It’s time to break up with your toxic makeup

By Victoria Wagner

From toothpaste and soap to makeup and perfume, everyone at some point during their day uses a cosmetic or personal care product. According to Statista, consumers spent $98 billion on cosmetics and personal care products in 2020 alone. But what is in those products, and how does it affect our overall health? Our relationship with these products may be more one-sided than we used to think.

Hillsdale students are among the many consumers nationwide who have made the switch to clean beauty products. Junior Emma Widmer made the switch many years ago.

“Your skin is your largest organ and it absorbs whatever you put on it into your bloodstream,” Widmer said. “When you pack your beauty products from the age of 12 all the way to 65 with hormone disruptors and neurotoxins, you can’t tell me that’s good for you.”

Sophomore Emma Turner has made the switch after developing sensitivities to the ingredients in many traditional cosmetics.

“I feel a lot better about putting on makeup because I know I’m not putting harsh chemicals into my body,” Turner said.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website, they do “not require cosmetic products and ingredients to be approved…before they go on the market… however, they must be safe for consumers under labeled or customary conditions of use.”

The lack of U.S. Federal regulation over cosmetics gave the space for nonprofit organizations like The Environmental Working Group. EWG studies and informs consumers about ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products by consolidating the results of studies and worldwide regulatory practices.

“Since 1993, the Environmental Working Group has shined a spotlight on outdated legislation, harmful agricultural practices and industry loopholes that pose a risk to our health and the health of our environment,” according to their website.

For example, a sunscreen sold in the United States might contain the common preservative methylparaben, but since parabens are banned in the European Union, the same product might be reformulated with glycerin to be sold in the EU.

Research nonprofit companies like EWG help shed light on potentially dangerous or irritating ingredients found in cosmetics and personal care products sold in the U.S.

“Personal care products are manufactured with 10,500 unique chemical ingredients, some of which are known or suspected carcinogens, toxic to the reproductive system or known to disrupt the endocrine system,” according to EWG’s website. “Although some companies make products that are safe to use, others use dangerous ingredients, like coal tar and formaldehyde, both of which are human carcinogens, and lead acetate, a developmental toxin.” Finding products free from toxic ingredients can be difficult, but niches of the beauty industry have created tools and resources to make the search easier. EWG’s “Skin Deep” database allows you to look up almost any product and view its ingredient anal- ysis. The lower the score, the safer the product. Additionally, Ulta Beauty and Sephora have sections of their website where you can view products they deem “clean.”

“When you see our Clean Seal, you can be assured that the product is formulated without specific ingredients that are known or suspected to be potentially harmful to human health and/or the environment,” says Sephora’s “Clean at Sephora” webpage.

Since people have become more aware of toxic ingredients in their personal care products, many brands have changed their marketing tactics. “Greenwashing” is the prac- tice of making a product appear non-toxic through branding, but the product’s ingredients fall short of many people’s standards for clean beauty.

According to Provenance’s 2022 “Skin Deep Beauty Report,” “four in five consumers have difficulty trusting the sustainability and social claims made by companies in the beauty and wellness industry.” Additionally, a majority of consumers believe terms like “Clean” and “Green” are unclear since there is no standard for brands to be able to use those terms.

While there is no industry standard for what makes a product “clean,” doing research on different ingredients to avoid can help you make smart decisions about what products you are putting on your body. Eliminating ingredients like parabens, sulfates and synthetic fragrances is a good first step in lowering your exposure to toxic and irritating ingredients.

“Your body wants to be in homeostasis, so it’s important to allow your body to do its job and fix itself,” Widmer said.

So the next time you run out of toothpaste or moisturizer, consider checking the ingredients and switching to a cleaner alternative. Your body will thank you in the long run.

Victoria Wagner is a sophomore studying politics and journalism.