During the hour that it takes for the average woman to prepare herself for the outside world - shower, shampoo, hair and makeup - she will have exposed herself to no less than two hundred toxic chemicals.
Testing for toxins?
Unlike the food you buy at the supermarket or the drugs you buy at the chemist, the cosmetics industry is largely unregulated, and as long as the products they use to produce your favourite eyeliner or lipstick does not contain “harmful substances,” nobody questions them. If tests are carried out by the cosmetic companies, these tests are for allergic reactions, not for the levels or usage of substances which can have long term consequences on the human body.
Have we learnt anything from our ancestors?
During the 17th and early 18th centuries, the aristocrats of Europe were fatally attracted to the use of heavy white makeup made from a lethal mixture of vinegar and lead-based makeup. The intention was to appear as pale as possible in order to easily distinguish themselves from the working classes. During the 18th century Louis XV, made it fashionable for men to follow this trend as well. Unfortunately, their vanity would eventually lead to their deaths from lead poisoning.
So, what's in iIt?
Propylene Glycol is the one of the most common ingredients in most soaps and shampoos, and yet it is the very same substance used to degrease garage floors. The Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) warns on its “Material Safety Data Sheet" that propylene glycol can cause severe health consequences and reactions. A common brand of concealer, used to hide facial flaws beneath makeup, also contains propylene glycol. It also contains alumina, a neurotoxin, which is used to stop it from caking.
Talc, alumina and silica, all found to cause irritations in the respiratory system, are the main ingredients of foundations. Also found in foundation are propylene glycol and parabens, used to increase the shelf life of the product but that have been found in breast cancer tumours. To get that perfect shade just right for your skin, toxic coal tar dye is used.
Blusher contains talc, which can be contaminated with carcinogenic asbestos fibres. Again, the various colours available are made so with the use of coal tar dyes.
A test carried out in Finland in 2000 on 49 different eye shadows found that they all contained at least one metal based impurity. That is, they all contained at least some lead, cobalt, nickel, chromium or arsenic.
Lipsticks, which are composed mostly of petroleum waxes and artificial colours made from coal tar dyes, are the most lethal of all the products you will apply to your face. The average woman will ingest nearly two kilograms of lipstick in her lifetime.
Nothing has changed.
Despite advances in modern testing and society's heightened awareness of the environment and the effect we, as humans, have on it, we continue to poison ourselves daily with our desperate need to appear beautiful.
Sources
Guide to Less Toxic Products, Retrieved July 15, 2011
Toxic Chemicals in Cosmetics, Retrieved July 15, 2011
linda rossow - FIGHT BACK, DON'T LET DISEASE CONTROL YOUR LIFE
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