Do You Know the Basics About Beauty Products?
Sometimes, we forget to go back to the ABCs of what we’re doing here. Come to think of it, a lot of the time. I guess we assume that most of you reading this blog already know a few things about the chemicals in beauty products, and the lack of laws regulating them. And though this piece in today’s Huffington Post has a few factual errors, I’m going to take as another sign of the clean beauty revolution, thankyouverymuch. And it made us think it may be time for a refresher!
A. So, did you know that the cosmetics industry is self-policed, and that the FDA pretty much washes its hands of anything claiming to be a cosmetic, just as long as there’s an ingredient list on the bottle? That there’s no pre-market testing done by them, or any third body, and there’s no real requirement for companies to prove that their products are safe? Of course, they swear that they can. And they’re supposed to be able to. (But they can’t, and they’re never asked to anyways.)
B. Are you aware that the fragrance industry is protected under trade secret laws—laws that don’t require them to list any of the ingredients used in their formulations? They say that this is necessary bulwark against their formulations being ripped off, but really it’s no more than a deterrent that allows them to put whatever they want into fragrance. Anyone looking to copy a scent can take it to the lab to get the ingredients list, and as we’ve said in the past: Just because you know what’s in the Caramilk bar, doesn’t mean you can duplicate it. Consumer safety should supercede this so-called business protection.
C. Did you also know that Europe has banned over a thousand chemicals—the Huffington Post article mistakenly wrote 11,000, but that’s actually the total number of ingredients listed for use in cosmetics—while on this side of the pond we’ve only banned nine. Nine!
These are just some of the early facts that got us riled enough to write a book about this subject. And while we’re obviously clean beauty evangelists, the part that irks us the most is that information about product ingredients isn’t readily available to consumers. We don’t think everyone has to be perfectly clean—in fact we’re not (I still haven’t given up waterproof mascara)—we just think that they we should all have the information to make the right decisions for ourselves.
Is this old news to you? And what makes you the most mad about how the beauty business is operated?
Sorry, I couldn’t resist this image
I don’t know why we don’t follow the UK with how they view beauty products! Maybe we from the US should buy products from the UK since we know it’s safe!
They’re definitely ahead of the game compared to us, but unfortunately there are still issues with European products too. Fragrance is an international industry, and because you can find the word fragrance in just about EVERYTHING, that’s something to be mindful of with UK items too. Boo!
Old news for some, yes, but I’m glad to see this info repeated again and again…there will always be people new to the site that need to see it! And thanks for mentioning the huffpo article along with your refresher in the basics.
What makes me the most mad about how the beauty business is operated…well, there’s a lot, but I think this has to be my personal worst: marketing by using words like “natural,” “organic,” etc. that are sketchy or don’t mean anything at all, or by proclaiming what they lack that sucks (“paraben free!”) while being filled with other bad stuff. In short, the same thing that pisses me off about food marketing – they are allowed to trick people into thinking the products are good and healthy, when they are anything but. Before I started looking deeper, with your help, I was often bamboozled by the marketing of cosmetics even though I already knew that the food industry does it.
The same policies pertain to pesticides and GM products. The EU is much miore stringent. We are about as lax as a third world country. In fact, some third world countries will not accept GM seeds, so there you have it.
Yeah, I totally didn’t know any of that. It’s all new to me.
I mean, I’ve become a frequent reader because I’m all about clean living in general – but I don’t really know anything about beauty products (or that entire industry) or what to look for/avoid when I’m buying them. I’m always interested (hence me reading this site) but I really don’t know where to even start on figuring all that stuff out. Maybe I need to buy your book. ♥
Definitely! :)
Alexandra,
Wonderfully written and people really are not aware of these facts. As a formulator or organic beauty products I know how many toxins are in skincare. My partner and I met in graduate school and started our own line because we were not happy with the limited choices available. Everyone can turn over a bottle, read the ingredients and know exactly what they are putting in and on their body. We can make educated choices and support companies that are clean and transparent in what their ingredients are.
To anyone who is in doubt, definitely buy the book. I had some trouble at first, but it turns out I’m actually lucky to live in Europe. I’ve found some great brands after a bit of searching and I’m really happy.
But to get on track, what really ticks me off about the way these products are marketed? I went to a “heath food” store here a while back and found that their sunscreens contained dirty ingredients. When I told the lady that it wasn’t what I was looking for because I value my endocrine system, she told me to please not say that in front of the customers. Won’t be shopping there again.
Oh, and did I mention the dozens of “organic/vegan/natural” shampoos on the market that still contain sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate?
I’ve found some great brands after a bit of searching and I’m really happy. Nice written and people are not aware of these facts
I totally agree that we have the right to know what is in our products, beauty and household for that matter. It wasn’t long ago that food labels were made to include and list all of their ingredients. You have a big following here. Maybe we need to have our voices heard and start a campagne to make Congress hear us. It seems that there are a few things we could ask for that would be attainable. For instance, that companies must list on their ingredient lists when a nano ingredient is used. From what I found while doing research, nano particles are becoming more and more commonly used and we have no way of knowing what products they are in. This is very concerning not only to me, but to some scientists as well. Also, it would be nice to get stricter uses of terms, such as “organic” or “all natural”.