Lead in my lipstick...?

image created by Satveer Kaur

What's in your products?

For many months, I have been phasing out "harsher" cleaning products, laundry detergents, and personal care items in favor of products claiming to be "natural," "organic," environmentally friendly," and "green." While this transition makes me feel eco-chic, it still leaves residual questions.

It's hip to be green these days, but what does that really mean?

Through the Seventh Generation Consumer web page, I discovered a link to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics site, where you can "... look up safety rankings of the products you use" with their database.

Luckily, none of the hair care products, nor make up I use scored higher than a 6 out of 10 on the health hazard scale.

According to their website, in October 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics tested 33 popular brands of lipsticks at an independent lab for lead content. Their research found that 61 percent of lipsticks contained lead, with levels ranging up to 0.65 parts per million.

Lead paint was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978, but the USDA still allows cosmetics companies to put lead in lipstick that is in direct contact with skin from the time of application, until the time of removal -- and runs the risk of being ingested?!

We don't have to buy a Prius to be green; simply checking the contents of our lipstick can lead to more informed consumer choices. And that, ladies, IS eco-chic.


Check out the following links to find truly "green" products:





Burt's Bees







Seventh Generation















Giovanni Cosmetics & Hair Care