Beauty Products

​Introduction
 
            When you’re a child the world is at your fingertips. You’re free, full of curiosity and absorb everything around you. Playing with your toys on your parent’s bed, you watch your mom get ready to go out. As soon as she gets out of the shower, she begins her daily routine – she starts by putting moisturizer on her face and lotion on her body. She then throws on her deodorant and begins applying her make up. If you’re a girl, you might be more attentive to this part, as you only hope to grow up just like your mommy one day. She starts with her foundation, followed by eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara to accentuate her bright blue eyes. She applies a little blush and then finally, the last touch – her red lipstick, or should we say “lead lipstick.” She looks at you and smiles – she is so beautiful.
            From childhood, you start to gain an impression of what beauty is. You first see it through your mother or your big sister, and as you grow up you see it on TV, in movies, in advertisements and magazines. As a teenager you begin to look up to celebrities and people on YouTube, always keeping up to date with the latest makeup tutorials, skin care routines, favorite beauty products for daytime, nighttime, and every season of the year. It is no surprise that the beauty and cosmetics is a multi-billion industry especially in American society. Most women use at least ten beauty products every day, men about five. But, while you’re keeping up with all the latest products, have you ever stopped to think about what is actually in them? What are you actually putting on your body? No one really thinks about how a shampoo would make their hair shiny, or how exactly would a moisturizer would hydrate your skin more than the other brand. All you care about is that it gets the job done. As you walk down the cosmetics aisle, you are surrounded with choices. Should I choose the matte lipstick or the gloss? Red or neutral? No one knows that many top brand lipsticks actually contain lead in them.  People often associate beauty with vanity and superficiality, but behind it all, beauty transcends through social and cultural space, while mixing in politics and environmental ethics.
 
 
Brief History of Cosmetics
 
            Cosmetics were known to have been used as early as the ancient Egyptians. During that time, both men and women used products such as oils and ointments to clean, soften and deodorize their body.  (Chaudhri and Jain) They used make-up like products that tinted their lips and cheeks, henna for their nails and a powder called kohl to line their eyes and eyebrows. Natural products like lavender, rosemary, aloe and almond oils were used as basic ingredients for their perfumes. Romans used skin creams made of beeswax, olive oil and rosewater. In the Old Testament, it states that Jezebel painter her eyelids. We have seen beauty products used across the globe and throughout time.[1]
            In the early 1900’s, make-up was not at all popular in the US, and was used exclusively by women who worked in cabarets and on the black and white screen. During that time, face enameling became popular, yet highly dangerous because it was considered arsenic. Pale skin showed signs of wealth because it meant that you had the luxury of being inside, and not out working in the sun all day. Not until 1910 did make-up become a trend, where ballet and theatre celebrities set a standard for what beauty was. And in the 1920’s, Hollywood finally created a boom in the cosmetic industry. Skin whitening made an appearance and was especially popular amongst African Americans and even Asians still today. Chemicals like hydroquinone decreased the production of melanin in the skin, which in turn caused problems like dermatitis and even death in high dosages.[2] During the second world war cosmetics went into a decline because the ingredients that were used in many cosmetics (petroleum and alcohol) were taken into war supply. In the 1960’s and 1970’s feminism led to an anti-cosmetic movement, due to idea that cosmetics made women sex objects to men. It was a goal to bring forth equality to the sexes and minimize the oppression of women.[3] Now, beauty products can be seen on every shelf of every store and are even globally available online. Cosmetics has become a part of our daily routine because we always want to be at our best.
 
