The Consumer Council's tests on some sleeping and skin-care facial masks available on market showed that the level of heavy metals, parabens and microorganisms in the masks were in compliance with the relevant standards - a clean bill of health to beauty-conscious people in using them if they make the proper choice.
The facial mask tests covered 13 sleeping and 17 skin-care non-individually packed models, with prices ranging from HK$62 to 420 per bottle for the sleeping facial masks and HK$37 to 441 for the skin-care types.
The content of heavy metals (mercury, lead and arsenic) detected in the models was far below the limit set by the Mainland standard. There was no salicylic acid found in all products tested. Only one sample was found to contain 0.02% of free formaldehyde, which complied with the set limit of Mainland's Hygienic Standard for Cosmetics (0.2%).
Of all the tested models, 13 were found not to contain the 5 paraben preservatives (methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben and isobutylparaben). For the remainder, the parabens content varied from 0.01% to 0.3%, which was within the limit (not more than 0.4% per preservative) set out in the Mainland Standard.
None of the micro-organism under test was found in all samples.
Most of the tested models carried product labels showing list of constituents written in English and a few of them had effective ingredients labels written in Chinese. Two models failed to provide the list of ingredients, except to briefly label that the product contained extracts from tomatoes, berries and vitamin C. etc.
Regarding the dates of manufacture and expiry, it was found that 8 models lacked such information, with only indication of period of time after opening the packaging.
In Hong Kong, it is not mandatory for cosmetic products to contain product information such as list of ingredients, shelf-life and etc. The Council, however, considers the information crucial to consumers which assists them to avoid getting in touch with materials which cause allergies and to avoid using products which have gone past their expiry date.
The Council urges manufacturers and suppliers to provide detailed product labels on cosmetics products for consumers' reference.
There is such a wide range of facial masks available on the market - the latest issue of CHOICE offers some shopping tips to consumers:
- Choose a mask type that matches an individual's skin type;
- After deciding on the mask type, check if a detailed product information is provided, such as the list of ingredients, the functions of the product, the shelf-life and the instructions for use;
- Try out a sample before purchasing the product; follow the users' instructions, pay attention to the application time and the recommended method.
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