With advertising centered around beautiful models with flawless skin, pearly white teeth, long glossy hai r full of bounce and the “ultimate” physical shape, it's no wonder there are beauty-obsessed women and men in the world today. The beauty industry has flooded our daily lives with every aspect from subliminal messaging to downright in-your face tactics. On every high street, in every magazine, on every television channel, we are bombarded with products for every “problem”. There are lotions and potions that will fight and protect us against our bodies' own natural processes.
The Product Age
It is no longer acceptable to age in grace, so much so that there are even products for anti-aging our teeth. We must use this cleanser along with its partner toner; and then there's the obligatory moisturiser, which by all costs should not be used around our eyes, because there is quite obviously a special product designed specifically for that. All of which will put a substantial dent in our pockets and in actual fact is possibly doing our skin more harm than good.
The Monetary Truth
“The global cosmetic, toiletries and fragrance industry is worth £6.2 billion. The UK exports £1.85 billion worth of goods and services while importing £1.72 billion,” reported PRNewswire on behalf of Cosmetic Executive Women UK. Also as documented in this article, World Duty Free sells £3 million worth of fragrance a week. With all this funding going into an industry that runs even shallower than skin deep, is it any wonder we live in a world as chaotic as it is?
The Truthful Ingredients
Ecologist magazine published an article in the May 2005 issue on bubble baths and the bath industry. They found that the UK bath industry, at that time, was worth £665 million, with bath additives accounting for £150million. They delved further into the ingredients used in these products and found some startling evidence. A few examples of these are quoted below.
- Sodium laureth sulphate – detergent – causes skin dryness; eye irritation; penetration enhancer; laureth compounds can be contaminated with 1,4 dioxane, a carcinogen linked to breast cancer.
- Mehtylchlorois othiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone – preservative – strong allergens; they bind quickly to the skin, remaining there long after use; nerve damage; potential mutagen; a suspected carcinogen due to its corrosive action on the skin.
- Butylphenyl methylpropional – synthetic fragrance – skin irritant; use is restricted due to powerful sensitisation potential; on animals, skin applications at high concentrations caused sperm damage and CNS effects.
These are examples of what is found in a simple bubble bath; now consider that if this is what is being used in your bath, what harmful constituents exist in the anti-aging; wrinkle-decreasing; skin-smoothing products that sit upon the shelf in your bathroom?
The Naked Truth
We are told that we should limit our daily caffeine intake. Garnier has recently launched a roll-on product that “visibly reduces dark circles and puffiness”, of which caffeine is an ingredient, so if you haven't already had your cuppa for the day, no need to worry; grab a bottle of Garnier Nutrionist and get your boost by applying it to the area below the eyes. It is almost a laughable state of affairs when we are advised to keep certain products to a minimum ingestion, but we're then willing to use those very same products on our skin.
Before all these unpronounceable names of ingredients came into existence there were and still are an abundance of treatments to be found in nature and if they do not already exist near you, it is simple enough to grow these plants in your garden. In the words of one 40+ woman with incredible skin from gram flour; oats and other natural ingredients found in her kitchen: “If you wouldn't eat it, then why are you putting it onto your body?”
Taryn Whitehead - I have been writing poetry from a young age and won a number of awards in school Speech and Drama. I have always best expressed myself ...
