dangers of alcohol in topical products

[temp28]

can the use of ethanol-based products on the scalp during years be dangerous?

the topicals we use contain a lot of alcohol and we'll use them for years every day. By 'dangerous' i'm not talking about dry skin but what worries me more are the carcinogenic properties of ethanol.

If i'm not mistaken it's not the ethanol itself which causes cancer but one of its metabolites crotonaldehyde which its produced in the liver.

can anybody share more light on this? any studies? infos?

 

[John979]

Alcohol rapidly evaporates so there is no worry about systemic effects. Even if it was all absorbed, there is nothing to worry about. I use a total of 4 ml per day. Even if 100% absorbed, that is about 1/3 the alcohol in a single glass of wine.

One possible worry, and I am not even sure if this is real, is that long-term exposure to topical alcohol is known to reduce lipid levels in the skin.

 

[Bryan]

One possible worry, and I am not even sure if this is real, is that long-term exposure to topical alcohol is known to reduce lipid levels in the skin.

I can certainly see using topical alcohol to help clean lipid off your skin, like with a cloth or paper towel moistened with alcohol; but I don't know why lipid levels would be reduced just by dripping alcohol onto your skin (like with Rogaine, for example). Once it evaporates, it ought to leave the lipids once again on the skin, I would think.

 

[temp28]

if alcohol evaporates that fast, what makes the active molecule penetrate the skin? only PEG? only rubbing?