Silicones, how to spot them and why you should avoid them.

 If you walk into any beauty store, and start rubbing creams, shadows, moisturizers and anything else they have on the tester tray, you will realize that they all *feel* amazing,

And I can't argue with you on that, the velvety luxurious feel that a lot of these creams have come from silicones, in all their different variations...

But I choose to not use silicones in any of my products, for a few reasons, (obviously, the wudhu-friendly aspect would be greatly compromised if I did) but the main reason I do not like them?
They trick you.

They trick you into thinking your skin is healthier than it actually is, because they fill in the pores and lines, and temporarily make your skin look amazing (reason no.1 why they are used in over 70% of beauty products today).

And although this might seem like a very small reason to avoid silicones all together, it's actually part of a bigger problem:
Let's say you are dealing with dryness, redness, dull skin or acne scars, when you apply silicone-based products and are able to get rid of the problem for a while, will you really take the time to help your skin by drinking more water, avoiding irritating products, looking into your diet, removing your makeup properly, getting enough sleep, etc?

You could, but in most cases you will be fooled into thinking your skin is nice and healthy, when it's just the silicones sitting on your skin...

Silicones go by different names (dimethicone is one of the best-known) and are modified into numerous different formulas in order to perform the specific role expected of them: waterproofing and retaining moisture are one of the basic functions in cosmetics, and these are the ones that might be preventing the water from reaching the skin during wudu, but at the same time that they are keeping the water from getting in, they are also keeping the sweat and toxins from getting out.

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(By the way if you want to know if any product you are wearing contains silicones, just look for any ingredient that ends in:
-one (dimethicone, cyclomethicone, methicone, etc)
-Silanes (triethoxycaprylylsilane, cyclopentasiloxane)

And while silicone originates from a natural source, it undergoes extensive chemical processing that leaves a huge ecological footprint and renders the ingredient ultimately synthetic, and this is one of the reasons many people, no matter their background, are choosing to eliminate silicones from their skincare.