Spring clean your makeup bag, part 1

Part 1 of 2

The Eco Women have talked to you a bit about lotions and soaps and other personal care products. Now it’s time to tackle a topic that’s close to the heart of almost every female super hero — makeup.

Recycla doesn’t wear a lot of makeup, but she wants what little she does wear to enhance her abundant natural beauty and hide her few imperfections. She wants to glow, to shine, and to be the prettiest super hero in the room. She also doesn’t want her makeup to contain any yucky stuff.

Yucky stuff? Yes, as with so many other products, makeup contains ingredients you might not want on your own personal body. Things that can irritate your skin or make you sick. Things that, while they are technically approved by the F.D.A., are not actually healthy for humans.

Here’s the Dirty Dozen:

1. antibacterials
2. coal tar colors: FD&C Blue 1, Green 3
3. Diethanolamine (DEA)
4. 1,4-Dioxane (present in sodium laureth sulfate and other -eth ingredients)
5. Formaldehyde (from urea-based and quarternium preservatives)
6. Hydroquinone
7. Mercury
8. Lead
9. Nanoparticles
10. Parabens (methyl-, ethyl, propyl-, butyl-, isobutyl-)
11. Petroleum distillates
12. Phenylenediamine (PPD)

Look at that list. Can you even pronounce some of those words? Recycla can’t, so imagine how much work it was to type out the Dirty Dozen. And coal tar? In our makeup? Outrageous.

Let’s take a closer look at some of those nasty ingredients.

Lead — This one should be self-explanatory. Lead is toxic, people. You don’t want it in your paint or plumbing and definitely not in your personal care products. Lead kills. The fact that it’s allowed in or anything humans come into contact with is unsettling.

Mercury — See lead, above.

Formaldehyde — Isn’t this what high school students use to preserve frogs in high school biology? Recycla doesn’t want to preserve her skin, just cover a couple of zits, so she’ll take a pass on formaldehyde, thank you very much.

Parabens — Parabens are a preservative used in personal care products. Parabens can also mess with your endocrine system and, early studies are suggesting, may possibly have links to cancer. Stay away from the parabens people.

Treehugger has written a very helpful article on greening makeup and other products. Also, check out Eco*Pretty’s raison d’etre. Just some food for thought.

Here’s your Eco Assignment: This week, take a look at the labels in your makeup bag. Think about how important it is to you to be as healthy as possible. Tune in next week for more.

Coming up next week: Part 2, in which Recycla reviews some of the eco makeups she’s tried. What was a waste of money and what was money well spent?