Smart marketing campaigns, beautiful packaging and branding, and gorgeous cover girls drive millions of women to cover their skin in makeup day in and day out. It’s supposed to make you glow and feel like your best and most beautiful self.
But is all this makeup ruining your skin in the long run? Chances are, your makeup is damaging your skin without you even realizing it. Here are 9 reasons why.
1. Damaged lips
Back in 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 popular red lipsticks. What they found will shock you: they found lead in 61 percent of these lipsticks! The FDA then tested these 20 red lipsticks and found even higher concentrations of lead.
Which brands produced leaden lipsticks? Brands you know and probably use, like L’Oreal, Cover Girl, Maybelline, and Revlon.
Lead is a terrible ingredient on so many levels. For one thing, it’s a neurotoxin, and can negatively affect fertility, as well as the development of fetuses in vitro.
Lead and other chemical ingredients can lead to dried or chapped lips, as well as irritation, resulting in redness and soreness.
2. Dried skin
Depending on the formula of your cosmetic products, as well as your own, unique skin type, powders and foundations are supposed to be the base layer for the rest of your makeup efforts.
But depending on the formula you’re using, and your own, unique skin type, these products can leave you with dull and flaky skin.
The American Academy of Dermatology says that what follows can be unwanted cracks and wrinkles, which only makes it easier for infection to occur.
3. Acne
It’s a catch-22 when it comes to makeup and acne. Sometimes, you wear makeup to cover up your spots and blemishes. Other times, your coverage and concealers are the culprits behind your skin breakouts.
That’s because the oils in most cosmetics can lead to a condition called acne cosmetic, where your pores are blocked, and you get red bumps on your skin.
If you suspect that your makeup is causing an allergic reaction, take a break for at least a week to see if there’s any improvement or if you experience any relief. Chances are, you will!
4. Makeup allergies
It’s pretty common to come across individuals with food allergies and intolerances. But it’s entirely possible that you’re allergic to the ingredients in your makeup, too. And since your skin is like your second stomach, it eats whatever you put on it.
Fragrances and preservatives can disrupt your skin and leave you with irritant contact dermatitis, a condition where you experience itching or burning. Otherwise, you can have allergic contact dermatitis, and experience itching, blisters, and swelling, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
Parabens are also known to be a problematic ingredient for many women. Not only are they dangerous for the reproductive system, but they can be hazardous once they make their way inside our bodies.
It’s true that the FDA says that they’re okay when used in small amounts. But if you use a small amount on a regular basis, your body is constantly exposed to nasty products that can negatively harm not only your skin but the rest of your body.
Looking for an alternative? Try brands like Bellapierre whose products are 100% mineral-based and don't contain any harmful substances (and you'll get a free gift with every purchase).
5. Are you using dirty brushes?
It’s not a pretty thought, but your brushes are the perfect place for bacteria to grow.
If you’re not in the habit of regularly cleaning your brushes, you can introduce plenty of germs onto your skin, and also keep them in all of your products.
This perpetuates the problem even more!
6. Are your products expired or contaminated?
Most makeup products should have an expiration date. But if not, it’s a good idea to follow these guidelines to ensure that you’re not applying makeup that’s too old and potentially harmful to your skin:
- Powders: Up to 2 years
- Cream foundations, shadows, and blushes: Up to18 months
- Lipsticks: Up to 1 year
- Liquid eye products, such as eyeliners or mascara: Up to 3 months
The ingredients in these products are not designed to hold up for much longer than these recommended dates.
What’s more, mold and bacteria can fester in these products if you use dirty fingers or dirty brushes to apply them.
7. Do you remove your makeup?
Truth be told, we're all guilty when it comes to this one.
But experts all agree on this one imperative: remove your makeup before you go to bed!
That’s because when you fall fast asleep, it’s not just that your makeup remains on your face. It seeps deep into your pores, and it takes with it all the gunk you’ve collected throughout your busy day.
When this happens, the collagen and elastin in your skin break down very quickly this way, and this means wrinkles, wrinkles, and more wrinkles.
8. Do long-lasting products last too long?
Karen Ballou, the Founder, and CEO of Immunocologie remind us of the risk we take with anything “long-lasting.” The reason why long-lasting foundations and other cosmetic products keep up with you for as long as they do is that they sink deep into your skin.
The problem here is that if you don’t take the time to remove all this makeup, it can remain in your skin, clog your pores and lead to acne and irritation.
9. Is makeup too refined?
Some people opt for natural or organic makeup brands because they want to avoid the harmful chemicals that fill the mainstream cosmetics. The only problem is, it might not be a better choice for your skin.
According to the dermatologist, Joel Schlessinger, MD, and former president of the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology and Aesthetic Surgery, “The perception is that natural ingredients are more pure and kinder to the skin than something made in the lab, but nothing could be farther from the truth.”
And while it’s true that scientists have made great strides to improve their formulas, their cosmetic products might not be the perfect solution either. That’s because they’ve made the particles in their ingredients much smaller and stronger than they’ve ever been.
When the particles are this tiny, they can sneak past your skin’s protective layers and the toxins within these cosmetics can eek their way into your system.
So, it might not seem like there’s any apparent damage to your skin. But daily use of mainstream makeup – even though it looks amazing – can be causing long-term damage to both your skin and your body's other systems and organs, including even the little hairs on your skin, your eyebrow hairs, eyelashes, and everything else.
If you suffer from acne or irritation on your face, maybe you should consider the makeup you’re using on a daily basis. Even if you’re skin seems okay now, consider all the toxic ingredients hiding in your makeup bag, which may lead to problems down the road.
