Dangerous Cosmetics And Teenage Girls. Don’t Mix The Two.
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009You might be unaware that there are dangerous ingredients in many big brand name cosmetics, and a new study is showing that this might be affecting teenage girls.
Our big brand cosmetics can be loaded with ingredients that aren’t safe and we ought not put on our skin. A recent study, for example, showed there was lead in over 50% of lipsticks tested.
Lead? Is it possible that we the public are unknowingly using cosmetics like lipstick that contain lead? Yes it is. It’s a sad fact that the FDA doesn’t regulate cosmetics, or for that matter skin care or anti aging products like it regulates drugs.
And yet for those of us using cosmetics we are putting them into our systems just as if they were drugs. When you apply a cosmetic product like a lipstick or a blush our a rouge some of that products ends up inside of us.
And it goes in because our skin is porous and what goes on mostly goes in and ends up in our bodes. That’s fine it the ingredients are harmless but lead? That’s not harmless.
And now a recent study has cast doubt on whether it’s safe for our teenage girls to use some cosmetics. I’ll quote from the website of the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics which summarizes the results clearly.
“Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products.”
Now isn’t that scary? And it’s worse than you’d imagine, and if you’re a parent of teenage girls who use cosmetics, (and which girls don’t) it’s really scary.
The Environmental Working Group found chemicals from 4 different families of chemicals (phthalates, parabens, triclosan and musks) in the urine of girls between the ages of 14 and 20 who were tested in the study.
Some of these chemicals were found in the urine of every single girl tested.
Adolescence, of course, is a time when the maturing female body is growing fast and dealing with hormonal changes, and girls of this age do not want to be loading their bodies with potentially toxic chemicals.
These chemicals are considered to be capable of altering hormones, and so I wonder how many teenage girls using cosmetics and skin care products and possibly acne products know that they are taking a risk with their hormones at this time.
What will be the result of these possible risks to the reproductive health of young girls? Who knows, but I for one don’t want my daughter to find out.
Either way, do we want our children taking these unknown risks with common cosmetics and skincare and other personal and body care products?
It’s a matter of serious concern for anyone. But there are solutions. There are very good companies that have dedicated themselves to making natural cosmetics and natural skin care products that don’t contain dangerous chemicals. They work extremely well and don’t expose our daughters to the risks inherent in mainstream cosmetics.
But these aren’t the big brand name companies, they’re small niche companies that can’t possibly compete with the big brands on marketing, and don’t try, so you never see them advertising on TV. And you won’t find any of their products on the shelf of your local store.
However if you take the time to find them their natural cosmetics and natural skin care products are excellent, and price competitive.
So don’t play Russian Roulette with your daughters health. Find some top shelf natural cosmetics and natural skin care products that don’t contain dangerous chemicals.