Cosmetics are a staple of every woman's life. Mascara, lotion, lipstick, these are products used by women daily. The scary thing is, we might be putting carcinogens or poisons on our bodies everyday. We assume everything is safe and tested, but according to an article titled "Cosmetics" from the Environmental Working Group website, personal care products can go from concept to cabinet without ever being tested. The FDA is relatively powerless until people start dropping dead.
Is it an allergy? Or are you just putting chemicals in your eye that should never be there?
Enough about hypothetical concerns though, this is a real issue affecting real people- especially teenage girls. In an article from the same website, titled "Teen Girls' Body Burden of Hormone-Altering Cosmetics Chemicals" detailed a study that was conducted on 20 teenage girls. The study tested the girls' blood and urine for sixteen chemicals from four chemical families; each of these chemicals is believed to be harmful and are link to health effects such as cancer and hormone disruption. Two specific chemicals were detected in every single girl.
The article goes on to mention that teen girls are especially hit hard by these chemicals because teen girls on average use nearly 17 personal care products a day, while the average adult woman uses 12. The fact that these girls are still developing and some of these chemicals are linked specifically to hormone disruption is especially troubling, we need to be protecting our girls.
The amount of poorly tested products on the market would be less of an issue if we, as a society, did not as enthusiastically encourage women to wear makeup and care so much about looks. Through advertising we consistently show young girls that being attractive is the most important thing. We set the bait, and these companies, with their dangerous products, set the traps, and that's how we're killing our girls.
While I never really got into make up, it wasn’t from lack of trying on the part of my mother or my other female relatives. I absolutely agree that society needs to change what it procedures beauty, young girls and women shouldn’t have the need to harm themselves in order to be accepted. Unfortunately, dangerous beauty products are nothing new. This article from Joyous Health talks about some of the toxic beauty products from history https://www.joyoushealth.com/20219-blog-dangerous-beauty-a-very-brief-history-of-toxic-cosmetics
ReplyDeleteWhile most people today can agree that things like arsenic and lead should not be used in makeup, that doesn’t change the underlying issue. In order to prevent dangerous beauty products from reaching teens and young women, society needs to refuse to use these products. The only way to stop companies from producing these products is to make them lose money.
I definitely agree that women need to learn that beauty standards are as they say "in the eye of the beholder" and it may not be necessary to put tons of artificial product on themselves to match whatever standard they are aiming for. But make up has been around for a millennia, so I believe it's much harder to try to stop women from wearing makeup seeing as it is so ingrained in our behavior, but a quicker approach to the health concern is to actually enforce safety standards so that these women aren't putting on poison.
ReplyDeleteThis is so crazy! I am a huge fan of makeup and only focus on what is fits my skin type, looks good and is cruelty free. I never even heard of dangerous chemicals entering our bodies through makeup. It sounds like a movie plot! I definitely agree that the beauty norms should focus on everyone's natural self instead of artificial and close to impossible looks, especially for young, developing girls. Sadly, I have fallen into the artificial look and find myself not being able to leave the house without eyebrows, but it has let me appreciate those who love themselves enough to not need makeup in their routine and this post only proves how unnecessary makeup really is.
ReplyDelete