Ingredients in your lipstick: is your health at risk?
The ingredients in lipstick in many cases are a harmful mixture of petroleum-based chemicals, many of which have not been thoroughly tested for safety. Several of these ingredients can cause allergic reactions or interfere with your body’s hormones. Some can even damage important body systems like the nervous system and the immune system.
Who would have ever thought that pretty colors that help you look beautiful can really hurt? The truth of the matter is that many of the ingredients that color your lipstick are derived from coal tar, which causes cancer. Now these colored ingredients may not cause cancer on their own, but many of them have not been properly tested to determine if they are safe.
Most of the color ingredients in your lipstick that give you an incredible number of shades to choose from are D&C and FD&C colors, that is, artificial colors. However, most of the time, D&C and FD&C are left off the label, so you will see the color listed as “Orange 5” or “Blue 1 Lake”.
Why should this matter to you?
The FDA has approved D&C colors for drugs and cosmetics, but not for food. Therefore, they cannot be used in the things you eat. Now, despite the fact that lipstick is a cosmetic and not a food, everyone who uses it eats it. Every time you lick your lips, you’re eating some lipstick. In fact, “in the June 2002 issue of Glamor magazine it was reported that women inadvertently ingested around 4 pounds of lipstick in their lifetime.”
The other artificial colors used in lipsticks, FD&C Colors, have been approved by the FDA for food, drugs, and cosmetics.
D&C and FD&C colors are regulated by the FDA, but only in terms of the amount of toxic metals, lead and arsenic, that they contain. D&C colors cannot contain more than 20 ppm [parts per million] lead and arsenic. FD&C colors are limited to 10 ppm.
Lead and arsenic are poisonous. Therefore, every time you lick your lips, you may receive a small dose of these harmful chemicals.
Tests conducted on a number of different lipstick brands in 2007 for the presence of lead found that in more than half of the brands tested the level of lead was higher than allowed in candy. More recently, the FDA tested 22 brands of lipstick and found lead in each and at even higher levels than in the 2007 study. However, the FDA considers the lead detected in the lipstick tested to be harmless. However, considering that lead accumulates in your body, and even small amounts of lead in lipstick can cause harm, do you want to add lead to your body every time you lick your lips?
It is important to note here that the D&C and FD&C Colors certification does not address any other harmful effects these colors may have on your body. For example, neither D&C nor FD&C colors are checked for allergic reactions, skin irritants, toxic to the nervous or reproductive system, or even cancer.
Also, much of what is applied to the skin is absorbed directly into the bloodstream. This fact is NOT taken into account in the standards for D&C colors, which allow twice as much lead and arsenic toxic as FD&C colors.
Avoid these D&C colors commonly found in lipsticks:
* Orange 5
* Lake Orange 5
* Red 6
* Red lake 6
* Lake Red 7
* Red 21
* Red lake 21
* Red 27
* Red lake 27
* Red lake 30
* Red lake 33
Stay away from these FD&C color ingredients that are also found in lipstick:
* Blue Lake 1
* Yellow Lake 5
* Yellow Lake 6
This is just a sample of the types of color ingredients you can find in your lipstick. When you go through the ingredient list on your lipstick, you may find other color ingredients that are not listed here, but should be avoided. For example, any lipstick containing colored ingredients is best missed with a number after it, or with a number and “lake.”
Also, there are other harmful ingredients in your lipstick besides colors. These include xenoestrogens or endocrine disruptors, which interfere with your hormones. Some of those commonly found in lipstick are parabens. Methylparaben and propylparaben are the most commonly found in lipstick.
Another type of ingredient that you want to pass up is the penetration enhancer. Makes your body absorb more ingredients from your lipstick. An example of a common penetration enhancer found in lipstick and other cosmetic products is propylene glycol.
By now, you are probably wondering how you are supposed to protect yourself.
Here’s an easy way to start using healthier lipsticks and cosmetics:
Check the ingredient list for the chemicals listed above when shopping for lipstick, as well as all of your other cosmetic products. Then choose only those products that are free of these harmful ingredients. You may need a magnifying glass to read the fine print. Do this and you are off to a good start.