The skin is the largest organ and it absorbs everything put on it; therefore, it is crucial that the makeup and skin products being used are non-toxic or harmful.
Makeup and beauty products are something most people use, but not many don’t think twice about what is actually in the products. Take a look beyond the sparkly product cover and turn it over to the contents to find out what is actually going on the skin. If it is impossible to pronounce most of the ingredients, that’s a bad sign and those ingredients are most likely not safe for the skin and body.
However, most popular makeup products contain harmful ingredients despite what product marketing may say.
Susan Jensen, a Beautycounter Senior Director walks us through some common dangerous ingredients. Beautycounter is a skin care and cosmetics company who is striving to make all beauty products clean and safe, as well as leading the forefront in changing how people think about the products they use. Beautycounter’s products are all tested on a regular basis, naturally made, and safe for the body. Susan Jensen says, “A lot of ingredients in the personal care industry are linked to things like cancer, hormone disruption, allergies, and other health problems. I would say the first toxic ingredient is any form of parabens. A lot of times people think it’s not a big deal if it’s the last ingredient, since it’s a preservative. But they have found parabens in 99% of breast cancer tissue. Another is fragrance, which I know it’s really hard not to want things with fragrance, but right now, the beauty industry can hide up to 3,000 ingredients behind the word fragrance. The other one is oxy benzo, and that’s in a lot of sunscreen. It causes hormonal damage, and it also bleaches coral reefs.”
These are just some of the many dangerous ingredients hiding in beauty products.
The US government has not passed a new law regarding this issue in 80 years. America is far behind other countries when it comes to banning harmful ingredients from beauty products.
“Europe has banned about 1,200 ingredients, Canada bans between 600 and 800 ingredients, and the US only bans 30.” Jensen says.
So why is it taking so long to get toxic chemicals out of beauty products?
Jensen says, “One thing is that our government is only waking up to it now. So first, we need the government on board, but then we also need the people on board. Every time someone goes and buys a product that has toxic ingredients, we’re just reinforcing that we don’t care. The best thing we can do is keep educating people about what’s in them. As long as we all start making better choices, companies will realize that nobody wants those ingredients, and they’ll have to change.”
There are many steps that can be taken to clean up beauty routines. The Healthy Living App from the Environmental Working Group (E.W.G is a great place to start). On this platform, the name of a beauty product or an individual ingredient can be searched and the app will show how toxic it is. There is even a scanner that can be used in Target to scan a product’s barcode. Another step in the right direction is taking note of Beautycounter’s Never List. This is a list of harmful ingredients that should always be avoided when using beauty products. Or, just turn to using Beautycounter products! According to Susan Jensen, Beauty Counter has helped pass 15 health protective laws, including California Assembly Bill 496 and the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA). The USA has only banned 30 dangerous ingredients but Beautycounter has banned 2,800. The brand has also released their own Clean Eau de Parfum in two safer scents. The ingredients are clean and Beautycounter is fully transparent about what goes into their products. Over 100 of their products are E.W.G approved and many more have low E.W.G rankings of 1’s and 2’s.
To take action right away, text “BETTERBEAUTY” to the number 52886 to join the movement to call on Congress and enforce federal cosmetics laws. If we join together, we can solve this problem. Everyone has to do their part and each small action will make a big difference.
