Is Your Make-up Killing You?
From: The Daily Mail on the 5th October 2007
Women absorb 5 lb. of chemicals from cosmetics every year - from
cancer-causing compounds in face cream to arsenic in eyeshadow. We tested
two beauty junkies to reveal the shocking toll on their bodies.
Charlotte Kohl and her sister Emma are attractive young women. Their looks,
they admit, are very important to them, which is why, between them, they use
more than 70 different beauty and cosmetic products every day. Take
Charlotte, 27, an estate agent from East London. Each evening, after
slathering her face with a concoction of night creams, she sleeps with a
dental bleaching kit on her teeth and fake tan all over her body.
Every morning, she uses an array of products in the shower, ranging from
shower gels and exfoliating scrubs to 'body building' lotions to give life
to her fine hair.
Her make-up regime includes blusher, bronzer, eyeliner, eye shadow and
mascara, and she never leaves the house without covering her head in a thick
cloud of hairspray.
Her 24-year-old sister Emma, a personal trainer, follows a similar routine,
but she also has an obsession with lipgloss: she owns 60 different ones and
touches up her lips every few minutes. In a bid to ensure she always has
fresh breath, Emma also cleans her teeth seven times a day and carries a
tube of toothpaste in her handbag, which she rubs into her teeth and gums at
almost hourly intervals. Between them, the two girls get through four cans
of deodorant a week, and spend £1,000 a month on cosmetics.
"We have been into cosmetics since we reached our teens," says Emma. "We're
the sort of people who rush out to buy a new mascara just because it claimed
to do more for our eyelashes than any other mascara previously. "I'm a
complete sucker for anything that says it can make me look or feel better,
or that is endorsed by a celebrity."
And Charlotte and Emma are not alone. Last year, Britons spent £6.4billion
on cosmetics and grooming products, with the average woman applying 12
toiletries every day. But here's the rub - these toiletries can bring with
them at least 175 chemical compounds.
A recent study found that British women are one of the heaviest users of
cosmetics in Europe and, as a result, we ingest through our skin, and
occasionally through the mouth, up to 5lb of chemicals a year. Take Emma's
favourite fuzzy peach lipgloss for instance: she loves its colour and the
fact it 'tastes nice', but according to the list of ingredients, it contains
28 manmade chemicals. Her deodorant contains 26 chemicals and Charlotte's
hairspray has 23. Of course, the manufacturers would say these chemicals and
resulting products are safe, but a growing school of thought begs to differ.
As part of a new television documentary, presented by Sarah Beeny (who for
the past two years has been on a personal mission to remove as many
chemicals from her lifestyle as possible), Charlotte and Emma agreed to have
their blood and urine tested for a selection of chemicals found in their
cosmetics. They were then challenged to live without their beauty products
for eight days, swapping everything for natural chemical-free varieties.
They also stopped using domestic cleaning products. The results will
surprise even those who find it hard to believe that everyday cosmetics
could really be doing us any harm. Certainly, both sisters did not think
there would be anything potentially dangerous in their make-up bags.
"The ridiculous thing is that I've always tried to avoid chemicals whenever
I can," says Emma. "I always buy organic food.
"I never in a million years thought I could be exposed to chemicals which
could damage me through my make-up.
"Make-up makes me feel good and it wouldn't have even crossed my mind that
it could be doing me harm."
Cosmetics contain many different kinds of chemicals, but of particular
concern are a group of preservatives called parabens, which by some
estimates are found in 99per cent of all 'leave on' cosmetics, and 77per
cent of 'rinse off' cosmetics.
These are known hormone disruptors: evidence suggests they can mimic the
female hormone oestrogen, and a lifetime of increased exposure to oestrogen
is linked to a heightened risk of breast cancer.
One study found parabens present in 18 out of 20 breast cancer tissue
samples (though it is important to note that the study did not prove they'd
actually caused the breast cancer). Parabens are also thought to adversely
affect male reproductive functions.
Another troubling chemical is the antibacterial agent and pesticide
triclosan, which is used in toothpastes, soaps, household cleaning products
and body washes. It belongs to the chlorophenol class of chemicals, which
are suspected of causing cancer in humans and taken internally, even in
small amounts, can cause cold sweats, circulatory problems and - in extreme
cases - coma.
Also of concern are phthalates, a substance that gives our lotions that
silky, creamy, texture, but which are also a 'plasticiser' used to make
plastics flexible. Certain phthalates are known carcinogens, and studies
have suggested they damage the liver, kidneys, lungs and the reproductive
system, as well as affecting the development of unborn baby boys.
The list goes on. Sodium laureth sulphate, a frequent ingredient in shower
gels and shampoos, is a skin irritant; Propylene glycol, found in soap,
blushers and make-up remover, has been shown in large quantities to depress
the central nervous system to make it function less effectively, and
aluminum in deodorants is linked to breast cancer by medical research.
And did you know that certain eye shadows contain arsenic?
One thing is for sure: few of us would want to rub any of these chemicals
into our eyes, far less ingest them in liquids by drinking them. Yet, every
day, we rub them into our skin, and allow them to enter our bodies. Given
the facts, it's hardly surprising that a growing number of experts believe
these substances have a cumulative effect on our bodies. They think the
'chemical cocktail' inside us is contributing to the increased frequency of
a host of illnesses ranging from eczema to cancers as well as developmental
problems such as autism and dyslexia. "It's difficult to see the link
between chemicals in cosmetics and damage to health unless you stand back
and look at the wider picture," says Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton, author of
Toxic Overload and supporter of the campaign group Chemical Safe Skincare.
