Warning About Cosmetics

A Current Affair – by Ros Thomas 7/9/06

Many women will spend a small fortune on toiletries and cosmetics over their lifetime, using them morning and night. However, very few women actually have a clue what is in the products they use.

A British lobby group has issued a warning that the average woman applies more than 175 chemical compounds to her face and body every day.

Dr Ernest Tan, a Perth dermatologist, says the cosmetic industry sells science to women as though it is nature. Chief amongst their favoured ingredients are the following:

Formaldehyde – the same compound used to embalm bodies
Sodium laurel sulphate – used to create bubbles in shampoos and soaps
Parabens – often used in moisturizers, mostly as preservatives.

All of the above ingredients can cause reactions, from simple irritations if the skin is slightly damaged, to full allergic reactions.

However, beauty editors such as Cleo magazine’s Rachel Mannell say if those chemicals weren’t in makeup, no one would buy them because they’d look, smell and feel terrible.

“It’s a catch-22 because sulphates are used in shampoos and cleansers for the foaming effect and if the products don’t have sulphates in them, they don’t foam and consumers are unhappy,” Mannell says.

But no longer fooled by the glitz and glamour of the beauty business, many women are now asking questions about what’s in their cosmetics and why you need to be a scientist to understand the labels.

Certainly dermatologists say we’re being bombarded with all kinds of products none of us need.

“I think a lot of females are using too many products and I think all they need to use is a soap-free wash, a moisturizer and some sun protection. I think the rest, in terms of cosmetics, are over-used and over-marketed,” Dr Tan says.