Skin & Product Safety

In case you have any questions about our products and what’s in them, we’ve collected some answers for you. As every situation is unique, please get in touch with us if you want to know more.

There’s actually no official definition for this term. Usually, "dermatologically tested" suggests a product has been tested and proven safe for human skin. In reality, each company making this claim defines its own methods for testing. For Essity it means the products or the product’s raw materials have passed dermal safety studies in human subjects and are safe for close contact with the skin.

In principle, no. Our hygiene products don’t contain any substances that directly originate from animals. That would go against the spirit of care that’s at the core of what we do. We also don’t conduct animal testing on our products, except when legally required to do so.

On the other hand, the supply chain for our products is complex, and although we believe the risk is small, we can’t absolutely guarantee that others in our supply chain haven’t come into contact with animal-based materials.

Only approved ingredients are allowed in our products, and we have strict processes in place to ensure our products are safe to use for our millions of customers. We’ve chosen all the ingredients with great care, and each of our Essity intimate washes has been tested under gynecological control. We’re absolutely confident they are safe for their intended use.

Our dedicated Product Safety team assesses every material included in our products to make sure it fulfills all the legal requirements and is safe for use as intended. These assessments include analyses of chemical residues and toxicological tests including tests for skin irritation.

All skin irritation tests and studies are approved by an independent ethical committee, and medically supervised by a clinician. While we cannot guarantee that our products won’t cause skin irritation, we do everything we can to reduce the risk as much as possible.

You’re not alone there. No one really seems to agree on what “hypoallergenic” means. When used to promote cosmetics or hygiene products, it usually suggests that the product causes fewer allergic reactions than you would expect from common products for the same use. But there’s no consensus on how products should be tested, or any standard definition of what the term means.

We occasionally use the term “hypoallergenic” for products that have been specifically designed to minimize the risk of triggering allergic reactions. In particular, these products do not contain perfumes, or any substances that could knowingly cause skin sensitization.

Apart from that, we pay attention for all our products to strictly limit components which could cause allergies, and our complaint statistics prove our efforts right.

Because of the nature of allergies, no one can guarantee that a product will never lead to an allergic reaction. All of us react individually and often even differently during the course of one’s life.

But at Essity, we’ve created products that are designed to be gentle on the skin. It starts with our suppliers who are required by us to not include any substances that are known to be allergens. Where relevant, substances that are used in the formulation of our products are then assessed, by product safety specialists, for potential to be allergens. Our complaint statistics confirm that any skin-related reactions to our products are extremely rare with less than one clinical complaint per hundred million sold products.

In general, no. We neither perform sensitization tests on humans nor on animals – that is, tests that look for allergic responses.

But we do carry out skin irritation tests on humans, which check for temporary redness, dryness, itching when in direct contact with a substance. Our absorbent hygiene products (that’s your towel, tampon, liner or period panty) follow strict procedures to ensure that they are safe and gentle on your skin.

Our Essity Global Supplier Standard prohibits the use of any substances recognized as allergens, except where the products contain perfumes, in which case they are clearly labelled. However, these perfumes are thoroughly assessed to make sure they’re safe for their intended use.

At Essity we’re all about care – for people, and for the planet. That includes animals.

We don’t support animal testing, and we´re committed to reducing it to the absolute minimum. We never test our products on animals, unless we are absolutely required to by law.

Please see also Essity´s position on animal testing.

No substances classified as allergens (with H317 labelling), or generally recognized as allergens, are present in our products, with the exception of perfume, preservatives and very few specific ingredients in low concentrations, which are thoroughly assessed.

For products that do include perfume, like feminine pads and liners, we make sure to say so clearly on our labelling, with terms like “contains perfume” or “scented”. We carefully select and assess the perfumes in these products to make sure they’re safe for their intended use.