I went to the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database website and looked up some of the make-up I use on a daily basis. I was surprised to find that most of the make-up I use was rated between 3 and 5 on a scale of 0-10 (10 being the most hazardous). I will break down the two products I searched separately.
1.L'Oreal Bare Natural Gentle Mineral Powder, Nude Beige
This is the foundation that I use everyday. According to the database, it is given a 3/10 on the hazard scale. This was better than I expected since usually having the word "natural" in the name of the product is usually very misleading. There are about 48% other products that are safer than this one. The products used to make this foundation is known to cause developmental/reproductive toxicity and skin irriations. When the ingredients were broke down one by one, most were in the green (low) level with only a couple in the yellow (moderate) zone. Although the former is stated, there is a reported 87% data gap in the studies of the ingredients so it is hard to say whether the former is true. Even though there are still some problems with this foundation, I think I am mostly safe to continue using it compared to using the other products out there. I don't put foundation on daily either; I only usually wear it when my skin isn't very clear.
2. Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen Blackest Black 001
This is a product I definitely use on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day. It was rated a 5/10 on the hazard scale with about 70% of other eyeliners being safer which I wasn't too happy to see. Since this is something that is put around my eyes, I'm a little more worried about it as I don't want to be using something that could get into my system easier and potentially make me go blind. The data gap was a little less than the foundatoin at 76% but I still think it is kind of high. The ingredients in the product are known to cause: cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, allergies/immunotoxicity, use restrictions, and many other hazards. When the ingredients were broke down, about half were in the green (low) zone and half were in the yellow (moderate) zone.
Overall, I thought this was really interesting. I like that the website was able to suggest safer products as an alternative. We all hear about the animal testing that is done for make-up but we never really hear about the results. In the future, I will try to find the other products in the stores next time I need to buy more make-up.
I also liked that you could find safer products. I will probably be switching a few of the things I use.
ReplyDeleteThis web site is pretty interesting, I think that I am going to look up all the products I use to know what I am really dealing with!
ReplyDeleteI also thought this site was interesting. I have never really thought about all the ingredients in my makeup until today!
ReplyDeleteI think this website is great, I'm really glad we all got a chance to look at it.I also fount it pretty surprising. I plan on using this site to help me figure out which cosmetics I should buy in the future.
ReplyDeleteBetween 3 and 5 is pretty good! My eyeliner got a whopping 9! EEK! Guess I'm going sans eyeliner for a while! I too thought this website was super helpful and interesting!
ReplyDeleteI really liked that we were able to look at other products. I think that we are sometimes misled by words such as "mineral" or "natural." Sometimes products that use these words might be worse than others. It is great that there is a site like this to help us get through the advertising techniques.
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