CLEAN BEAUTY | NATURAL COSMETICS | NON-TOXIC
Are You Sick and Tired of Poisoning Yourself?
This is how you begin your new journey
Have you decided to buy only clean, organic, natural, and cruelty-free make-up and cosmetics? When you’re first switching to green personal care products, it may be more difficult than you thought.
Despite your best efforts, you could end up paying more for products that aren’t necessarily better for the environment or your health.
Laws about labels and ingredients can be tricky or downright dishonest. Where do you even start?
Here are 6 things you need to know to start on your new-and-improved clean personal care journey.
1. What’s In Most Cosmetics?
Depending on where your cosmetic products were manufactured, they could be less clean and natural than you bargained for.
The European Union has banned over a thousand ingredients due to their ill effect on health or the environment. Canada has banned a few hundred. But in countries such as the United States and China, there are very few materials you can’t use.
In fact, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (FDA) only has about 8 ingredients that are banned. Of course, there are laws against toxic substances in our products, but there are frequently recorded instances of contaminants and ingredients interacting to create toxins.
Unfortunately, in the U.S.A, the FDA doesn’t police the cosmetics industry. The beauty industry is authorized to police themselves with the Cosmetics Ingredient Review Panel (CIRP.)
In the history of the CIRP, only 11 ingredients or materials have been deemed unsafe, and it has no way of enforcing its restrictions. CIRP can only recommend changes.
The FDA will do reviews of products with certain color additives and ingredients that are classified as over-the-counter drugs, but apart from that beauty companies can do pretty much whatever they want.
To make things easier for you, here is my post about the toxins to look out for when shopping for personal care products.
2. The Shocking Truth About The Cosmetics Industry
If you’ve read about the most common harmful ingredients in cosmetics, you’ll know that plenty of them are allowed when they shouldn’t be.
Scarily enough, because we apply these things to our body there are many ways for us to absorb them. We inhale powders and sprays and we accidentally ingest products like lipsticks and glosses.
As Kristen Kjaer Weis, founder of Kjaer Weis cosmetics notes bluntly in an interview with Teen Vogue, “You end up eating most of it.”
The products we apply directly to the skin are the worst. Because your skin is the largest — and most porous -organ of your body, it’s capable of absorbing a lot of what you put on it.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, the skin absorbed an average of 64% of the total contaminant dosage of the chemicals found in drinking water.
Certain places in our bodies are even more permeable — one study found an absorption rate of 100% for underarms and genitalia.
Other studies show that fragrance chemicals are well-absorbed by our bodies. Another finding is that our delicate facial skins tend to be several times more permeable than broad body surfaces — yet another reason to be careful with which cosmetics we choose.
And where do these skin-absorbed toxins go? Straight into our bloodstream.
Regrettably, this means we daily take in carcinogens, ingredients that alter our hormone production and regulation (endocrine disruptors), or ingredients that are straight-up toxic and can make us very ill.
There have been studies of people who regularly use products with parabens, synthetic musks, scents, and sunscreens. These have monitored chemical levels in the subject’s bodies, and show that we unintentionally absorb enough to potentially make us very sick.
3. Women Are the Most Exposed to Toxic Beauty Products
In 2004, the Environmental Working Group conducted a consumer survey of over 2,300 people about their cosmetics usage.
As you probably guess, women use up to twice as many care products as men. By and large women expose themselves to dozens of different cosmetic ingredients per day.
An example is parabens. Parabens are a commonly used preservative that have been heavily linked to cancer.
In fact, parabens have been frequently found in breast cancer tumors. All genders, but especially women, could reduce their risk of developing cancer significantly by switching to clean beauty products.
It’s hard to argue against that logic.
4. Words Don’t Mean What They Say in the Cosmetic Industry
So the first three facts I’ve shared have put the fear of Big Beauty in you and you want to go clean? That’s awesome!
You still have to do your research and watch out: cosmetic marketing claims don’t actually have to be true. Though a product might say “hypoallergenic” or “all-natural ingredients” that may not be true at all.
In a 2000 release, the FDA itself admitted that these terms, “have considerable market value in promoting cosmetic products to consumers”. At the same time, “dermatologists say they have very little medical meaning.”
Because the industry regulates itself when a product claims to be natural, it doesn’t mean there aren’t synthetic chemicals in them. Synthetics are frequently included in “natural” products.
As we learn in high school science class, just because things are found in nature, doesn’t mean they aren’t harmful. Case in point = arsenic.
What about organic? Surely a product that’s organic is better for you? Fooled again! Products labeled “organic” can contain as little as 10% organic substances in the U.S.
Back in 1998, the FDA tried to establish official definitions for these words, but thanks to powerful lobbyists in the beauty and beauty ingredient industry their efforts were foiled.
But what about the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act?
Good point. Yes, the FD&C Act prohibits the distribution of misbranded cosmetics — but that just means that a product can’t claim to be “X-free” when it actually contains X.
Laws vary from country to country. But, by and large, vague buzzwords like “natural,” “organic,” “eco,” “pure,” “Botanics,” “green,” “non-toxic” and what-have-you, don’t have to contain ingredients that live up to those descriptions.
5. Personal Care Greenwashing for Profit
So why are companies so tricksy about the naturalness of their products?
Simple. Green is the new black. It’s not just Greenpeace-lovin’ hippies demanding natural, safe and environmentally-friendly products — clean beauty has gone mainstream.
The global demand for organic and natural, clean personal care and cosmetics products is booming. Many not-so-natural companies are stepping in to profit.
These companies are well-aware that the vast majority of consumers don’t check the ingredients list.
Plus, our brains tend to make quick, unconscious associations. We see berries and the claim of a “truly organic experience” or a field of oats in the background. Or perhaps the claim “gentle enough for newborns and babies with sensitive skin”.
We make the assumption that the product must be natural.
6. Consumers Have Power
We live in a world where companies can bandy about terms like “natural” and “pure” while mass-producing products that are brimming with toxins.
Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. In fact, you’ve already started. As GI Joe so wisely said, knowledge is half the battle. So you’re already halfway there.
The other part happens naturally. One of the first things that happens to most genuine clean cosmetic advocates is immunity to glitzy green claims. Once you’re in the know, it becomes easier to tune out those pretty pictures of plants and the wood-print packaging.
You begin to do what most consumers don’t — flip the box over to read the ingredients label.
Because that’s where the proof is.
Over time, you’ll find yourself becoming well-versed in these crazy-sounding ingredients. Eventually, you’ll find yourself ignoring the big, bold letters proclaiming “eco” or “organix”.
Instead, you’ll be scanning for words like “propylene glycol” and “benzalkonium chloride.” (Maybe one day, I’ll even be able to pronounce these words as well as write them.)
As consumers, we have more power than we may believe.
And you’re in good company — there are a lot of us who are adamant about putting the best on as well as in our bodies. Plus there are great resources to help you navigate every ingredient list you come across.
Sure, it’s a bit more complicated than simply buying the products with leaves printed on it. But you’ll soon become smarter, wiser, and a lot more toxin-free.
Here are some super helpful resources to get you started and assist you throughout your journey:
- Watch the Story of Cosmetics for a less-than-10-minutes overview of the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in our everyday personal care products.
- Check out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for the latest news on safe cosmetics and personal care products.
- Run your products (and any ingredients you don’t understand) through EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety This site is your new best friend. Go for products and ingredients that score between 0 to 3 (the lower the better, of course). But also beware of assuming “0” is always better — some ingredients score “0” just because there’s not enough research on it yet
- Once again, here is my handy list of things to look out for when you’re shopping.
