BEAUTY HAS A DIRTY SECRET

Formaldehyde in finger nail polish.  Lead in lipstick.  Propane in kids’ foaming bubble bath.

Each of us has a bathroom cabinet filled with products:  shampoo, shave gel, deodorant, lotion, hairspray, perfume…. the list goes on.   We buy our favorite beauty and skin care products faithfully, and we  use them each and every day.    But few of us would really guess the hidden dangers that our products contain.

Each day, the average woman uses 12 personal care products  (average man: 8 products)  for a combined total of nearly 170 different ingredients per person per day.  When we use our products every day, as almost all of us do, that equates to over 62,000 ingredient exposures within a single year. It’s these repeated exposures, day after day, that become particularly worrisome when you begin to understand exactly what you’re being exposed to.

Ingredients Aren’t Innocent

Exposure to beauty ingredients doesn’t seem concerning, at first glance.  Surely, all of the ingredients in body lotion or face cream or diaper rash ointment are completely safe, right?   And almost certainly they have been tested and screened by some group or entity so that we are protected, right?  Unfortunately, no. The truth is that the United States has surprisingly little regulation and oversight when it comes to beauty and cosmetic products.  In fact, a vast majority of the ingredients used in U.S. cosmetics and beauty products have never been tested for safety, either alone or in combination with other ingredients.  (link to FDA page here)

Even worse, many of the ingredients found within U.S. beauty products are actually known to be harmful to human health.   Documented warnings already exist regarding these chemicals, and exposure to many has been linked to serious health concerns like cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, fertility issues, and brain and nervous system problems.  But because few of us can even pronounce many ingredient names, it’s extremely difficult for most consumers to understand what our products really contain.  And because we don’t know what the ingredients are, we certainly aren’t likely to understand the effect they have on our bodies.

If you can’t pronounce it…

The challenge comes in reading and deciphering product labels.    Hidden behind those 14-letter chemical names and 5-syllable words, it can be nearly impossible for the average consumer to understand what is contained in a bottle, tube or jar of product.   But upon closer inspection, more and more consumers are shocked and angered to learn what the beauty industry is allowed to use in our everyday beauty and cosmetic products.  For example, propylene glycol ( PG ) is a solvent and wetting agent, and is also used in embalming fluid, anti-freeze, brake fluid, hydraulic fluid, de-icer, paints and floor wax.  Despite a ban on PG in products used to kill lice, it is still in use in the beauty industry, and can be found in nearly 10,000 beauty and cosmetic products.   Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is also used in engine degreasers and garage floor cleaners and is found in nearly 90% of beauty and cosmetic products that foam.

View our Toxic Glossary for a complete list of concerning ingredients, their health effects, and common brand-name products that contain them.

What you don’t see…

As if the ingredients themselves weren’t scary enough, consumers must also worry about hidden contaminants in beauty products as well.   By-products of the manufacturing process, these contaminants can be just as concerning and potentially harmful as some of their on-the-label counterparts.

Product testing conducted by the Environmental Working Group showed that two known carcinogens, 1,4 dioxane and formaldehyde, were present in dozens of bath products created for children, including the Sesame Street brands and Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo.   Because they are contaminants that occur during manufacturing, neither substance is found on the ingredient list, but both were present in the product nonentheless.

The Case for Worry

So, we’ve established that our beauty and skin care products contain chemicals.  But why worry?  Are these chemicals really that harmful?  And how do they get into our bodies?

Click here to read more about human exposure to toxic beauty ingredients, and the effects that these chemicals are having on our health and our bodies.