There are so many good reasons to read the label on any cosmetic product you intend to buy. I used to think, albeit naively, that if a product was for sale then it must have been put through rigorous testing and deemed safe for human use. But alas, that wishful thought was just that—wishful.
Amongst the thousands of cosmetics brands on the market today, a good number contain chemicals toxic to our health. Just like food in the supermarket, if you can’t pronounce a word on a label, chances are it was brewed in a lab not in nature. Many of these ingredients are used as fillers; cheap additions that give the illusion of more product, without hurting the manufacturer’s bottom line.
Just because a lipstick, face cream or the like is expensive also doesn’t mean it’s any safer than the alternative $2 bottle in your local drug store or chemist. In fact, that cheap bottle may be a hundred times safer than the cream that comes in the fancy packaging.
With cosmetic safety regulations lacking in many countries, it’s up to ourselves to be our own judge and jury when it comes to what we’re willing to buy and then put on our skin—our body’s largest organ. Anything you slap on the outside ends up on the inside. If you’ve read this blog before today you’ll be familiar with the phrase: “if you can’t eat it, don’t wear it”.
If you’re starting to wonder exactly what chemicals are lurking in your bathroom cabinet, be sure to check out The Cosmetics Database.
In the book Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care, cosmetic chemist and herbalist Aubrey Hampton is quoted as saying: “Buyers in department, drug, discount and supermarkets don’t know anything about the chemicals that go into cosmetics, and assume their customers don’t know much either.”
These chemicals have only been proven safe with animal testing. If you put them in your product you rely on or accept those tests. Also, many of these chemicals pollute our environment because they aren’t biodegradable. This affects all species. You won’t know this if you don’t read the label.
Besides the cocktail of chemicals that make up many beauty products on the market today, there’s also the very real issue of animal testing. Just because a manufacturer didn’t test on an innocent being, doesn’t mean the manufacturer they bought their chemical ingredients from wasn’t tested on an unsuspecting monkey or rat. What it boils down to? Labels also lie.
Some insight and advice from Aubrey Hampton:
“‘We don’t test on animals’ can be a misleading (slogan) because many of the chemicals used by the sloganizers are tested on animals by the chemical manufacturers who supply the cosmetics companies.”
“It doesn’t matter whether or not they say they don’t test on animals. It doesn’t matter whether they say they don’t use animal extracts. It does matter if they use chemicals that pollute our environment, chemicals which are used as safe and effective based on animal testing. This is what you find out by reading the product label.”
“A label may say: This Cosmetic is not Tested on Animals, but may still have ingredients such as sodium lauryl sulfate, methyl papaben, propyl parabem, benzalkonium chloride etc. These chemicals have only been proven safe with animal testing. If you put them in your product you rely on or accept those tests. Also, many of these chemicals pollute our environment because they aren’t biodegradable. This affects all species. You won’t know this if you don’t read the label.”
So there you have it. If we continue to be lured by the glamorous advertising and marketing campaigns that tell us to put a toxic concoction of animal-tested ingredients on our skin, it’s my belief that the skyrocketing cancer rates will continue to grow without exception.
The best action I ever took was to clean out my bathroom cabinet, cleanse and moisturise using food (baking soda, extra virgin coconut—or olive—oil), and wear little-to-no make-up.
We also have an opportunity to teach our children what we perhaps didn’t know. Give them the information so they can make an informed decision as to what they will and won’t put on their own skin—perhaps protecting them from the dis-eases that result from continual use of these harmful products.
Photo courtesy: Tiago Rïbeiro
