Toxic Ingredient Used In Almost Every Cosmetic Formulas
Most people can’t imagine a day without their skincare and makeup. It has become a routine or even a ritual contributing to us feeling more relaxed and refreshed. Makeup is considered a tool to express ourselves, feel more confident and demonstrate the creative side of our personality. However, many don’t even think about cosmetic formulation and ingredients. This article will focus on MICA.
What is MICA?
Mica is a group of silicate minerals used in cosmetics and paints because of the “glimmer” effect. So, if you think of your highlighter and what creates that shimmer, now you know — it’s mica.
The effect on our health
Tiny particles of mica in your mineral powder or blush could be inhaled and cause serious symptoms. Mica inhalation has been linked to coughing, weakness or a lung disease called Mica pneumoconiosis. Although these problems occur only with a high concentration of inhaled mica that many workers experience during mica mining, we should take caution and dig deeper into the truth.
Read more about mica pneumoconiosis here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3890162/
The dark side of mica production
Mostly mica mining has been captured in Brazil, several African countries, and India. India is the main country of global mica production, though the majority of this depends on marginal force without legal protection. Imagine this situation, workers, many of them only kids, work through the dust in hot weather for hours on end only to find several pieces of mica mineral. Well, that’s not far from the truth. This industry exploits kids that can’t even comprehend what impact this could have on their health. And that is not even the worst part, certain types of mica can be contaminated by silica and asbestos fibers, which could lead to asbestosis, mesothelioma or even lung cancer.
Visual representation of mica mining and child exploitation.
However, there is a silver lining
There is an alternative to natural mica — synthetic mica. And for those “natural” activists, natural products aren’t necessarily better and synthetic aren’t bad. Chemists can synthesize pure mica without any contaminants, a.k.a synthetic fluorphlogopite, the name found on the labels. Synthetic mica is created in a lab using plant cellulose and other natural materials.
If you want to differentiate natural mica from synthetic, check the labels. Natural mica is called just “mica” or “Potassium Aluminium Silicate”, “Cl 77019”. Synthetic is called “synthetic fluorphlogopite” or “synthetic mica”.
Hence, the main message would be to be wise, learn and dig deeper. You can raise awareness about what is happening and choose a better option.
