What’s Really in Your Beauty Products and What You Should Avoid

The market for beauty and therapy products is only growing, with the faces of celebrities often becoming the test ground for new looks and the popular trends of tomorrow. And with the latest fashions on the catwalk being replicated on the high street, the current trends within make-up and beauty products come from all over - from social media to social gatherings and all in between. Beauty products, far from being a gender specific market, often cater very much for the female market while merely keeping one eye on the male grooming market by default.

The recently growing popularity of treatments for men, be that in the spas or in the superstores, means that beauty products are becoming really big business, even more so than before. Companies all over the world are vying for the most consumers they can get from one of the biggest markets in the world and this means they’re often pushing their products, and their companies, to the limit of what is good for a person and what isn’t. Poorer quality often means better revenues and one the scale of the beauty market will always mean much more profit in a company’s pocket. But what does this mean for the consumer?

What’s Going in Our Goods?

Take, for example, what you’re doing - literally - when you’re using a beauty product. Sure, you’re making yourself feel better, which is great, but in the process, you’re actually putting products on to your body that have tens, sometimes hundreds, or chemicals in them that are often not hugely regulated. Because of this lack of regulation, it becomes very easy for manufacturers of the products you’re buying to bypass any health issues that might arise from consuming these skincare products. And the only person that this harms in the short-and-long term is you. Your pocket and your body.

The most common trait of these chemicals will often be skin irritants. Often, when you plaster these products on your skin once, the irritant will have little effect. The problem is, however, that you’re often coating your skin - arms, legs, face - multiple times a day, giving the irritant more and more chance to attack you and force your body into more harm that they claim to do good. And this can’t be healthy.

READ Health Risks of Perfumes: Chemicals Hidden In Perfumes And Their Health Effects

Fragrances and smells are very cloudy subjects in the market because they are just that - smells. They’re only produced to make you smell good and yes, while they do often do that, there’s very little by the way of ingredient information and explanation to show you exactly what you’re putting on yourself to make you smell this way.

Other ingredients in these products have often been proven to lead to cancer, hives and dermatitis among other things. But we don’t know this because there is nowhere we can go to find out this type of information. Which, in 2016, really is a bit of a shock. We’ve put together a list of ingredients to check out, then to quickly avoid. 

Beauty Products: What to Avoid

Benzophenone

This chemical is actually often in a product that is supposed to keep us safe and secure from the sun’s rays. You will often find it in sunscreen, but in actual fact it is causing us harm in other ways even if they are protecting us from the sun. Cancer and damage to our skin cells is some of the negative effects you can get from Benzophenone. The fact that this chemical is also easily absorbed into your body is another reason we need to begin to stay clear and check our labels on skincare products when buying them in future.

SD Alcohol

SD alcohol is the bad type of alcohol that is often put in skincare products. It’s bad because it’s an irritant and is quick drying, therefore has the effect of actually doing your skin much more hard than it does good. Some alcohols are good in products and actually have the opposite effect than SD, but SD had the supposed advantage that is takes the natural oil your body needs away from it. Which seems good, but is in fact quite bad for you. Make sure you avoid this ingredient in any brand that you currently buy from as it’s no good at all!

Tricolson

Make sure you check out for this little nasty. Often found in hand wash, Tricolson has actually been proven to be make bacteria antibiotic-resistant and can cause you real disruption within your thyroid and reproductive organs. In studies, it has failed to be proven than hand wash with Tricolson in is any better at cleaning than a standard soap or body wash. Worryingly, this chemical can also be found in toothpaste and deodorants. A prime example of a wide-ranging chemical that needs to be struck from our skincare and toiletry goods.

READ Dangers Of Aluminum In Deodorants

Carbon Black

Carbon Black is a beauty ingredient used in make-up, more specifically eyeliner and mascara. The links between this chemical and cancer are striking, if not yet medically proven to be fact. It’s still worth avoiding, though, as another link that is common place in between this and lung disease. If you can pick between products with and without carbon black in, it’s really worth making the choice to avoid it, even if the links are so far unproven.

Not all beauty products have bad chemicals in them, but maybe that is the point. If some don’t, then why are we spending our time and money using and buying these products, when their healthy, beneficial competitors are just as good but actually healthy. If you can avoid the above, then that’s the best way. Some of the chemicals above are only linked to causing us health problems, but even then, is it really worth the risk? Make sure you take the time to look at the back of the bottle. There are also plenty more chemicals that are in beauty products that have not been listen above. If you have time, why not do your own research and improve your skin care routine in the process.