We’ve talked about dangerous skin care products. Are cosmetics safe?

In a word, no.

Unfortunately you’d expect that our cosmetics would be safe, just as you’d expect that our skin care products would be safe. But you’d be wrong.

Dangerous cosmetics sit there on the shelves of our department stores just like dangerous skin care products sit there on the shelves. Manufactured by big brand name companies like Christian Dior, Revlon, Proctor and Gamble and L’Oreal.

That’s why the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics exists. To try and put pressure on our government and our cosmetics and skin care companies to make cosmetics and skin care products that don’t contain harmful ingredients.

Companies like those we’ve listed above.

So, sadly, when you apply that mascara, or lipstick, or blush, or eye shadow, or bronzer, or blush or foundation or mask or face cream you are, if you’re using mainstream big brand name cosmetics, taking a risk with your health.

Here’s just a few examples of dangerous cosmetics:

1. In 2007 the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics commissioned tests by an independent laboratory on some of our biggest names of lipstick. These included those from Christian Dior, Revlon and L’Oreal.

The results were frightening. Over 50% (52 out of 72 tested) contained lead, including

L’Oreal Colour Riche “True Red”
Christian Dior Addict “Positive Red”
Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor “Maximum Red”

And we’re sure we don’t need to tell you why you don’t want lead sitting on your skin all day.

Finally in May 2007 the California senate voted in Senate Bill 1712 to ban lead in lipstick saying :

“In the absence of federal regulations requiring safe cosmetics, some companies are making very poor decisions about product safety.’

2. In 2002 another study of common household cosmetic and beauty products, including such common products as toothpastes and shampoos as well as cosmetics, found Phthalates in over 70% of them. Phthalates are industrial chemicals that are linked to birth defects, amongst other things.

And there’s more, but we’re sure you get the picture. Our government and the major cosmetics companies are failing to protect the health of the public by allowing dangerous cosmetics onto the cosmetic shelves of our major department stores.

What do you do about it? Buy safe cosmetics.

Our pick is Naked Cosmetics, a small niche company making safe cosmetics which makes a niche range of SAFE cosmetics.

But you won’t find Naked Cosmetics products on the shelves, you’ll have to buy direct from them, and you’ve probably  never heard of them. They don’t have the budget to compete on TV against big names like L’Oreal, but they  make high quality safe cosmetics. Read the rest of this entry

You need to find out whether the products you may be buying now could be hazardous.

We’ve talked before about dangerous skin care products, and how there may well be hazardous ingredients in the skin care products that you may well buy now.

How there is little FDA regulation or control of what ingredients skincare companies can use in their skincare products, and for that matter in cosmetics either, and that this can result in skincare products and anti aging products with ingredients  in them that are considered to be hazardous.

And when it comes to buying great skin care products, the very FIRST consideration for you, the consumer, is that the product doesn’t have the potential to do you harm.

Many skin care products don’t perform well, or do nothing at all for promoting great looking healthy skin. But when they can actually harm your skin, or your health, that’s another matter entirely.

So if you buy skin care products and anti aging products now, and are wondering if any of those products could be hazardous, what do you do about it?

There’s a way to research this. There is an organization called the Environmental Working Group which runs the Cosmetic Safety Database, which reports on the companies, and the products, that may be worth avoiding. They list products according to the degree of risk ingredients in those products may pose to users.

It’s listed on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is lower risk, or hazard, and 10 is maximum hazard.

So you don’t want to find that the products YOU use are a 7 or 8 on the hazard scale.

Find out.

Just go to the Cosmetic Safety Database and search either the product that you use or the company that makes it. You’ll see the search tool right there on their home page.

I just searched “Olay” for an example. The database tells me that Olay has 279 products listed from 1 to 9. I clicked the “OLAY AGE DEFYING AGE DEFYING ANTI-WRINKLE DAILY LOTION, SPF 15″.

It tells me that this product rates a hazard rating of 7 out of 10, and is not recommended. And it tells you what the problems with it are. It tells you that the products ingredients are linked to:

1. Cancer.
2. Developmental/reproductive toxicity.
3. Allergies.
4 And a list of other concerns.

(and that the company tests on animals too. And that they haven’t signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics.)

So if you’ve read our site, and you’re concerned about the safety of the products you may be using, including sunscreens, skincare products, anti aging products, cosmetics and more, you can research exactly what the problems you face may be.

What Do You Do About It?

Use high quality natural skin care products that don’t contain harmful ingredients. Xtend Life make the best skin care products in the world, not only are they safe to use, they are also the most effective skin care products and anti aging products on the market.

Read the rest of this entry