Toxic Beauty Products and Cosmetics: What we’re not told
Ask any women whether they love their beauty products and cosmetics and you’d be hard pushed to find one that doesn’t. It’s a love affair that’s been going on for centuries. There’s nothing quite like a new lipstick or a dab of perfume to make us look, smell and feel good. Or so we thought.
According to research, most of our beauty products contain cocktails of industrially produced, dangerous chemicals that damage our health. Many market themselves on anti-ageing too but in many cases, due to the toxins contained, they are actually causing us to age faster and our health to deteriorate.
Why Research into Toxin Free, Safe Beauty Products and Cosmetics Matters
Research that was carried out by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, stated that the average woman applied a staggering 515 synthetic chemicals on her body every single day. Most of us have probably been blissfully unaware, but beauty and cosmetic manufacturers have known this for a long time and just kept it from us!
Our skin is our largest organ and our first line of immunity. It is permeable to all chemicals. Medical research shows that significant amounts of cosmetic ingredients, including the carcinogenic substances that most contain, penetrate the skin and end up in the blood stream. It takes only 26 seconds for traces of a product applied to the skin to be found in every organ in our body. Sadly, many of these chemicals have been linked to health problems ranging from allergies and skin sensitivity to more serious hormonal disturbances, fertility problems and cancer.
Synthetic parabens, for example, were designed to preserve the shelf life of cosmetics and are one of the most widely used preservatives in the world. They can be found in shampoo, hair gel, shaving gel and body lotion but their use is becoming increasingly controversial as a range of different studies have linked them to serious health problems including breast cancer, fertility issues in men, an increased risk of skin cancer and premature ageing.
Sadly it’s not just adult women who are affected – teens are too. Shockingly, teens use more products daily than the average adult woman. A typical teen uses 17 personal care products each day compared to an adult woman who uses just 12.
With the beauty and cosmetic industry being worth a staggering $150 billion globally, it’s of little wonder why the industry insists that their cosmetics are safe. Having read many reports though, it’s certainly debatable. That said, so too is what constitutes a ‘safe’ level, and the growing concern over the number of products used daily in conjunction with one another.
To conclude, women have never been more image-conscious than now. We have been convinced that our fates depend on our looks and that ugliness can be remedied like a disease if enough beauty and cosmetic products are used. If we refuse, our face and fate are our own fault – no one will want us and we will get left behind!
For many years a pure, safe and beneficial way was an expensive alternative. Products were not easy to find, may not have worked and certainly were not marketed as being glamorous! Today, however, that is changing. The Internet has enabled us to become more educated on protecting ourselves, and our families from unnecessary chemical overload. Read the labels on beauty and grooming products with care. Now is the time to switch to the SAFE side!
