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Natural Organic vs. Regular Lipstick -- toxic?
  • Bandana

    Since I've been trying to get pregnant over the last year, I've become more concerned about toxicity. I probably eat a sizeable amount of lipstick. I am not your usual "organic" type, but I was surprised to see the list of ingredients for my favorite lipstick, Avon's Beyond Color Plumping with Double the Retinol. (Sienna) I probably don't need the retinol at this point, but I don't understand the rest of the ingredients. I'm considering a switch to Covergirl Lip Perfection, but is it any better?

    Are organic lipsticks worth the hype?? I've seen that Bare Minerals has a natural lipstick, but I'm not feeling $25 per tube. I'm more of a drugstore type girl. I'm not loaded with money and don't want to be more paranoid than I should be--

    I would greatly appreciate any guidance!

    Thank you.

  • sarahf
    I would tend to assume--absent a specific ingredient concern--that natural is not more safe than synthetic (think radon, hemlock, etc from nature).  Although you do swallow some of what is in your lipstick, much of it gets rubbed off.  And dose is everything when it comes to poisons--something that would be toxic in large amounts could well be completely harmless (including pregnancy) in small amounts.  If you think about drugs, this is so often the case--we know what dose to take and we don't take the whole bottle for that reason.  But it's also true of lots of everyday substances.  My bias would be to assume the product (if marketed in this country) has been tested and is safe as used, including pregnancy, absent a product warning or advice from your physician; this is much easier than tracking down all of its ingredients and trying to determine the amount and route of exposure at which each is considered safe.

    A couple of resources: for pregnancy specifically, consult http://www.otispregnancy.org/  They are a non-profit organization and have a hotline where you can ask questions about drugs and other exposures during pregnancy.  Also consult http://www.cir-safety.org/ingredients/glossary/all
  • Bandana
    Thank you so much, saraf!
  • lindygirl1960
    hmm...just noticed there are two threads for this one.
  • sarahf
    Oooh, so that's where my long reply went!
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