Studies find toxic Teflon in long wear make up products.. another reason to turn to natural products.
News recently broke that testing has been done on major Make Up brands finding highly toxic chemicals in Longwear and Waterproof foundations, concealers, lipsticks and mascara. These toxins are known as PFA’s or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl chemicals. Or more simply forms of Flourine.
The study found that 82% of Waterproof mascaras contained PFA’s, 62% of liquid lipsticks and 63% of foundations.
The PFAs act as water and oil repellents in these products, which gives them the ‘long lasting’ effect.
“PFAS are often used to increase a product’s durability, spreadability, and wear.”
PFA’s are also known as forever chemicals, as in they do not break down. They were used in Fire Fighting Foam as a fire retardant and have lead to poisoning of communities and have been implicated in numerous major law suits. They are also used as Teflon. Teflon is no longer used in cookware and is banned in Australia for any production or manufacturing.
And here’s why…
PFA’s have been found to cause serious illnesses such as cancer, thyroid disease, birth defects, hormone disruption and many many more.
Make up and Skincare products are absorbed directly in to your body. Mascara is absorbed through the tear ducts and mucous membranes. Lipsticks are directly ingested and Foundations are absorbed through the skin in to your bloodstream.
It should be noted that PFAs are found in household and daily used items, like clip wrap and sticky tape. Anything that repels water. However they have decreased in use in the last two decades. So why are they still being used in cosmetics? Because they are cheap and effective and can be disguised under different chemical names in an Industry that is largely unregulated.
So how can you be sure your products don’t have them?
You can look out for ingredients like -
perfluorononyl dimethicone
perfluorodecalin
PTFE.
Phenethyl Alcohol
and also anything with ‘fluoro’ in the name.
Or one step further, download the app ‘Think Dirty’ which provides you with ratings and potential risks of over 1.9 million beauty products.
Which leads me to this…why are natural, plant based and even organic products so important these days. Well the study speaks for itself.
For me, it began when I was about 19 and started using one of the first Longwear Foundations. It didn’t take long before I started having dermatitis rash forming around my eyes, and for weeks at a time. I tried everything to figure it out and finally went to my doctor, and he said ‘it’s your makeup’. So I stopped using that make up and it eventually went away. But then it came back. Over the years I have searched high and low for suitable products for my face, and let me tell you there wasn’t a lot. So I decided I needed to bring it back to basics.
Plant based products. Simple ingredients. That’s what works for me. So that’s also what lead me to starting this brand and coming up with these products.
All natural. Nothing artificial. All derived from nature.
Thanks for reading.
Kate x
Resources:
https://www.webmd.com/beauty/news/20210615/toxic-chemicals-cosmetics
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/fluorinated-compounds-in-cosmetic-products/3009868.article
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cosmetics-makeup-pfas-chemicals