In this post we are going to discuss what Balneol is and if it is worth using it. 

Balneol is a lotion mostly used for wiping. Similar to WipeGel, you are supposed to apply it on toilet paper and use it like a wet wipe. It properly cleans the skin and is recommended for those suffering from hemorrhoids, diarrhea, and yeast infections.

Balneol ingredients

To understand exactly how Balneol works, we need to look at its ingredients. Here is a list of ingredients from the official website.

The first two ingredients on the list are Water and Mineral Oil. Mineral Oil is an occlusive moisturizer, which means it prevents water evaporation by creating a barrier on the top layers of the skin. 

Do you want to leave your skin oily after wiping? It’s up to you. But what’s important here is that water and oil do not mix naturally. Oils are hydrophobic. It means that water molecules do not attract oil molecules, they repel them. As a result, when you mix oil and water they separate. And to keep these two together in a product manufacturers have to include emulsifiers, which are chemicals.

For emulsifying properties, Balneol has Propylene Glycol and several PEGs among the ingredients.

Propylene Glycol (PG) is an emollient, preservative, and humectant, which has been named Allergen of the Year for 2018 by the American Contact Dermatitis Society. It has been associated with irritant and allergic contact dermatitis, yet Propylene Glycol is still a very common ingredient in cosmetics, medications, and food. 

Now Polyethylene Glycols, or PEGs. The difference between Propylene Glycol and Polyethylene Glycol is in their chemical structures. Both are synthetic substances used as vehicles in cosmetic and medicinal products. PEGs are also used as thickeners, cleansing agents, and softeners in products. 

PEGs cause allergic reactions more rarely, but when they do, the reaction can be severe. In Balneol the following PEGs are present: Glyceryl Stearate / PEG-100 stearate, PEG-40 stearate, Laureth-4, and PEG-4 dilaurate.

Glyceryl Stearate / PEG-100 stearate is of the most concern. It has records of causing pruritus, urticaria, angioedema, hypotension, and swelling of hands and feet.

One more oil included in Balneol is Lanolin Oil. Lanolin is an oily secretion from sheep’s skin. It is an emollient, and it helps to soothe and hydrate dry skin. Lanolin can often be found in lotions, lip balms, nipple creams, etc. 

Lanolin is a natural ingredient, which is great, so why would it concern us? Lanolin is considered a skin sensitizer by Haz-Map, so it can also cause allergic contact dermatitis while applied topically. Besides, Lanolin has a very strong scent, so it is usually covered by fragrances. 

The ingredients list on Balneol official website simply states “fragrance”, without mentioning what composes this fragrance. The American Academy of Dermatology considers fragrances to be the leading cause of allergic contact dermatitis. Manufacturers are not obliged to list the ingredients used in their fragrances, so there is no way to find out what they put in them. It doesn’t even matter if it is a synthetic fragrance or essential oil – both can cause allergies. Read more about fragrance sensitivity in this post. 

Another concerning ingredient is Methylparaben. It is a preservative, which prevents the growth of bacteria and mold in products. You’ve probably heard a lot about parabens, you can check out our big post about preservatives. The main thing you need to know here is that Methylparaben is number one on the list of parabens that DermNet recommends avoiding in cosmetic and personal care products as one of the allergy triggers. 

These are the main ingredients of Balneol. But let’s quickly go over ALL the ingredients in the order they are listed on the website and see their properties. It will help us understand how exactly they affect the product and the skin. 

Mineral oil – help to soften, cleanse, and moisturize the skin.

Propylene glycol – increases moisture retention in the skin, it is a humectant.

Glyceryl Stearate/PEG-100 stearate – emulsifier and emollient, which helps to create a protective barrier on the skin, helps to maintain hydration and to slow moisture loss. 

PEG-40 Stearate – a cleansing agent, can be used as a thickener/texture enhancer or to help keep ingredients soluble.

Laureth-4 – functions as a surfactant and emulsifier.

PEG-4 Dilaurate – an emulsifier, cleans the skin.

Lanolin Oil – smoothes dry, cracked, dehydrated skin, and slows water loss from the skin.

Sodium Acetate – a preservative, lowers a product’s pH.

Carbomer-934 – a thickening agent, helps to control the viscosity and flow of a product.

Triethanolamine – pH balancer and emulsion stabilizer.

Methylparaben – a preservative, prevents the growth of bacteria and mold in a product.

Dioctyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate – surfactant, wetting agent, and solubilizer.

Fragrance – provides a pleasant odor, and masks the smell of other ingredients.

Acetic Acid – controls the pH level of a product, and has antifungal and antimicrobial properties.

So, Balneol has many ingredients for moisturizing and cleansing the skin, and some ingredients acidifying it. This is probably how Balneol fights yeast – by normalizing the skin pH. At the same time, preservatives among the ingredients suppress a wide spectrum of bacteria, including beneficial flora, once left on your skin. 

And how is this supposed to relieve hemorrhoid discomfort? It doesn’t. It only cleans the skin.

