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AVA IN WISCONSIN ASKS:
I’m the doting aunt of two nieces now entering their tween and teen years. I want to be the cool Titi and get my darling girls fun makeup and skin care as they head back to school, but I don’t want to upset my sister-in-law who is super careful about what they eat and stuff like that. I know their mom doesn’t let them buy lip gloss or nail polish at the drug store. Do you have advice for safe but fun products for teens?
MOM DETECTIVE ANSWERS:
Ava, it’s official: you’re the coolest aunt ever for asking me this incredibly important question. Studies have shown that teenage girls use more personal care products daily than adult women. And it’s not just girls: today’s teenage boys are buying more skincare products than previous generations. Not all these products are safe for them.
Just so you understand, what your smart-sounding SIL is trying to avoid by not shopping at the drug store for her kids’ makeup—and probably also skin care, scented body washes, pimple patches, deodorant, and even tampons—is toxic chemicals, carcinogens, and lots of ingredients that can interfere with your nieces’ hormones at a time of intense reproductive development.
We know girls today are starting puberty and getting their periods earlier than generations before them, which can lead to an increased risk of certain health problems later in life like heart disease, diabetes, and breast cancer. Some have linked this shift to chemicals found in daily-use products that mess with our hormones. Exposures to ingredients found in the fun stuff you understandably want to give your nieces, especially at a time when their bodies are changing and rapidly growing, can harm their health, including long term.
Tell Congress: Protect Our Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals
The potential problems
I realize this makes no sense. What’s being sold on store shelves should obviously be safe for anyone to use. Who would ever think otherwise, rationally? But the deal is that many cosmetics and personal care products in the United States do contain hormone-disrupting chemicals, ingredients like phthalates (used in fragrance), parabens (used as preservatives), and even antibacterial agents in soap and toothpaste. Other ingredients that can be found in cosmetics include trace amounts of mercury and lead (both neurotoxins) and those that release formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
There are various federal agencies supposed to protect consumers from these kinds of chemicals. Cosmetics fall under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s purview. But regulation is pretty loose: cosmetic products and ingredients don’t require premarket approval from the FDA before sale, except for color additives (which must get specific approval) and specific prohibited or restricted ingredients. The U.S. has banned only 11 ingredients in cosmetics. Compare this to the European Union where over 2,500 are banned (some put this number closer to 1,600—either way, it’s more than in the states!) and even more are restricted.
To recap: Most makeup and skin products in America can go on sale anywhere without being checked first. It’s up to brands to make sure their products are safe for people. I am not sure I trust any brand this much.
Some solutions
Now for the good news, Ava! There are people devoted to the ins and outs of this issue, including the folks at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, who say that making good choices about personal care products can almost immediately reduce the number of potentially unsafe chemicals in the body. One study of high-school-aged youth in California found that after just three days of replacing their personal care products with low chemical alternatives, levels of four hormone-disrupting chemicals in their urine dropped by up to 45%. Nice!
But how to find these so-called low chemical products? Before I get to that, here are three important principles to follow when shopping for cosmetics:
1. Less is more. No one needs to be using tons of products per day. Work with your nieces to understand this. In fact, something as simple as safe-to-eat coconut oil can be used on faces, lips, and hair. The fewer products you use, the fewer potentially harmful chemical ingredients you’re exposed to. This is smart.
2. Shop wisely. Consider all the possible issues of any given type of product. Is your niece wanting electric blue eye shadow like my 13-year-old daughter does? You’re going to want to specifically consider ingredients like heavy metals and dyes. There are some really good third-party cosmetic certifications, apps, and databases designed to help seek out safe cosmetics. Some are more strict than others. Use them to guide you! I personally find shopping online at places that carry “cleaner” products while using guidance from Made Safe and Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database easier than walking into a store and trying to find the good stuff. Still, there are low chemical products to be found anywhere, and at good price points too.
3. Avoid fragrance. All cosmetics marketed at teens seem to be made in one zillion different scents: deodorant, body cream, body washes, shampoo, leave-in conditioner, actual perfume. It’s everywhere. Unfortunately, fragrance is sneaky. Due to trade secret rules, the specific ingredients of any given fragrance formula are not required to be listed on a product label. So when I see “fragrance” on a label, I read it as: “government-protected trade secret.” It’s possible for hundreds of unlabeled and unknown chemicals to be included in any given fragrance. Many chemicals typically used in fragrance, including phthalates, pose human and environmental concerns. This is why “less is more” is so critical—teens are often layering six or seven scents per day in various products.
Pay attention to details
Some body parts are more sensitive than others. Keep this in mind. Any gloss, stain, or stick you swipe on lips, for example, is likely to be swallowed. Skin is the body’s largest organ and can absorb some personal care ingredients into the body, but lips are a direct route of ingestion. Picture a lipstick-stained coffee cup. Whatever your nieces are wearing, they’re drinking some of it, often multiple times a day.
Really think twice before jumping on a fad. My own kid came home recently with drawings all over her body and claimed it was “skin safe” temporary tattoo marker “everyone” was using. I could not scrub it off fast enough. Teens are roaming all around shamelessly decked out in pimple patches right now—blue stars, flesh-toned circles, red crescents, and more. It’s an innovative way to take the shame out of acne, sure, but what is in them? What is the adhesive, what are the pimple-zapping ingredients? See if there’s a more natural version at, say, a health food store or a clean beauty emporium that would let your nieces be in on a trend but not exposed to unsafe ingredients.
When it comes to products that smell so bad it makes you wince, like hair dye and nail polish, your nose knows. If your nieces are willing to avoid either, great. But most teens are not. So then it’s about finding the safest possible versions. There are many nail polishes on the market today that are devoid of many of the worst ingredients typically found in polish. I have some for my own teens, but they still smell suspicious. Maybe they will be willing to save those for a special occasion. A cool Titi can only hope.
Tell Congress: Protect Our Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals