Valentin Bosioc
The popularity of makeup products today seems to be greater than ever before in human history. Business Wire states that the global cosmetics market reached a staggering $ 460 billion in 2014 alone. Experts anticipate that the global market for beauty products will continue to rise at an annual rate of 3.8% in the next five years.
We’re all witnesses to just how big the beauty industry is. Just thinking about the huge number of beauty products we see today can be overwhelming. Beauty is taking over even social media sites like YouTube that had a total of 123,164,115 beauty subscribers in 2015. These numbers speak for themselves, and what they’re telling us is that we are becoming a society of makeup junkies.
READ: 4 QUICK EXERCISES TO GET RID OF UNDERARM FLAB AND BACK BULGE IN 3 WEEKS
Humans have used makeup for at least 5000 years for the purpose of enhancing features that are thought of as attractive and hiding perceived flaws such as the first signs and symptoms of wrinkles. And although there is nothing wrong with wanting to beautify yourself occasionally, makeup becomes a problem when it creates psychological dependence.
A study carried out by The Renfrew Center Foundation found that almost half (44%) of all women said they felt unattractive without makeup. But the problem with relying on makeup to build your self-esteem does not end there. More and more medical practitioners, scientists, and consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with how makeup affects our physical health.
The Dangers Of Makeup Products
All makeup products, from foundations to setting powders, contain a great number of chemicals, some of which may even be dangerous to your health. The way certain chemicals in makeup interact with our skin can lead to skin dryness, flaking, and even allergic reactions.
But what is concerning is the fact that these chemicals have the ability to penetrate the deeper layers of our skin and enter our bloodstream. If these chemicals happen to be toxic, then chronic exposure to them presents a significant health risk.
Makeup has been a realistic danger for quite some time now. A study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science found that the bones of Japanese children from the Edo period contained levels of toxic metals a dozen times higher than the safety threshold.
The researchers said that the cause was the use of white facial powder by breastfeeding women that contained dangerous levels of lead and mercury. Another study from 1991 collected samples of kohl eye makeup from third-world countries found that many samples had dangerous levels of lead as well.
READ: HOW TO TIGHTEN YOUR BREAST AND MAKE BOOBS LOOK PERKIER
But things don’t seem to be much different these days. A recent study released by Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) for their project The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found that almost half of all kids’ Halloween makeup products tested contained banned and harmful chemicals.
However, most of these toxic chemicals were found at very low levels and as such should not have immediate adverse health outcomes. Furthermore, makeup can be bad for the state of your skin and those wondering how to get rid of acne are often faced with a dilemma of wearing or not wearing makeup as makeup is known to clog pores.
