More and more women are learning that their cosmetics and skincare products may be full of hormone-disrupting, skin-irritating, health-ruining chemicals, many of which have been been linked to cancer. From formaldehyde and phthalates to BHA, BHT, parabens and other conservatives, cosmetic ingredients can be anything but pretty.
This fact is all the scarier when you consider that the cosmetics industry is basically unregulated, especially when compared to other industries like the food and drug sector (which are both also dubiously safe, given the politics behind the approval of new products, but that’s another story). Yep, that’s right: the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act doesn’t require the FDA to approve every ingredient that a cosmetic company uses. What this means is that some very harsh chemicals enter your cosmetics and skincare products, and anything applied to the skin goes directly into the bloodstream, through the lymphatic system–essentially, you may as well be eating any cosmetic product you’re using.