"Man-made chemicals first emerged 100years ago, and every decade since, the
overall production of these synthetic chemicals has doubled.
"We are surrounded by chemicals: in the air, in our food, in our water and
especially in our cosmetics, and the fact is that our bodies can't break
many of these substances down. "Our systems are becoming more polluted and
we are beginning to see the results of that in terms of increased illnesses
and even birth defects, especially in boys. "There is no doubt that one of
the ways we are exposing ourselves to these chemicals is through our
cosmetics."
Dr Baillie-Hamilton also thinks that absorbing chemicals through our skin is
more dangerous than swallowing them. "At least if you ingest chemicals
through your mouth, your digestive system can do something towards dealing
with them," she says. "If they go through your skin they hit your blood
stream immediately and are then transported to vital organs such as kidney
and liver, where they may be stored for many years."
So how did Emma and Charlotte's chemical detox pan out?
Before they started, both girls had to get rid of all their old products.
The contents of their make-up bags and bathroom cabinets filled a black bin
liner, and they were given alternative products, from ranges including Elave,
Skin Shop, Aubrey Organics, Jane Iredale, Burts Bees and Purenuffstuff.
Household cleaning products came from Ecover.
"At first, I really missed my own cosmetics and our new make-up didn't seem
that good," says Charlotte. "The chemical-free mascara I was using didn't
seem to hold onto my lashes and the hairspray felt as if I was spraying my
hair with water. "I had to reapply the natural lipgloss so many times
because it kept rubbing off." Emma agrees: "We went out one night with our
new make-up on and it was hopeless, the hairspray didn't hold, the lipgloss
kept rubbing off and I ended up less than fragrant, too, because the natural
deodorant wasn't powerful enough." During the experiment, perhaps to
encourage them not to go back to their old products, the girls were given
information about their usual make-up.
For instance, the average woman eats, albeit unwittingly, five lipsticks a
year, which in her lifetime is the equivalent volume of 1.5 blocks of lard.
But Emma's lipgloss obsession means that she'll eat 54 lipglosses a year -
the equivalent of eight blocks of lard during her lifetime. And that's on
top of all the chemicals it contains. Charlotte's obsession with hairspray
is just as troublesome. "I was shown that when its sprayed onto a smooth
surface, hairspray solidifies into a clear plastic that you can actually
peel off in solid form," says Charlotte. "Not only had I been putting this
onto my head all day, but I'd also been unwittingly breathing it in. I was
effectively-clogging up my lungs with plastic.
"The girls' monthly trips to the hairdresser to have their hair coloured are
fraught with hidden dangers. People who use permanent hair dye are more than
twice as likely to develop bladder cancer as those that don't. Both ammonia
and paraphenylenediamine (PPD) - chemical substances used in dyes - can
cause allergic reactions, too.
As the experiment progressed, Charlotte and Emma began to grow accustomed to
their new products, and to discover brands they felt were comparable to
their old make-up. "I began to realise it was just a question of getting
used to using different brands," says Emma. "After a week, we'd both
completely forgotten that we weren't using our own make-up and were putting
on the chemical-free alternatives as though nothing had changed."
So at the end of the eight days, had such a detox really made a difference
to the chemical levels found in their bodies? The highest reading of
parabens found in humans is 730 mg per litre of urine. Tests taken at the
beginning of the experience had revealed that Charlotte had 650 mg, which is
in the higher range. Her reading fell dramatically to 21mg at the end of the
experiment. Her level of triclosan - found in toothpaste and body washes -
fell from 490mg per litre to zero. "I was shocked at the results," says
Charlotte. "I hadn't believed we'd see such a dramatic difference in such a
short time, let alone as a result of something as simple as changing our
cosmetics. "Once I understood what our old cosmetics contained,
psychologically it felt better to be using chemical-free alternatives. We
both noticed our skin seemed brighter and smoother. "Our eyes were also
brighter and our hair felt softer."
Emma's results showed an equally dramatic fall in triclosan levels, which
fell from 90 mg per litre to just 2 mg per litre. Her paraben level was more
surprising - it actually increased from its initial level of 7 mg per litre
of urine, though medical experts point out that parabens can be taken into
the body through eating dried and snack foods, in which they are used as
preservatives, and medicines, so Emma's diet during the experiment may have
had a bearing. "What really hit home to me was that the way we go about our
daily life really does have an instant impact on chemical levels in our
bodies," she says. "It made me realise that I am being bombarded with
chemicals from all sorts of directions, many of which I can't avoid.
Anything I can do to cut back, can only be a good thing." Since the
experiment finished, both girls have continued to use natural make-up where
possible and switched to natural cleaning products. Charlotte has reduced
her use of hairspray and Emma now cleans her teeth a sensible twice a day.
Both girls use a natural deodorant, which contains no chemicals. "We don't
want to get fanatical about it, and the fact is that certain chemical-free
cosmetics don't work as well," says Emma. "We've yet to find a chemical-free
mascara that is as good as my normal one, and chemical-free hair dye isn't
that great either. "But for pretty much everything else there is an
excellent chemical free alternative. "Given what we've learned, it would be
madness to go on as we were."
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