Breaking Down Beauty: Introduction

There is a glut of misinformation out there about beauty products and cosmetic ingredients.  It can be very hard to figure out what is true and what is misunderstood.  Misinterpretation of scientific findings can lead to erroneous and alarmist statements.  Having worked in the natural foods industry (which includes beauty products), I heard a lot of different things from supposedly reliable sources and I never thought to question the accuracy of the information or do my own research.

These days it is also becoming more difficult to separate fact from fiction because certain key words appear to have been redefined by the industry.  Seth, PhD in Chemistry from MIT, has volunteered/been coerced into exploring the different meanings of toxic, organic, synthetic, natural and chemical.  Are these terms just savvy advertising?  A way for one cosmetic company to slam another?  Or are there real reasons to worry about what companies are adding to their products?  I imagine it may be a mix of all three.

The aim of this series is to try to help you (and me, because I want to know too) sort through all the marketing, hype and misconceptions.  And to provide you with some tools to bust myths and help all of us be a little more wary of alarmist media, which I myself have fallen prey to in the past.

We will also be discussing cosmetic ingredients that people have concerns about like parabens, anti-bacterials, sodium lauryl sulfate, coloring agents and sunscreen chemicals.

Hopefully we will leave you with more answers than questions.

Speaking of questions:  Since this will be an ongoing project, Seth and I would love to hear your questions and concerns.  You can comment on a post or contact me directly and Seth or I will get back to you.  I am acting as curious consumer in this series and co-researcher, but Seth will be doing the grunt work.  He is going to try to break down the science for us - no easy feat for people like me who aren't big into chemistry. And he will provide you with sites and books to reference so that you can do more research on your own.  If you have discovered an alarming ingredient in one of your cosmetic products, do share!