Imagine washing your face at night with your regular skin care product. A little quarter sized dab in the palm of your hand and a splash of water as you rub the product into your cheeks.
Now imagine walking to the cabinet where you keep your household cleaning products, grabbing your kitchen counter degreaser and spraying yourself directly in the face—washing away the day’s grime as you scrub your cheeks with industrial chemicals.
The ugly truth is that there’s a very inadequate difference between these two situations. A lot of your routine products are tainted with the same chemicals you use to clean your floors and wash your windows.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t enforce skin care companies to advertise all of their dirty little secrets. In fact, the FDA doesn’t enforce the testing of ingredients in personal care products whatsoever. This is largely due to the fact that the federal law regulating cosmetic safety is ancient. It hasn’t been updated in almost 80 years.
The effects of these products can go much further than skin deep. There is very little getting in the way of a product that has cancer-causing ingredients or long-term negative health risks making it onto shelves—it’s highly likely that your favorite moisturizers are among those.
Cosmetic corruption
Companies in the cosmetic and personal care industry are self-policing and jumping through legislation loopholes, monetizing Americans’ overall health and well-being.
Rachel Pearson, creator of organic skincare line RachelMade Products, found the current state of our cosmetic industry extremely troubling. She did her research and discovered that everything you put on your skin soaks into the bloodstream. This means that, if chemicals are present, they will soak in and eventually be processed by your internal organs.
Hormonal imbalances, cancer and a slew of other yucky internal side effects are all a daunting possibility. Not to mention the number of chemicals that dry out the skin and hair follicles, despite what the packaging may suggest.
That’s right, some products that claim to fix skin issues are actually causing what they “intend” to prevent or cure—such as silicone-based moisturizers that are actually suffocating our pretty little pores. The free market is a playground for cosmetic corruption and mainstream manipulation.
Pearson also found that many self-care ingredients that are permitted in the United States are strictly banned in other countries. That doesn’t stop consumers from buying their routine lotions or best smelling shampoos though.
That’s because we are trusting and loyal. We are putting money into the deep pockets of the cosmetic industry while they are preying upon our health. The livelihood of well-known and mass produced skin care is heavily based upon their devoted customers.
“We’re still undergoing an evolution of consciousness of what is good for your skin and what is bad,” Pearson said. “People are still going to buy these products because they are still ‘trusted brands,’ but when the consumer is educated, they will no longer buy products that contain these ingredients.”
The truth about ‘natural’
As the intrigue of conscious-living bleeds into today’s consumer reports, the word “natural” is tossed around like a hot potato. Trusted brands, such as Neutrogena, use the word “natural” to fabricate good intentions and bypass accusations from health-conscious communities.
“The world ‘natural’ is not regulated by any sort of agency,” Pearson said. “You don’t have to meet any standards to use the world ‘natural.’”
It’s no surprise that with such an unregulated industry, these types of buzz words are exploited to trick the customer into purchasing. Unfortunately, as soon as you flip that bottle around, you’ll see a long list of synthetic chemicals that are nearly impossible to pronounce.
“A good rule of thumb for beginners is if you can’t pronounce it and if you don’t know what it is, then don’t put it on your skin,” Pearson said.
She also believes that if you wouldn’t consume it, then you probably shouldn’t use it as skin care either.
RachelMade with love
RachelMade products are handmade, fully organic goods made in small batches. Pearson whips up scrubs, balms and soaps with a whole lot of love and nothing but natural, beneficial ingredients. And when she uses the word “natural,” she really means it.
The skin care creator endorses each one of her products because she has seen and heard the results.
“I’ve gotten several emails in the last two weeks alone from clients telling me how my products have helped their skin,” Pearson said. “One woman reached out and let me know that her eczema and her rashes were gone, and she no longer needed to go to the dermatologist all the time. She reduced her visits thanks to my products.”
Not only do these products put you at absolutely zero risk of health hazards, they also impact a greater good. A portion of each of Pearson’s sales goes towards Inheritance of Hope, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting families that have a terminally ill parent.
Using brand name products may be the cheaper option, but the risks cost so much more in the grand scheme of things. Using falsely labeled skin care is a never ending cycle of redundancy and frustration.
Take care of your skin. After all, it is the largest organ in your body.
