The Cosmetic Conundrum

A dab of blush here, a touch of mascara there.  For most women, dabbling in cosmetics is commonplace.  And why shouldn’t it be, what with luxurious-looking skincare and make-up brands plastering the pages of nearly every magazine?  Cosmetic enhancement offers the hope that all women alike can look and feel beautiful, sheathed behind an armor of head-turning lipstick and that perfect smoky eye.  Yet for all cosmetic brands offer in the ways of bolstering physical appearance, they harbor a fatal flaw: the lack any kind of substantial regulation. 

Many forget that our skin is our body’s largest organ; it serves as a protective barrier to the outside world and a gateway in which foreign substances are processed.  You’d think given that fact that the Food and Drug Administration would take steps to ensure that cosmetics and skin care are properly manufactured with safe, wholesome ingredients.  Wrong.  According to the FDA, cosmetic products and ingredients are not subject to any kind of premarket approval, with the exception of color additives, which have been shown to exhibit some nasty side-effects.  Aside from that, cosmetic companies are given free reign as to what they’re allowed to produce, and in many cases, that includes a number of potentially harmful ingredients. 

Lured by outstanding claims that a “miracle” foundation will improve skin tone or a particular mascara will dramatically lengthen your lashes, consumers often make the mistake of believing such proclamations with unwavering trust.  Ingredients listings are completely overlooked, or else rendered incomprehensible by an extensive array of chemicals.  Therein lies the danger – with no one to check up on cosmetic companies, the public is none the wiser to what they may be doing, the validity of the claims they make, or what they choose to include in their products.  These companies are perfectly within their rights to utilize the cheapest, potentially harmful or otherwise totally ineffective ingredients and market them as the best thing since sliced bread.  And that they do – with the utmost effectiveness. 

Did you know that 61% of all tested lipstick brands contain residues of lead?  Or that more than 500 personal care products sold within the U.S. contain substances that have since been banned in other countries due to health risks?   And for those that love skin care with scent - fragrance may include any of 3,163 different chemicals, none of which are required to be listed on labels. Tests reveal an average of 14 hidden compounds per formulation of fragrance, including potential hormone disruptors and diethyl phthalate, a compound linked to sperm damage.  The FDA doesn’t even have the authority to recall harmful cosmetics – they rely on cosmetic companies to report injuries voluntarily.  And what company in their right mind would readily volunteer that their products are dangerous? 

Clearly, it cannot be left up to the cosmetic companies to guarantee our safety and well-being.  How then, can we protect ourselves? There is a resource.  The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database has taken the liberty of evaluating a broad spectrum of skincare and cosmetic brands for their safety and quality of ingredients with a simple numbering system.  The safest products are given a rating of 0-2, with the more dangerous being 3-6, and the absolute worst ranging from 7-10.  Simply type in the name of a product in their search bar to read up on what it contains, and what that means as it applies to your health.  Or, in the uncommon instance that they have yet to evaluate the product on which you’re inquiring, you can simply draw up your own evaluation – just list the ingredients and they’ll do the rest.  You can even browse through any number of safely rated cosmetics and skin care products should you opt to make the switch from conventional to more natural brands.  It’s a fantastic site with a number of articles on the myths of the cosmetic industry and steps you can take to better educate and protect yourself.