Environmental Ethics: How Beauty Affects our Planet
 
            Like all other products, cosmetics have start somewhere. In the past people extracted natural ingredients such as rosemary, lavender, and almond oils to use in their cosmetic products. Today, our products are made up of all types of chemicals, many we can’t even pronounce. To fully understand the impact of what cosmetics has on our planet and ourselves, we need to go back to the basic principle of our materials economy, “toxins in, toxins out.”[4] The life cycle of any product begins with extraction.
            Water is the number one ingredient in about 90% of all skin products.[5] It really has no beneficial effects to us except that it gives us a little hydration, which we can already do by taking showers or drinking more water. Other than that, it’s main benefit is to increase profitability for companies by reducing manufacturing cost. Water already is a concern in itself, from an environmental, political and safety point of view. Human activity have impacted our water quality and availability a great deal. Though our world has a lot of it, the availability of water is scarce because it has become a commodity and is privatized all over the globe. For companies to use water solely for their benefit, and without thought to our environment or their consumers is entirely unfair.
            Palm oil is a popular ingredient that can be found in moisturizers, shampoos, soaps, lotions, foundations and more. It is a vegetable oil that is derived from the fruit of oil palms and has become an increasingly demanded crop. Indonesia and Malaysia, located in Southeast Asia, are the two largest oil palm-producing countries in the world. Oil palm plantations is a major contributor to tropical deforestation and the drainage of peatlands, all of which contributes to climate change. In comparison to natural forests, oil palm plantations support much fewer species, posing a threat to biodiversity in natural ecosystems. In a research study, they found that deforestation caused by oil palm plantations resulted in the decrease of species richness of forest butterflies by 83% and 79%.[6]                  
Going back to the principle of “toxins in, toxics out” we now look into where our beauty products end up after consuming. Sunscreen for one, is something we are encouraged to wear everyday to protect ourselves from the detrimental impacts of UV rays on our skin. Naturally, we apply loads of it before we hit the beach. What we don’t know is that studies have recently shown that our personal care products, including sunscreen, have major effects on aquatic organisms such as coral. In coral bleaching, corals release the algae (zooxanthellae) causing them to turn white. This process decreases biodiversity and alters the functionality of reef ecosystems. Initially there were thoughts that water temperature, pollution and bacterial diseases caused coral bleaching, but recent studies have shown otherwise. In some tourist areas, such as marine ecoparks in Mexico, sunscreen has been banned because of its harmful potential to the environment.[7] The four common chemicals that lead to coral bleaching include paraben, cinnamate, benzophenone and camphor derivatives. Collectively throughout the world, tons of sunscreen are washed into the oceans each year, slowly deteriorating the world we tend to dismiss because we cannot see it.
            Millions of people purchase personal care products everyday. After using them where do you think they go? Like all used up and unwanted products, it turns to trash and makes its way into our landfills. Again, contributing to the deterioration of our planet from beginning to end. Toxins in our products, in the workers, in us and on our planet.
 
 
 
Risk and hazard: Beautiful on the outside, but what about the inside?
 
           You never really thought that making yourself “beautiful” could have such an ugly side.  Everyday, both men and women use multiple beauty products before they start their day, and for many women, this continues throughout the day. If you ever thought to look at the back of the bottle, you can see that each of these beauty products contain a dozen or more chemicals, most you have never heard of aside from maybe water or mineral oil. The thing is, maybe only about “20% of these chemicals have been assessed for safety by the industry's safety panel.”[8] The industry's safety panel? Why not the FDA? About 30 years ago the industry, being self-regulated, pushed to have their own safety panel. Unfortunately, many of these companies don’t even follow the advice of this panel for their products safety, so exactly is the point?
            Many products come with attractive labeling to those who somewhat care about what they put on their body, such as “pure, safe, or gentle.” For others, the result of the product is their number one priority, so labeling like “skin-boosting, natural glow, or hydrating” might be most appealing to them. Often we think of pollution or house supplies as major suppliers to toxic environments, but personal care products are one of the top and direct ways chemicals and toxins enter your body. According to EWG’s Skin Deep Database, at least 146 ingredients in beauty products contain harmful properties such as carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, pesticides, and plasticizers, many of which lead to serious health problems like cancer.
 
            “Skin Deep’s findings in 2005 included:
 
·           1/3 of personal care products contain at least one ingredient linked to cancer.
·           45% of products contain an ingredient that may be harmful to the reproductive system or to a baby’s development.
·           60% of products contain chemicals that can act like estrogen or disrupt hormones in the body.
·           56% of products contain “penetration enhancer” chemicals, which help other chemicals penetrate faster and deeper into the body.
·           87% of ingredients in personal care products have not been assessed for safety by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, the industry’s self-policing safety panel.”[9]
 
