{"id":13196,"date":"2017-10-02T09:41:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T09:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/10\/02\/hypoallergenic-and-fragrance-free-moisturizer-claims-are-often-false\/"},"modified":"2017-10-02T09:41:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T09:41:00","slug":"hypoallergenic-and-fragrance-free-moisturizer-claims-are-often-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/hypoallergenic-and-fragrance-free-moisturizer-claims-are-often-false\/","title":{"rendered":"'Hypoallergenic' And 'Fragrance-Free' Moisturizer Claims Are Often False"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patti Neighmond<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n A recent test by dermatologists found that 83 percent of the top-selling moisturizers that are labeled “hypoallergenic”contained a potentially allergenic chemical.<\/p>\n

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Jill Ferry\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Jill Ferry\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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For most people, buying a “fragrance-free” or “hypoallergenic” moisturizer that turns out to be neither, might be frustrating, but not harmful. But for people with sensitive skin or conditions like eczema or psoriasis it can be a big problem.<\/p>\n

“I will start to itch and I have to get it off my body right away,” says 62-year-old Kathryn Walter, who lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.<\/p>\n

Walter has a severe case of eczema and always chooses moisturizers that claim to be free of fragrance and allergy-causing additives. But more often than not, Walter ends up with a product that clearly isn’t.<\/p>\n

“My ankles and calves are all scratched up as we speak and my hands,” she says.<\/p>\n

For people like Walter, moisturizers aren’t just for smoothing skin. They can actually treat the dry, cracked and reddened skin that come with conditions like eczema. But finding the right moisturizer can be truly “hit or miss,” she says.<\/p>\n

“Because you can’t just go to a drug store and open up all their tubes of cream to make sure they don’t aggravate your skin.” So Walter ends up throwing a lot of products away.<\/p>\n