OH NIFTY. DOES YOUR FACE HURT?

Heck yes it should. Okay, so I might not be able to like use my "all seeing eyes" to see who actually visits this site, but I'm going to write this anyway. I hope it doesn't alienate anyone of my non-cosmetics using friends. :D It's rather amusing to see the great lengths that women go through just to look pretty. In fact, beauty was actually something that people risked their lives for back in the Elizabethan and Victorian eras; white lead face powder and nightshade being the tip of the iceberg. But as one may assume, we live in the 21st century, where we have an FDA, that's supposed to protect consumers from naively putting harmful toxins in their bodies, right? That's when things get a little messy.

Despite fallacious notions, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act only grants the FDA more regulatory power over additives in food and drugs, not cosmetics. In fact, the agency isn't even authorized to approve cosmetic products or ingredients before they get into the stores, and what makes it doubly worse it that the manufacturers are under no legal obligation to register with the FDA, file data on ingredient safety, or report any injuries due to product usage. What's being done to stop such atrocities? The European Union (good job, chaps) have actually banned over a

thousand carcinogenic and mutagenic toxins found in cosmetics, some of which can cause birth defects in young children. The United States, however, has only red-flagged ten of these toxins. Where are the other thousand or so chemicals, you inquire? It's best to wipe off that mascara in a quicksilver fashion, because there's mercury in it. Oh, and did I mention that the new perfume in stores? I hope it smells lovely with traces of petrochemicals in it.

This lack of regulation by the FDA also allows the cosmetic industry to create its own standards of safety. Sounds great? The catch is that they are only testing short term reactions and totally neglecting the effects of daily exposure and interactions with other cosmetics. So, that new foundation that your friend has might not exactly cause her skin to turn green and molt right away, but who said it isn't going to after a few years!

And to those who buy organic, you're not out of the woods just yet. According to Bitch Magazine, there are a handful of cosmetic manufacturers who pull the blindfold over your eyes and slap the word "organic" on their products, even if they contain only one percent organic material. (Houton) And what's going to stop those companies from smearing other ambiguous words on the labels, "natural" being one such term? The FDA doesn't even regulate the use of such words in marketing schemes anyways…

So, all in all, beauty is not skin deep, well, not anymore. Especially once you consider that your cherry chapstick might actually cause some DNA and organ mutation as well as birth defects to unborn children. Of course, you don't really have to take my word for it, I'll just sit at home twiddling my thumbs and wait until you call me back several years down the line and complain to me how your skin is molting and turning green.

Truth And Salvage Co