Balneol alternative

Despite the benefits, the number of allergens in one product, which is supposed to be applied on gentle skin in the perianal and perineal regions and is a non-rinse-off product is concerning. If you don’t rinse it off, it means all the ingredients are left behind on your skin.

As long as you have a safer and more natural equivalent, like WipeGel, you should consider it. WipeGel has 30% of witch hazel and prebiotics in it. No oils, no fragrances. Witch hazel is a botanical astringent, which helps with the itching, redness, pain, and swelling associated with hemorrhoids due to its anti-inflammatory effect. It is used for the treatment of mucous membrane inflammation, vaginal dryness, itching, pain, swelling, skin injury, varicose veins, insect bites, and other skin irritations. 

In WipeGel, we use natural postbiotic preservative, which does not harm beneficial bacteria. 

Balneol for hemorrhoids

Let’s see why Belneol is advised for those suffering from hemorrhoids and diarrhea. It says “recommended by doctors” on the website. 

First of all, people with hemorrhoids can find it difficult and painful to wipe with dry toilet paper, and wet wipes contain too many chemicals and can cause chafing. And diarrhea irritates the anus and perianal area, so it can also be rather painful to wipe. So Balneol lotion helps to wipe clean, pain-free and will leave the skin moisturized. 

And this is it. According to the information on the website, you are supposed to apply medicated hemorrhoid treatment after you cleaned your perianal area with Balneol.

Well, WipeGel cleans as well and at the same time provides hemorrhoidal relief by turning toilet paper into medicated wipes. Why can we confidently say “medicated”? Because medicated hemorrhoidal wipes are called so due to witch hazel among the ingredients. And WipeGel has 30% of USA-grown witch hazel.

Read more about toilet paper and hemorrhoids.  

Balneol For Females

Balneol manufacturers recommend their product to women during pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause, to fight yeast infections and normalize the pH. 

Some ingredients in Balneol, like Acetic Acid, which is listed last, so there is a really small amount of it in the product, indeed normalize the pH and can probably reduce the amount of yeast due to its antifungal and antimicrobial properties. We measured Balneol pH, it is 5.3. And multiple moisturizing ingredients will help those suffering from vaginal dryness.

However, we wouldn’t recommend applying a non-rinse-off product with “Allergen of the year”, paraben, and fragrances among the ingredients to your perineal region. 

If you need to normalize the pH, use WASH daily and wipe with WipeGel, which has the pH of 4.6. Both products are acidifying and have prebiotics, which naturally promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and fight opportunistic ones.

For menopausal moisturizing, we recommend Salve with Natural Vitamin E oil. Read more about the benefits of topical Vitamin E.

Products’ osmolality and female health

Osmolality is a measurement of the total number of solutes in a liquid solution expressed in osmoles of solute particles per kilogram of solvent (osmol/kg).

A product’s osmolality is a numerical score of how concentrated the molecules are in that product. Your skin, mucous membranes, and vaginal fluids consist of cells that are filled with water and also have osmolality. For example, the vaginal fluid of a healthy woman is about 370 +/- 40 milliosmoles per kilogram (mOsm/kg). So the products you apply to your perineal region should have similar osmolality and here is why.

The epithelial skin layers and your body’s natural mucus are constantly trying to maintain an equilibrium of osmolality. If a product that you applied on your skin or mucous membrane has a higher osmolality, the tissue will release its moisture trying to reach the balance with the product that you applied.

As a result, instead of making the tissue moisturized, this will pull the water out of the cells and will cause cellular damage. Studies show that such tissue damage increases the risk of bacterial vaginosis, STIs, and eventually urinary tract infections because healthy vaginal flora prevents UTIs.

In one of the studies, the osmolality and the pH of different lactic acid gels were tested. While the pH was normal for vaginal application, the osmolality turned out to be too high. Regular use of such products can cause tissue damage and inflammation. 

Many of the popular and easily available lubricants and perineal products on the market are hyperosmolar. Manufacturers do not put this information on the labels and sometimes it’s even difficult to find it on the Internet. You have to send it to a lab to test.

WipeGel osmolality is 340 ± 10  mOsm/kg, so, very close to vaginal fluid osmolality (370 +/- 40 mOsm/kg). 

We don’t know the exact osmolality of Balneol, but propellant glycol, one of the main ingredients in Balneol, has an osmolality of 10,000 mOsm/kg. So it’s almost 30 times more than that of WipeGel and natural vaginal fluid. 

Now let’s sum up and see why you should NOT use Balneol, despite all the benefits:

1. Leaves a greasy feeling behind because of Mineral and Lanolin Oils among the ingredients (of course, it’s up to everyone’s personal preferences).
2. Has allergy-causing ingredients:
   2.1. Propylene glycol is especially allergenic in water-based products;
   2.2. Polyethylene glycols (or PEGs);
   2.3. Fragrances with unknown composition.
   2.4. Methylparaben. 
3. Balneol functions are mostly limited to cleansing and moisturizing.