            Johnson and Johnson, a leading baby product line ensures that all of their products are tested and safe to use on babies. The company replaced sodium lauryl sulfate with sodium laureth sulfate, a gentler cleanser than the prior. The conversion from lauryl to laureth involves a process called ethoxylation, creating a petroleum-derived contaminant 1,4-dioxane, stated by the EPA as a definite animal and possible human carcinogen. You can find this contaminant in many products like shampoos, hair straighteners, detergents, creams, and more importantly, baby soaps. Some, however take on different forms of the name such as polysorbate, PEG, or polyethylene glycol. Many tests have been conducted for chemicals or contaminants in people’s bodies. One study shown that these people were contaminated with flame retardants, PCB’s (which has been banned in the 70’s), pesticides, even stain repellents. The unusual thing about this test, however, was that it was not conducted on adults, but newborn babies, right out of the womb.[10] Even babies are born pre-polluted.
            The dangers of paraben and phthalates have been a health concern for many for a while now. Phthalates is a harmful solvent that can be found in many cosmetics and beauty products, and can be very damaging to your organs and reproductive system. Parabens show possibility that it can be harmful to your hormones and have also been found in breast tumors. Many personal care products have already pushed changes to exclude these chemicals from their products and have clearly labeled it on their bottles, which would of course make it more appealing to the consumer. But does paraben and phthalate free mean it’s chemical free? No. Palmer’s Cocoa Butter, for example is labeled as such, but if you take a second look at the ingredients, you can find mineral oil, which is derived from petroleum, it clogs your pores and locks in toxins. As you know, Palmer’s targets pregnant women, ensuring that their product reduces stretch marks. Without any other thought, we pull it from the shelf in hopes that our body will look just as good as it did before we got pregnant. Mineral oil can in fact penetrate through a mother’s body and reach the fetus, causing harmful reactions such as the reduction of nutrient absorption in the baby.
           
 
Conclusion: Beauty vs. Safety
 
            These are just a few of the many concerning facts about beauty and personal care products. So, what can we do to better protect ourselves and our children from these harmful chemicals that are out there? We start buying products that are safe to use. Easy as that, right? Unfortunately, the choices of products we have are endless. It will take a lot of effort and studying to know what ingredients are bad for you, but as a consumer, shouldn’t we just trust the cosmetic companies to either emit the bad stuff or clearly label what is harmful to you? As a consumer, it’s not completely your fault, as the choices you have are already pre-decided by the companies and the government who decide what products go on the shelf. Procter and Gamble, for example, is a multinational manufacturer that makes many of our leading personal care products like Herbal Essences, Head and Shoulders, Old Spice, Olay, Pantene Pro-V, and SK-II. Despite their spa-appealing labeling, Herbal Essences actually contains petro-chemicals made from oil. The terms “natural, pure, even organic” holds no legal definition in the cosmetic industry.[11] There are no laws instilled to make sure what we’re putting on our body is safe, and don’t even require that these companies list all of the ingredients on the label. So technically, they can put whatever they want in our products without us even knowing it. Natural products cannot be patented, and cosmetic and chemical companies hate ingredients that aren’t patented.[12] So instead, they use less natural ingredients and more of the chemicals that are readily available and that have been used for decades. It is a whole broken system that completely disregards the well-being of their consumers. Companies are masking their greed by seducing consumers into buying their way into beauty.
            Fortunately, there are some cosmetic companies who have been making the effort in creating “greener” products. These chemists are doing their best to figure out how to exclude toxins, while creating a more sustainable process. Policies, such as in Europe, have banned certain chemicals, that most companies have been more than willing to comply. It’s not that all chemicals are bad and should be completely be removed from our products. It’s that we need to be fairly informed of the certain chemicals that affects our health. Green chemistry trailblazes for the next industrial revolution and creates a stepping stone for a “carbon-neutral, toxic free, and zero-waste economy.”[13] Many cosmetic companies have already reduced their landfill footprint by encouraging their consumers to recycle their containers, while rewarding their customers with a discount on their next purchase.
            The face of beauty should not lie in the hands of the industry, nor should it lie in the hands of our society's culture. It should lie in our own hands. In a world led by technology and consumerism, social media has a major impact on the image of people today. What we see in others is who we want to be. What products they use is what we end up using. There are so many different types of beauty products out there that people try them and toss them out if they don’t like it. We go through beauty products like we do fashion. We use products to make ourselves feel “more beautiful.” So what does this industry say about beauty, itself, and our culture? As individuals and as a society, we must find our way back to defining beauty by what is inside, both physically and emotionally.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bibliography
 
 
P&G. Accessed December 12, 2017. https://us.pg.com/our-brands.
 
