Poisonous Pout? What are you really putting on your lips?

Have you ever thought about it?

Putting on lipstick might be something of a daily habit, like brushing our teeth or combing our hair. But it might shock you to know just how many harmful chemicals you are being exposed to.

“In regards to lipstick we have researched and found that women will on average swallow 1kg of lipstick if you manage to work through 5 lipsticks a year between 16-60yrs of age. The chemicals that have been linked to cancer in those lipsticks are artificial colours, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), fragrance, plasticisers, talc, Teflon and formahldehyde.” Kim Morrison, Twenty 8 and Like Chocolate for Women

Kirsten McCullough, in her recent book, Less Toxic Living (download it for free here), also talks about chemicals in lipstick.

“Studies in the US by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and more recently by researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have found unexpectedly high levels of lead and other heavy metals in many lipsticks. These won’t be shown on any ingredients list, because they aren’t deliberately added: they originate as contaminants, mostly in colouring agents.

In addition to the possible heavy metal contamination, some ingredients that can be found in commercial lip balm that you may want to avoid are:
• petroleum jelly or mineral oil
• paraffin
• parabens, including parahydroxybenzoate, butylparaben,
methylparaben, propylparaben, and ethylparaben
• unspecified ‘fragrance’ or ‘flavour’
• oxybenzone
• butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
• diazolidinyl urea
• octinoxate/ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (this is a
sunscreen ingredient)
• propylene glycol
• menthol, camphor, phenol and alcohol.”

The problem with lipstick is that chemicals are absorbed directly into our bloodstream. Unlike when you eat food, there is no liver to bypass and help detoxify the toxins first. On top of that you have the potential cumulative effect of so many toxins in our body. 

So, what is the alternative? 

Well, you don’t have to give up lippy all together! You just need to be choosey about which one you will allow on your lips! Do your research, check ingredients and ask questions. I find the EWG Skin Deep Database an invaluable tool to investigate chemicals in cosmetics.

Here are my top three natural lipsticks.

1. Miessence Lip Cremes and Shimmer Cremes. A creamy matt formula with intense natural colour blends of pure mineral pigments. Find them online.

2. Inika Mineral Lipstick.  A completely natural and vegan lipstick, Inika is formulated with natural shea butter and jojoba oil to moisturize your lip. Absolutely zero chemicals or animal derivatives.  Find the Inika Mineral Lipstick here and their Lip Whips (like a lip gloss) here.

 
3. La Mav Tinted Lip Treatment. These are very clever as they combine an intensive hydrating lip treatment to moisturise and condition dry lips and intensive Bio-Active ingredients to help stop the visible signs of ageing on the lips. Oh, and they colour your lips too! Get them online.

What is your favourite natural lipstick? Are you concerned about chemicals in your lipstick?

Image courtesy of Marin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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