Are You Reading
The Label?
Checking
out the ingredients in
skin care products may be more important than you think
Women in America
wake up every morning and apply 12 to 20 skin care and cosmetic products
to their skin. You cleanse, exfoliate, tone, moisturize, battle our
aging signs with special anti-aging creams and serums, hide your flaws
with foundation and concealer, and enhance your beauty with blush, eyeshadows,
and lipsticks. All day you continually check and apply more makeup as
needed and at night you repeat the process of cleansing your skin with
several different substances from bottles and tubes.
You trust the
products you use. You don't question the ingredient lists that stretches
for half the bottle or the way your skin stings or your eyes water when
certain products are applied. You unwisely assume that if a product
was capable of hurting you, it wouldn't be in your bathroom.
Unfortunately, you'd
be very, very wrong if you assumed this.
The FDA doesn't
regulate skin care and cosmetic products. There is no governing
body that is checking and testing products to make sure they are safe.
The very cosmetic firms and skin care manufacturer's that sold you the
cleanser or foundation are the people responsible for regulating this
vast market. The Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA)
is a powerful group of firms that lobby constantly to keep skin care
out of the jurisdiction of the FDA.
Even worse, the
group responsible to test and screen all the millions of chemicals being
formulated into these products, Cosmetic Ingredients Review Board (CIR),
is directly influenced and funded by the CTFA. They test the initial
reactions to a product: skin irritation, allergies, etc., but not the
long term effects of using the substance on your skin. Even when
an ingredient is found to be harmful, the CIR has only the ability to
advise the CTFA not to use it. They have no ability to enforce companies
to change their formulations if their products have been found to be
dangerous.
A perfect example
of this happened recently when Parabens were found in breast and
liver tumors. Most cosmetics use parabens (listed under butylparaben,
methylparaben, and Propolyparaben) to thicken and preserve the product.
Many skin care manufacturer's like L'Bri Pure n' Natural, Burt's Bees,
and Kiss My Face have decided to go "Paraben-Free"
and stop using this dangerous ingredient completely. But other brands
like L'Oreal, Avon, Mary Kay, and Estee Lauder haven't stopped using
parabens.
So when you apply
your 12 to 20 skin care products and cosmetics every morning, there
is no guarantee that you're safe. Most women wear lipstick and continually
reapply it every few hours. Where do you think that lipstick is going?
You're eating it right off your lips. Every time you lick your lips,
which many of us do unconsciously, you're taking a little bit of lipstick
with you. A trace amount of lipstick with a few carcinogenic compounds
in it probably won't hurt you, but if you did this every single day
for 30 years it probably would.
There
is no guarantee that your products are safe
or that you can trust your skin care company.
Even if your products
say "natural" or "organic" you still need to read
the ingredient list and double check. Manufacturer's know that the new
all natural fad has quite a lot of weight behind it, so they're purposely
marketing their products to look earthy and wholesome. You can't
trust the front of the bottle - only the back to tell you what's
really going on.
Reading ingredient
lists has a huge stigma in America. People seen doing it are thought
of as picky, overcautious, and difficult to please. The thought of
reading a list is boring, a hassle, and too difficult to bother with.
I assure you reading the list of ingredients in your products is none
of these things and who cares what people think of you! You're protecting
yourself from potential skin irritation, sickness, cancer, and even
death that could result from using those products.
As for time consuming,
no it's not. You can easily do ingredient research online or scan the
list while shopping and easily pick out the ingredients that might cause
your body harm. A lot of these stigmas are due to lack of information.
You feel overwhelmed when looking at an ingredient list, unsure of what
most of the chemicals are and not capable of making a good decision
about the products.
It's time to start
paying attention to the chemicals that are going on your skin and into
your body every day. It is especially important for young teenagers
to use safe, natural skin care products rather than the toxic,
towel bleaching junk typically marketed to that age group. Even if you've
been using harsh chemical laden products for years, you can still make
a change to safer, more natural skin care that will produce better results
for your skin with no threat to your health.
The point of
washing our face and wearing makeup is to be clean and look better.
It's not supposed to have the added potential of killing you one day.
I've written a free, downloadable ebook to help you make the best decisions
about the products you're using on your skin. I include detailed instructions
on how to pick healthy products and include a complete ingredient guide
so you can easily compare products and find some that are safe.
This article might
convince you to just look for products that say "natural"
on the bottle. Please read this ebook and learn why the packaging is
not something you should stake your health on.
Fill
in the form below to request your ebook today!
An
email will be sent to your inbox asking you to confirm your request
for this ebook.
Please click the confirm link and you will be forwarded to the download
page.
If
you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact
me.
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Copyright
© 2008 by Leah Day
Last Revised 02/14/08
All Rights Reserved
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