Do you read ingredient labels when you purchase food? If you do, then you must be concerned about your overall health. Right? Health experts often say; "you are what you eat." We know this to be true because of how we feel after a meal. If we feel bad, we will make sure to avoid a certain food.
We can conclude the same about our skin. If our skin feels bad after we put a cosmetic on it, do we continue using the product? Do we read cosmetic ingredients before we purchase a product? Or, do we read labels only after our skin begins to feel bad?
Cosmetics, food for the skin?
Did you know that even a small amount of any liquid that we put on our skin, ends up in our circulatory system? Yes, the health of our skin can be determined by the quality of our cosmetic products. If we pollute our skin with ingredients that our body does not recognize as wholesome and beneficial, then we are causing detriment not only to our skin, but to our whole body. Skin products can be compared to a nutritious meal. How can we determine the value of a meal? Usually by taste, nutrition and the following factors:
- Freshness of the individual ingredients.
- Quality of the ingredients.
- How natural, organic are the ingredients.
- Type, amount and freshness of herbs and spices.
Taste testing cosmetics?
Is it possible to taste test cosmetics? Most assuredly not! This is because of the harmful ingredients that most contain. To some consumers, however, one or two synthetic ingredients does not seem so important. But consider this, would you drink a glass of water that contains only a pinch of arsenic? Of course not! Even the smallest amount could be lethal! Consider this also; cosmetics often contain ingredients that are extremely toxic and cause mutations in laboratory test animals. Are you willing to risk your appearance to something that needs to be tested on animals? Think about this, there must be something sinister about a cosmetic, if laboratory technicians do not volunteer their own pets for testing. Much less volunteer themselves? On the other hand, natural ingredients have been used for thousands of years and have been tested for safety and efficacy. Seldom any allergic side affects result from using individual, organic ingredients on the skin.
Products without ingredient lists?
Some major manufacturers of cosmetic products are very reluctant to divulge ingredients to consumers. They claim to have proprietary secrets. But consider this; could you imagine a soup company not divulging their ingredients? Do they have the right to claim that they are exempt from divulging ingredients on the basis that a competitor might duplicate their soup? Doesn't the consumer, that will eat the soup, have rights too? For your safety and health, insist on seeing an ingredient list before a purchase. If a salesperson refuses to give you this information, then be very careful about purchasing such a product.
Try to see how many ingredients you can identify?
If you can identify most of the ingredients in a cosmetic as natural, you can be quite sure that it is safer. The more natural ingredients you find in a product, the safer it will be. However, it is equally important to determine the quality and quantity of individual ingredients. For example if a cosmetic contains corn oil as an emollient, it of course is natural. However, the quality of this carrier oil may not benefit your skin. In fact, it may, perhaps, be detrimental to your skin. However, what if a precious oil such as wheat germ oil is used? This would indicate a very high quality product, because this oil is one of the best emollients on the market. Remember, we must be as careful about cosmetics ingredients, as we would be about food ingredients!
Natural ingredients at the top of the ingredients list?
Ingredient lists are composed in descending order. This means that major ingredients come first. If a cosmetic manufacturer boasts that their product contains a prized ingredient, however this ingredient is found at the bottom of the list, how effective will this ingredient be? Look for a cosmetic with liberal amounts of the most effective ingredients!
What is the color of the product?
Completely natural products are seldom white in color. Nor are they completely clear. Ingredients in the natural world come in a variety of colors. When mixed together, the end product will never be completely white. Nor will they appear dark blue, red or yellow. Consider this. If you find a product that contains lemon juice in it, and appears deep yellow, what can we conclude? How much lemon juice is needed turn the product so incredible yellow? Look at the bottom of the list and determine if colorants have been added. Judge for yourself if a colorant is actually needed in this cosmetic for it to be effective. Oftentimes colorants and fragrances are added unnecessarily. This is done simply for product appeal. Appealing ingredients have nothing to do with effectiveness. If, however, a product appears completely white, yet it contains Sea Buckthorn oil? What must we conclude? Sea Buckthorn oil has a deep red appearance. If the product does not look pinkish, then we can conclude two things. The product contains very little of this oil, and it was added only for consumer appeal. Using our common sense when we examine product labels will help us choose a good skin product.
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