Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Cosmetic Toxicity

My world has been rocked...

Cosmetics are bad for you, well, a lot of them anyway. How, in my liberal, earth-loving mind, did I not know this or put two and two together that products with dozens of lab created ingredients might not be good for my skin, not to mention my body! My last post a a bit flippant about the new makeup I ordered but, after researching some more, it seems very obvious that the things I have been putting on my skin for years would cause a reaction like I've been dealing with in certain people. ***BUMMED***

Michelle, the sweet one who turned me on to the list of inactive ingredients that can be harmful, sent me to a website that if, frankly, scary to me. Check out the website for The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, www.safecosmetics.org. In itself, this is a great site, giving lots of information, based on lab studies, about different chemicals in products, potential hazards of those chemicals, and also offering links and instructions for contacting companies and the government to demand safer products.

From the Safe Cosmetics Website, click on the SKIN DEEP link. This is really scary stuff. You can put in a product and see the potential harmful ingredients it contains. From the website, "Given the incomplete information made available by companies and the government, EWG provides additional information on personal care product ingredients from the published scientific literature. The chart below indicates that research studies have found that exposure to one or more ingredients in this product -- not the product itself -- caused the indicated health effect(s) in the studies reviewed by Skin Deep researchers. Actual health risks, if any, will vary based on the level of exposure to the ingredient and individual susceptibility -- information not available in Skin Deep." I appreciate their disclaimer there but, even more, I appreciate knowing that companies I thought I knew and trusted are using ingredients that have been known to cause problems, minor as well as major. The site gives each product a toxicity score 1-10 and will also show the range of toxicity scores for each brand.

The following Clinique (Hypo-allergenic, 100% Fragrance Free) products that I use every day have ingredients in them that have been scientifically proven to cause irritation of the eyes, skin, or lungs in them, not to mention lots of other scary stuff: Rinse-off Foaming Cleanser (EXT D&C VIOLET 2, PHENOXYETHANOL, BUTYLENE GLYCOL), Touch Tint for Eyes (BHT, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (NON-NANO), TETRASODIUM EDTA, SORBIC ACID), Colour Surge Eye Shadow (TITANIUM DIOXIDE (NON-NANO), TETRASODIUM EDTA, OCTYLDODECANOL), Tarte Cheek Stain (PROPYLENE GLYCOL, LAURETH-23. Clearly, these are just a few of the many cosmetic products that touch my face each day. Before today, the only one of these ingredients I had ever even heard of as being potentially irritating was the Titanium Dioxide.

This is a lot of information for me to take in all at once and it will take me a while to process. I am going to make some changes in my cosmetics routine, some major changes, and, it might sound silly, but that's scary for me. I LOVE MAKEUP and SKINCARE but not more than the health of my skin and body.

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