Natural Cosmetics How to Choose Concealers

You might be surprised at the ingredients found in your everyday concealer. I was certainly blown away and disappointed because I used concealer every day for years before making the switch to natural mineral powder. I felt betrayed that I've spent thousands of dollars that have gone to companies that care nothing about the health and wellness of their consumers. I've only chosen four chemicals randomly from the list of ingredients found in concealer. Check it out.

1. Colorants
2. Parabens
3. Urea (Imidazolidinyl) and Diazolidinyl Urea
4. Propylene Glycol


Colorants are obviously used to change the product's natural color to the desired color. Of course colorants are not naturally derived from berries or fruits but are made from a variety of chemicals. Artificial colorants are cheaper, brighter and more uniform and have a longer shelf life. One example of a group of makeup colorants approved by the FDA is aluminum colorants. It is difficult to imagine that any use of aluminum colorants can be deemed safe.
These colorants contribute to infertility, cancer in reproductive organs, cognitive delays, birth defects and organ toxicity in the stomach or respiratory system. This is one example of a colorant and there are many others like it, not to mention the ones used that do not require approval from the FDA.

Parabens are chemicals used as preservatives. They are estrogenic, have been linked to breast cancer and can disrupt the endocrine system. Deodorant contains parabens and studies have found a link between parabens and breast cancer.

Urea (Imidazolidinyl) and Diazolidinyl Urea are preservatives. Remember when you were young and you had to dissect a frog in your biology class? Can you recall that lovely smell when they placed the frog on your desk? That was formaldehyde, the chemical used to preserve bodies. Urea produces formaldehyde.

Urea may cause heart palpitations as the result of respiratory irritation. It can also cause the following: depression, insomnia, headache, joint pain, chest pain, chronic fatigue, immune system depression and possibly cancer (According to the Mayo Clinic).

The use of propylene glycol (solvent) just baffles me because it can be found in our makeup as well as in any other cosmetic product we use on our hair, skin and nails. It can also be found in many essentials like deodorant, soap, toothpaste and food. This ingredient makes your makeup slippery just as it does with antifreeze. This nasty chemical is toxic but is still considered safe in small doses according to the FDA. Perhaps the small doses just kill us more slowly and make the source of any resulting complication less apparent.

Your skin absorbs propylene glycol quickly and easily. This chemical solvent causes kidney and liver damage, gastro-intestinal complications and brain abnormalities. The EPA requires workers handing the material to wear protective goggles and keep their skin covered with rubber gloves but they are allowed to wear it on their face when they put on their makeup in the morning. Your average deodorant contains an unusually high amount of this chemical.

To everyone like me who cannot leave the house without makeup, let's make a change for the better and seek out natural alternatives! Companies who sell these products will be forced to change their ingredients to stay in business and we will be happier and healthier once we've made the right choice! You may think that you alone cannot make a difference, but just like everything else, it has to start somewhere!

By: Francis David