Dangerous and Toxic Chemicals Found in Cosmetic Products: Their Impact on the Human Body

Would you be shocked to learn that for centuries arsenic was the principal ingredient in every cosmetic formula for lightening skin — and that in some countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, it still is?

While you won't find arsenic in cosmetics in most of the developed world, there are other chemicals that are just as deadly and that you should avoid no matter how enticing the product seems to be. Here is a roundup of the top five toxins that appear in tens of thousands of cosmetic products.

Toxic Chemical Found in Cosmetics #1: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.

If you look closely at the label on almost any inexpensive facial cleanser, or your toothpaste, shampoo, or mouthwash, chances are you will see sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate as a prime ingredient.

This chemical is a surfactant. That is, it keeps all the other ingredients in the product well-mixed and available to the skin. This chemical helps all the ingredients in the formula penetrate the skin. The problem is that sodium lauryl sulfate also helps any toxin you happen to pick up from your environment penetrate your skin, too, especially the organophosphate insecticides and pesticides.

And just because the label says “sodium lauryl sulfate from coconut oil” or “triethanolamine from coconut oil," don't suppose you are getting all the natural goodness of virgin coconut oil. In these products, coconut oil is simply one of the raw ingredients in a highly complex chemical process carried out at a coconut oil refinery, all its healing antioxidants destroyed by heating to 450 º C (nearly 1000 º F).

Toxic Chemical Found in Cosmetics #2: Mineral Oil.

Did you ever wonder what happens to the oil that can't be refined into gasoline, diesel, or the raw materials used in the manufacture of plastics? The petrochemical industry has a place for all that sludge in the bottom of the bucket, and that's your face. It's a lot easier to use mineral oil to make various products than it is to find a place to bury it.

Mineral oil is used in products advertised as protecting the skin from the drying effects of sun and wind, but by dissolving sebum out of the skin, it actually leaves the skin drier, tighter, and more prone to wrinkling. The very product you use to protect your skin from chapping, over the long run, will cause chapping.

Don't even think about the way in which this product is manufactured, because that's another question.

Toxic Chemical Found in Cosmetics #3: Phthalates

Here is a quick quiz. What do these products, the terms in parentheses identifying some common chemicals used to make them have to do with diabetes?

• Aftershaves (DEP)
• Deodorants (DBP, DEP)
• Fragrances (DEHP, BBP, DBP, DEP)
• Hair Preparations (BBP, DMP, DBP, DEP)
• Nail Polishes (DBP)
• Powders (DEP)
• Skin Creams (DEP)

The answer is that all of these products contain phthalates, and phthalates have been linked to the development of type II diabetes. Scientists have found a clear link between the development of diabetes and the near omnipresence of phthalates in personal care products. Products with the phthalate DBP lower sperm count, reduce sperm motility, and increase the rate of genetic defects in sperm. DEP causes premature menstruation in girls and increases the risk of breast cancer in women.

Toxic Chemical Found in Cosmetics # 4: Synthetic Fragrances.

Perfumes used to be a product reserved for the very wealthy. Thousands of pounds of rose petals might be distilled to make a single bottle of rose attar perfume, and each petal was picked by hand. Rare plants and endangered animals were harvested to for the unique fragrances combined with care to make singular, boutique perfumes and cosmetics.

Nowadays it's a lot cheaper just to use synthetic fragrances — so that's what big cosmetic companies do. Modern chemistry gives us:

• Amyl acetate (banana fragrance)
• Anisole
• Apple fragrance
• Banana fragrance
• Bezophenones 1 to 12 (rose fragrance)
• Berry fragrance
• Bitter almond oil (benzaldehyde)
• Cinnamic acid
• Coconut fragrance
• Cucumber fragrance
• Honeysuckle fragrance
• Lilac fragrance (anisyl acetate)
• Mango fragrance
• Melon fragrance
• Methyl acetate (apple fragrance)
• Methyl salicylate (wintergreen or birch fragrance)
• Plum fragrance
• Peach fragrance
• Phenethyl alcohol (rose fragrance)
• Strawberry fragrance
• Vanillin and
• Verataldehyde (vanilla fragrance)

To name just a few of the questionable chemicals your cosmetics are packed with. Fragrances that once cost tens of thousands of dollars can now be obtained for a few cents—but at a steep cost to health.

There are two ways in which fragrances impede good health. First, applying a synthetic fragrance to the skin typically dissolves the skin's natural lubricants. Using synthetic perfumes quite literally can lead to needing wrinkle removers. The second problem with fragrances is that our brains are hard-wired to associate fragrance with food. When we sniff an apple perfume, our brains set in motion a sequence of behaviors that inexorably lead us to apple pie.

Read More: Are Your Cosmetics Toxic?

Toxic Chemical Found in Cosmetics #5: FD&C Colorants

FD&C colorants are chemicals that give color to cosmetics and hair dyes. Their use on the skin, especially near the mouth and nose, makes them readily absorbed into the body. Derived from coal tar, the colorants in women's cosmetics can cause sensitivity to the sun with resultant sunburn and wrinkling.

The colorants in gradual just-for-men hair dyes are stabilized with 2,300 to 6,000 micrograms per gram of lead. That's only 0.2 to 0.6 per cent lead, but lead poisoning is cumulative. The more years men use dye to touch up graying hair and graying beards, the more lead their bodies absorb. Nail polish, used primarily by women, has its color agents dissolved in a mixture of toluene and formaldehyde, the latter a chemical banned in countries around the world except the United States and Canada.

There is a sixth toxic chemical that actually has some uses in health care. It's Isopropyl alcohol. Isopropyl alcohol is fine for disinfecting the skin, in small doses, used on rare occasions. As a component of cosmetic products, however, Isopropyl alcohol penetrates the skin and carries with it any toxic compounds included in the product.

If you really knew the long-term consequences of using cosmetics formulated with these toxic chemicals, maybe you would opt for a natural look. In fact, if you do opt for a natural look, you just might look better in later life. The toxins that nearly all cosmetics now contain not only endanger your health, but they also cause wrinkling, reddening, and skin inflammation. The short-term benefit is just not worth the long-term cost.

You could also opt to shop from cosmetics manufacturers committed to using natural products, and get the best of both worlds.