Living an organic lifestyle free from harmful chemicals!

It has been over a year since I wrote a new post for this blog, and at the very least, I have a good reason. About a year ago (right when my makeup obsession was in full force) I saw a YouTube video talking about parabens. The video spent about 10 minutes talking about this compound that is a common preservative found in most traditional makeup brands. What troubled me was that some studies linked this compound to breast cancer. Now, I'm no doctor, nor do I claim to be the scientist that conducted this study, but I will admit that I was scared nonetheless. This got me to doing some research and what I discovered scared me even more.

Apparently the cosmetics industry, along with producers of many personal care items, are not held to any sort of FDA guidelines or restrictions on ingredients. Unlike food manufacturers or medicine companies, cosmetics companies can put nearly any ingredient that they please -- including toxic chemicals like formaldehyde or anti-freeze and surfactants strong enough to strip grease from wood floors -- in their products without any ramifications. To make matters worse, almost none of them call out the fact that these chemicals are included in their products and therefore innocent consumers continue to use them never knowing just what they are putting on their skin.

If you knew there was a harmful ingredient in your foundation that, when absorbed in your blood stream could lead to reproductive issues, would you continue to use that product? I would think not, yet phthalates are commonly used in many cosmetics and you probably don't know. If you knew that a preservative was linked to breast cancer tumors, would you continue to support the company that knowingly put that ingredient in a product they sold you? You might think twice, yet parabens are the most commonly used cosmetics preservative, particularly in cheaper/drugstore makeup brands.

This is a controversial issue. There are many people out there who don't believe that this is an argument worth holding. They believe that using these products in small amounts won't do any harm, or that it's a hopeless cause to try and find good products that use healthy, natural ingredients. I'm not here to say that I am an expert and have all the answers, but rather I'm here to declare that I have taken a stand. Regardless of 100% accuracy, if there is a chemical compound that has been linked to serious diseases and/or illnesses, I don't want to take my chances, especially in non-necessary products like cosmetics.

Initially I thought this meant the end to my blog. After my research I wound up looking up all of the ingredients in my products and tossed out 99% of them. I sold my beloved NARS orgasm blush to a friend, gave away my Too Faced Natural palette and even cried when I back-to-MAC'd a ton of products that had hardly been used. However, I realized that just because I won't be using many traditional products anymore, that didn't mean I had to stop sharing my love of makeup with the world. As a matter of fact, as I continued researching natural and organic products, I learned that there are tons of makeup lines out there that are actually cognizant of what they use to make their cosmetics. Why not continue to do reviews and help others out there like me find products they can safely use?

From now on, Beauty Babble will do just that: showcase natural and organic cosmetics and personal care products. As I find and try something new, I will let you know what I think, and will clearly call out any harmful ingredients included in that product for the sake of full disclosure. With that said, I want to be up front and say that I am not perfect. I am trying very hard to change my lifestyle and buy all organic and natural products, but sometimes I too slip up. My very favorite mascara (Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes) happens to have triethanolamine in it -- a chemical that I avoid in all other products. But since I haven't yet found a replica for it that has all good ingredients, I continue to use it until I can find a replacement.

I hope that you all continue to support this blog with your comments and readership. I will not be removing my old posts since I know they continue to be helpful for people, and I also know not everyone is interested in converting to organic and natural products. However, I hope that for every person that visits this blog, even 1% stumble upon this post and choose to do some research of their own on this topic. Until next time, au revoir!