Look past surface for beauty products

Imagine applying a tube of lead to your lips, brushing mercury onto your lashes and slathering lotion with carcinogens onto your skin. Doesn't sound too attractive, right? But it's a scene that's unfolding in many U.S. households every morning.

As concern grows over the safety of commonly used cosmetic ingredients, so does frustration among consumers trying to sort out the dangerous from the divine. When's the last time you read -- or understood -- the ingredients in the shampoo you lather on your scalp? And how many people know that the ingredient thimerosal is made of mercury?

Most likely, your bathroom beauty products are made with not-so-gorgeous ingredients, including lead, mercury, parabens, phthalates and other known human carcinogens. Many of these chemicals mimic human hormones, especially estrogen, and may disrupt your body's natural hormone system, which is responsible for directing cell division, gene expression, growth, reproduction and brain and nervous system development.

"It's really important for people to understand you can absorb chemicals through the skin," said Ann Louise Gittleman, a beauty expert and nutrition specialist. "Remember, the skin is an organ."

Studies show that people are absorbing these chemicals. Parabens have been found in breast tumor tissue, for example. This chemical preservative acts like the hormone estrogen in the body, and increased exposure to estrogen increases the risk of breast cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration recently released results from its study of 22 lipsticks. All contained lead.

The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, studied 20 teenage girls from across the country last year. Their blood and urine samples contained 16 toxic chemicals commonly found in cosmetics and many of which are associated with serious health risks in lab animals, even at low doses.

"These are not trace contaminants like those found at part-per-million or even part-per-billion levels in food and water," states the Environmental Working Group's website regarding risky chemicals used in cosmetics. "These are the base ingredients of the product, just as flour is an ingredient in bread."

The FDA doesn't approve cosmetic ingredients, aside from color additives, and cosmetics manufacturers are allowed to use nearly any ingredient they wish.

Although there's debate over how much exposure is safe and how directly these chemicals are linked to serious health consequences, more people are choosing to skip the hemming and hawing and err on the side of safety.

In 2008, Minnetrista resident Ann Garrity left the company she founded to start a new business to guide confused consumers. As president of Organicdivas.com, Garrity distributes products that she's meticulously screened for safety and tested for effectiveness. Many of her customers have had breast cancer, infertility or other health issues that drove them to consider the full picture of their health.

"People looking for healthier options are being misled by some companies who imply their products are better by using words like 'organic' and 'natural,'" she said. "It really ticks me off."

Garrity, Gittleman and Rebecca Sutton, senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group, share five tips that take the headache out of getting gorgeous.

Be a sleuth. Don't be fooled by labels with pictures of pretty trees that say "organic" or "natural." Always read the ingredient list. Although you're more likely to find safer products at a co-op grocery store or natural foods store, never assume that every product there is safe.

Bookmark the Environmental Working Group's website, where you can:

• Search for a particular product at www.cosmeticsdatabase .com. If the Environmental Working Group has evaluated the product whose name you enter, you'll learn where it ranks on a 0 to 10 toxicity scale as well as any potential concerns about its ingredients. Use the advanced search to enter a product category, such as blush, sunscreen or hair color, and learn which options the group considers safe.

• Download a basic wallet guide to keep in your pocket at ewg.org/node/26958.

• Learn more about some of the ingredients to avoid at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/whatnottobuy/.

Try www.organicdivas.com. All the products sold on this site meet the following requirements:

• The company signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, a pledge to avoid cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting chemicals.

• The products rank no worse than a 3 on the Environmental Working Group's 0-10 toxicity scale.

• The company discloses all ingredients.

• Organic Divas product testers approved the quality and effectiveness.

• On this site you can print out a comprehensive "Dirty Dozen" list of ingredients to avoid, developed by Gittleman and available at www.organicdivas.com/dirtydozen.html. Request a Dirty Dozen card to keep in your wallet at www.organicdivas.com/card.html.

Spend wisely. Organicdivas.com has products that range from $2.50 to $150. Garrity said prices are often similar to what you'd find at Macy's or Herbergers. If that's more than you usually spend, try using fewer cosmetics. Take a day off each week from makeup. Or buy items that do double-duty, such as a blush that also works as eye shadow. Use milder soaps so you'll need less moisturizing.

Be wary of the word "fragrance." Instead of detailing each ingredient that makes up a scent, companies can list "fragrance" as the ingredient. This could be covering up unattractive ingredients. Plus, fragrance, even when it's truly natural, is a common allergen and irritant. It may be the culprit if you have blotchy skin, redness or rashes.

Sarah Moran is a freelance health writer in Minneapolis.