Gluten Free Skincare. This is something we’ve been pondering since the very first day of Woohoo Skincare because coeliac disease runs in our family.
Aaron can still remember when his Dad was first diagnosed people responding with “what the heck is silly yak disease?!”
99% of people had never heard of coeliac disease. Foods were not blazoned with “gluten free” and supermarkets certainly didn’t have dedicated aisles.
(And just in case you haven’t heard of coeliac disease either, it’s a disease in which your small intestine is hypersensitive to gluten, leading to difficulty in digesting food.)
Back then when you asked for gluten free you were met with a raised eyebrow which was the polite way of saying “what sort of weirdo are you?”
Now gluten free is main-stream and eyebrows are no longer raised. This is great for coeliacs as they have more choice than ever.
But has “gluten free” turned from a disease into a health fad? Especially as it has now crossed over from the food world into the skincare world?
Is there a true need for Gluten free skincare?
It’s probably no surprise that some say yes and some say no. For a person diagnosed with coeliac disease it can only take 50mg of gluten to make them ill. This is equivalent to 1/80th of a slice of bread.
So basically they can get sick from a bread crumb. BUT the gluten needs to make its way to the digestive system to be a problem.
And there is no evidence currently that shows that the gluten molecule can enter the digestive system through the skin. So most personal care products are a very low risk for triggering a coeliac reaction.
That said, if you’re a coeliac then you may want to live a completely gluten free life.
That’s perfectly understandable since you usually put your skincare creams, lotions and potions on using your hands, then you handle food. Even if wash your hands well there could still be trace elements of gluten.
There are also products which can accidently be swallowed too. Obvious ones are toothpaste, lipsticks, lip balm and lip gloss but there are others like shampoo and conditioner which are less obvious.
Potential Gluten containing ingredients in skincare
If you need to avoid gluten in your skincare here are some ingredients to look out for:
- Anything with wheat, oat, barley, rye or malt in the name.
- amino peptide complex (may be derived from barley)
- phytophingosine extract (may be derived from barley)
- Avena sativa
- Dextrin
- Triticum aestivum
- Triticum vulgare
- Hordeum vulgare
- Secale cereal
If you’re making the choice to lead a completely gluten free lifestyle we have some good news – all of Woohoo Skincare products are free from gluten containing ingredients.
However our manufacturing facility and products haven’t been certified by an independent 3rd party as Gluten Free. This is because the Coeliac Society of Australia only does accreditations on food manufacturers and don’t seem to be concerned about skincare manufacturers at the moment.
We’ll keep our finger on the pulse and if we hear that the Coeliac Society has started accrediting skincare manufacturers, we’ll be putting our hands up to get their seal of approval 
Christmas Gifts
We know it is still a little early for Christmas shopping as we have to first concentrate on the Melbourne Cup Carnival 
But for those who are super organised or about to win big in the office sweep, our gift packs are ready to rock and roll. There is a limited number as we were only able to print a small run of fair trade organic cosmetic bags.
Check out our Christmas Gift sets here.
P.S. They are ridiculously good value and we suspect some ladies have been jumping in early and nabbing them up as a little gift for themselves
