A couple weeks ago I was forwarded an email asking my opinio about lead-based lipsticks. You know how you get those chain emails where everyone is worried about a health or public safety concern and it's the same email that's been circulating for like, years? That's what this was. Only, it was true. So I was pretty suprised when I told my friend "Of course" and she seemed suprised. That's when she explained to me that she never heard of it before and I decided I should elaborate.
There is no real government body that regulates cosmetic ingredients.
Read that twice, girls and boys who want to be girls.
The stuff you shalack on your face and body every day really hasn't been approved by a saftey comission or regulatory group. Maybe some things kinda sorta get watched, maybe there's some basic idea's about what you can't put in cosmetics, but it's so loose and so unregulated that it really doesn't matter. No one really cares if the emmolient in your body lotion is a known carcinogen. I suppose you would, if you knew, but as most of us aren't chemists we are none the wiser.
Cue hero music, enter the Enviornmental Working Group (EWG)
The EWG is a wonderful organazation who has taken the liberty of collecting the very information that we are not privy to and putting in an accessible place so we as consumers can go and get an unpleasant education about our beauty products. By visiting their website http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/, you can look up the various goodies in your makeup bag and see how they rank on their comprehensive Hazard Scale. The scale rates cosmetics from 0, being the most begnin, to 10, being toxic sludge. It also includes in their crafty little ranking why that particular cosmetic was ranked as such. Case in point: My new favorite mascara, Lash Hugger by Tarte. Let's see how it looks to EWG: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/234542/tarte_Lash_Hugger_Eco-Friendly_Natural_Mascara%2C_Black/ Not bad. Not bad at all. Get's a 4, which is pretty low, so that's a good start. I know that the tube itself is made from recycled aluminum, which is a bonus. Still has hazardous ingredients but on a scale going up to 10, it's pretty mild.
I try to go thru this process every time I make a new purchase. It doesn't always happen. If I need a product and there are no other options, I won't look it up in the database because if I'm going to have to buy it regardless, why torture myself. If there are multiple options available, I always compare proucts thru the database. You should do the same. Do that with your cosmetics NOW so that you know what to refill and what to change next time you run out of something. While your there, make a donation. It doesn't have to be crazy, five or ten bucks is plenty. But these people are going to save our asses if we let them so let's fund our own education.
Another thing that fascinates me about all this is that there are some cosmetic lines that are actually banned in the UK for toxic ingredients. So, it's ok for us American girls to slowly slaughter ourselves with our own vainity because ignorance it bliss? I don't think so. I'm not going down without a fight.
And when you hear me pull out the soap box, just remember: There is no real government body that regulates cosmetic ingredients.
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