When you’re rushing to get ready in the morning, chances are the ingredients in your makeup is the last thing on your mind—rather you’re concerned about getting it on your face and out the door. The ingredients in the products we use everyday are surprisingly toxic and can contribute significantly to adverse heath effects.
The Environmental Working Group is an organization that strives to inform consumers about health and the environment. Its Skin Deep cosmetics database can be found at ewg.org/skindeep and holds a wealth of information about most common products: makeup, hair products, body products. On this page, you can type in your product or brand, and it provides a straightforward rating of toxicity with a detailed report on ingredients, possible health effects and concerns.
Plug your products into this database to get a rating- you’ll be astounded. I entered my Neutrogena Healthy Glow Sheers, and found that Neutrogena as a brand has rates up to a toxicity of 9, which, appropriately, is highlighted in red. The tinted moisturizer itself has a rating of 6- its “overall hazard” above moderate. While the “cancer” category has a level between low and moderate, the “developmental & reproductive toxicity” is high. It lists high concerns for the product as “Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Persistance and bioaccumulation, Irritation (skin, eyes or lungs), Contamination concerns, Occupational hazards, Biochemical of cellular level changes” (EWG). Not exactly now I expected to start my day—and those are just the high concerns; there are moderate and low concerns as well.
Next, my favorite (and probably a staple in many of our makeup bags), NARS Laguna Bronzer, yields a rating of 4, highlighted in orange. On a bar graph, the “overall hazard” is below moderate- but it’s alarming to me that the products we are putting on (and therefore in) our bodies have any hazards at all. It never occurred to me, in an attempt to look a little more tan, that I might be putting irritants or chemicals into my body. Yet I am, every morning.
The EWG’s Skin Deep database advises users to stay away from some of the most harmful ingredients, such as benzalkonium chloride, coal tar ingredients and formaldehyde (EWG). Just hearing the names of the products, they sound like someone you would want to avoid at all costs. Even products marketed as “natural” or “gentle” are likely filled with the same chemicals. It’s hard to know what to choose, since companies aren’t going to advertise that their products could be harmful to your health. The best thing to do is inform yourself and aim to pick makeup, skin and body care products that have a low rating.
It may be shocking to consider that there is lead in some lipstick and your concealer has ingredients proven to contribute to causing cancer, but there are steps toward healthier and less toxics products. I’m not saying that everyone should dump their makeup bags in the trash, but take a look at this database. EWG urges us to use safer products and fewer products. This is true- I probably don’t need three different mascaras, all of which have a toxicity rating. “The average women uses 12 products containing 168 ingredients daily:” that is a lot of ingredients (EWG). And, chances are, if you use many common products, they aren’t good ones.
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