Chaundhri, S. K., and N. K. Jain. "History of Cosmetics." Asian Journal of Pharmaceutics3,    no. 3 (July 2009): 164-67.
 
Danovaro, Roberto, Lucia Bongiorni, Cinzia Corinaldesi, Donato Giovannelli, Elisabetta   Damiani, Paola Astolfi, Lucedio Greci, and Antonio Pusceddu. "Sunscreens Cause Coral Bleaching by Promoting Viral Infections." Environmental Health Perspectives. 116, no. 4    (April 2008): 441-47. doi:10.1289/ehp.10966.
 
Fitzherbert, E., M. Struebig, A. Morel, F. Danielsen, C. Bruhl, P. Donald, and B. Phalan.       "How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?" Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 23,        no. 10 (October 2008): 538-45. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.012.
 
  Jacob S. Dorman. "Skin Bleach And Civilization: The Racial Formation of Blackness in 1920s                      Harlem." Journal of Pan African Studies 4, no. 4 (June 2011): 47-80. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 29, 2015).
 
Koh, Lian Pin, and David S. Wilcove. "Is oil palm agriculture really destroying tropical      biodiversity?" Conservation Letters. 1, no. 2 (May 15, 2008): 60-64. doi:10.1111/j.1755-          263x.2008.00011.x.
 
Malkan, Stacy. Not just a pretty face the ugly side of the beauty industry. Vancouver, B.C.:   Langara College, 2017.
 
"Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database | EWG." Skin Deep Home Comments. Accessed        December 12, 2017. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep.
 
The Story of Cosmetics. By Annie Leonard. July 21, 2010.        https://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-cosmetics/.
 
Willett, Julie A. The American beauty industry encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA:        Greenwood, 2010.
 
YouTube. December 11, 2013. Accessed December 12, 2017.        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIjH-UH9X4.


[1] Chaundhri, S. K., and N. K. Jain. "History of Cosmetics." Asian Journal of Pharmaceutics3, no. 3 (July 2009): 164-67.

[2] Jacob S. Dorman. "Skin Bleach And Civilization: The Racial Formation of Blackness in 1920s Harlem." Journal of Pan African Studies 4, no. 4 (June 2011): 47-80. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 7, 2017).

[3] Willett, Julie A. The American beauty industry encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2010.

[4] The Story of Cosmetics. By Annie Leonard. July 21, 2010. https://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-cosmetics/.

[5] Willett, Julie A. The American beauty industry encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2010.

[6] Koh, Lian Pin, and David S. Wilcove. "Is oil palm agriculture really destroying tropical biodiversity?" Conservation Letters. 1, no. 2 (May 15, 2008): 60-64. doi:10.1111/j.1755-263x.2008.00011.x.

[7] Danovaro, Roberto, Lucia Bongiorni, Cinzia Corinaldesi, Donato Giovannelli, Elisabetta Damiani, Paola Astolfi, Lucedio Greci, and Antonio Pusceddu. "Sunscreens Cause Coral Bleaching by Promoting Viral Infections." Environmental Health Perspectives. 116, no. 4 (April 2008): 441-47. doi:10.1289/ehp.10966.

[8] The Story of Cosmetics. By Annie Leonard. July 21, 2010. https://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-cosmetics/.

[9] Malkan, Stacy. Not just a pretty face the ugly side of the beauty industry. Vancouver, B.C.: Langara College, 2017.

[10] Malkan, Stacy. Not just a pretty face the ugly side of the beauty industry. Vancouver, B.C.: Langara College, 2017.

[11] The Story of Cosmetics. By Annie Leonard. July 21, 2010. https://storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-cosmetics/.

[12] YouTube. December 11, 2013. Accessed December 12, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIjH-UH9X4.

[13] Malkan, Stacy. Not just a pretty face the ugly side of the beauty industry. Vancouver, B.C.: Langara College, 2017.

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