Among the innumerable beauty blogs and tutorials, it is rare to find one that lays emphasis on the most important part of the process — the making of the product and the way our body ‘consumes’ it, either through the skin, or via our digestive tract, or sometimes even our most private parts. Since we now think of besan-based scrubs as a weekend luxury, it is important to look into the kind of lab-made chemicals that go into most commercial beauty products, and understand what we are letting into our bodies.
In India, it is required to label the ingredients, but no mandatory testing is specified. In the US too, the Food and Drug Administration does not have the legal authority to test cosmetic products (except colour additives). Toxicologist Prof Alok Dhawan, Director, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, says that any chemical, beyond a certain limit, is toxic. “The bigger concern is that no cosmetic or beauty product ever carries information on how much or how often it needs to be used. And in countries like India, where there is so much variation in climate and body type, beauty products don’t take into account any required variation in compositions,” he explains. He believes that cosmetic manufacturers need to build more transparency and public awareness on the products and how they need to be used.
Here’s a list of expert-vetted ingredients that you should avoid while buying a cosmetic or beauty product. Though some of them are already known and acknowledged by certain brands, some others are still hidden.
