February 4th, 2009
There’s a simple way to determine the natural quality of a cosmetic: If the ingredient list is an alphabet soup of chemicals and additives, you can be sure it’s not organic. Just because a product declares itself to be natural and organic doesn’t make it so. A recent Organic Consumers Association study found that several “green” body products contained the potentially carcinogenic 1.4-dioxine. They included Nature’s Gate Organics, trendy Stella McCartney’s CARE and popular Kiss My Face Obsessively Organic.
Rona Berg has been writing about beauty for a long time, and her work has appeared in everything from The New York Times to O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine. This year she launched Organic Beauty Magazine, a subject close to her heart.
“I’ve always been very interested in natural beauty, and I’ve covered beauty for a long time, and when a lot of studies came out that indicated there are some potentially scary ingredients in some products, I really sat up and listened,” she said. “I’m a big believer in science. Everything (in her magazine) is soundly researched and sourced. We don’t want to go around screaming toxins . . . we really want to help women incorporate natural and organic products into their lives according to their comfort level.
We’re Not Making It Up: Nanoparticles, Talc and Lead
Organic makeup is still very much a work in progress, she said. “The last frontier. It’s a little bit like the Wild West out there. Regulations and certifications are confusing . . . the evolution of organic makeup has been slow and somewhat tortured, but the demand is out there. . . . I think the boom in mineral makeup is the biggest development in the last few years.”
Mineral makeup was popularized by plastic surgeons, Berg said, because patients wanted to wear some kind of makeup after surgery, but it had to be gentle and safe.
But watch out for talc in your mineral makeup, she warned, as this suspected carcinogen is easily inhaled.
In addition, you should avoid Bismuth Oxychloride (a skin irritant), parabens and synthetic dyes. Check the label or online at the Mineral Powder Foundation Ingredients List.
Questions have been raised about nano-particles – the tiny particles that help makeup go on smoothly – in mineral concoctions, and whether they could be too easily absorbed by the body. This is a new area of research, so the verdict’s not in. Canary Cosmetics, which avoids nanoparticles, has a good explanation of the issues.
Creating natural makeup is challenging because it’s tough to replicate the colorful properties, blendability, texture and staying power of traditional makeup. Chemicals give lipstick its vibrant colors and moisturizing properties, foundation its smoothness, eye shadows their varied hues.
So at least look out for ingredients to avoid, Berg said: Bismuth Oxychloride gives a pearlescent shine but can irritate skin; thimserol is a preservative – and a form of mercury — sometimes found in mascara, F, D & C colors in blush and eye shadow are coal tar derivatives banned in the EU. She rattled off more: diazolidonyl urea, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, petrochemicals, parabens.
Oh, and about lead in your lipstick. “The problem with lead is that it’s not on your ingredient label. It’s a contaminant, a byproduct of manufacturing. You wouldn’t know that it’s in your product because it’s not listed on the label,” she said.
Andrea Kane is the Organic Beauty Expert, a popular blog she launched in 2006 after she trying her hand at hand-made makeup.
A big stumbling block for indie organic makeup lines is finding quality base ingredients yet still keeping products reasonably priced. “Natural/organic ingredients cost more and thus raises the price point. In this economy, that’s a hard sale, especially when many consumers still don’t quite understand the overall benefits of using natural products.
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