We often hear about all the harmful chemicals that can be found in cosmetics. Women are the main targets but men should aware that it’s not just makeup that can have harmful effects on your system. Shampoos, lotions, deodorants and sunscreens can have harmful implications as well. When I refer to cosmetics in this post it is used loosely for all products that are used to have some sort of effect on our appearances.
For starters I will direct you to an excellent website called SkinDeep Cosmetics Database. It’s a cosmetics database that has ratings for thousands and thousands of products. It gives us consumers an easy way to tell what is safe for us to use. On a side note there is a similar website for a broader range of products called Goodguide.com. Back to cosmetics! David Suzuki has got on board with the cause. He recently published a list of the “Dirty Dozen” cosmetic chemicals to avoid. It makes it easy for people to keep an eye out for the particularly harmful chemicals.
Many people claim that all these ingredients in our cosmetics will undoubtedly kill us. While it is true that a lot of these chemicals are harmful in certain situations, gross exaggerations can easily be made. In a lot of instances the chemicals are harmful, they are only harmful in large doses. We may be surprised to find out how many toxins we consume that our body can handle. I’m also assuming that the people reading this aren’t using things like skin whiteners. There are many cosmetics that are simply a bad idea. This being said, it is good to have awareness and be careful about what we rub all over our skin.
Cosmetics are not regulated the same way that food is, it wasn’t very long ago that Canada made it law to list all the ingredients in cosmetics. Europe is much further along than North America when it comes to testing the effects of and regulating certain substances. If you’re really interested in what’s in your cosmetics that information is out there. Since cosmetics are not regulated the companies are free to use chemicals as they please.
A fair amount of carcinogens go into things we consume and it’s important that we begin to isolate them. Did you know that some sunscreens contain photocarcinogens? That means that they cause cancer when expose to light. Yes, some sunscreens do the very opposite of what you are trying to do by using them. It’s completely absurd that companies can get away with this stuff. For this reason we have to make conscious choices and cannot let ourselves fall victim to the risks taken by cosmetic companies. Lucky for us there are many resources available for us. Campaigns to encourage companies to share their ingredients are underway at this very moment. People across North America are choosing to but cosmetics they can trust, some are even making their own! Whatever your choice may be, make it an informed one.
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