We evaluated the safety of active compounds used in cosmetic products with the use of SCCS and other tehnical literature. The results showed that most of the ingredients are safe for use in concentrations, that apply to cosmetic products within rational use. However, some compounds can cause irritation or oversensitive and allergic reactions. They can be caused by triethyl citrate, ethylhexyl glycerol and zinc ricinoleat and this is the reason that it should be adviced to label those products with a warning of possible side effects for consumers. However, those regulations are not yet established. We found out that the least safe compound for use is triclosan, knows as a hormone disruptor. It also has a high dermal absorption. Producers are probably aware of this inconvenience, because we found traces of triclosan in only 1, 8 % (8 products) of all examined products.
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