Breakdown or Breakout? | Teen Ink

Breakdown or Breakout?

March 7, 2015
By marissak11 BRONZE, Cumberland, Rhode Island
marissak11 BRONZE, Cumberland, Rhode Island
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

     Have you ever turned over a makeup bottle and read the ingredients?  If you just answered no, I've got a newsflash for you.  The makeup you're putting on your face isn't covering the zit you have, it's infecting your body. 

     Do you know what the largest organ in the body is? Heart? No. Brain? No. Gluteus Maximus? No.  It's something you should treasure even more; your skin!  Think about it.  Your skin covers almost every square inch of your body.  But here's how you're not protecting it:  The chemicals used in makeup are just destroying your skin tissues.  If you went into your bathroom right now, and went to where your cleaning supplies were, and dumped some on your skin, what do you think would happen?  Nothing great that's for sure.  Would you do that to yourself?  Chances are, you wouldn't.   But if you spent the time doing your makeup this morning, you did in fact pour those same chemicals on your skin. 

     If you think I'm jumping to conclusions, let's back up.  Where'd you get that makeup from? You probably bought it from a cosmetics store or maybe it's your older sisters. Or maybe one day you wake up in the morning and start to get ready for school but only to look in the mirror and see a zit *BAM* right there in the middle of your forehead. You freak out and search frantically for a way to cover it, but you have nothing ready for use.  So, the next evening you go out and buy some makeup to cover it.  Sound like something you've done?  It's very common for women, and even men sometimes, to find an imperfection and to become uneasy and upset about it.  But why are these reactions happening?

     The reason starts, and sadly ends, with money. That's the only thing companies want anyways. They don't want to give you perfect skin or make you look bright and ready for your day.  They use whatever ingredients are cheapest, whatever packaging is most convenient and whatever celebrities in commercials will sell you.  They want you to buy their products so they can make money off of you, and they do that by playing with your mind.  Their commercials contain women with perfect complexions so then your mind associates the product with perfection.  If your result from the product is not a perfect complexion you get upset, just like your reaction to a bare face with an imperfection. 

     Here's an example.  If you're familiar with the brand "Olay" you may have heard of their products. There are many ads and commercials about their cosmetics. Their claims however, and images that they put in your head, are false.  In 2009, there was an Olay ad for its Definity eye cream that showed former model and celebrity Twiggy looking wrinkle-free---and much younger.  It turns out the ads were retouched. British lawmakers yanked digitally altered spots, citing not only a gross misrepresentation of products, but the ads potentially give a negative impact on people's body images. Now, this was in 2009, a couple of years ago and they did this. But, with all this high-tech editing softwares and photo shopping that we have now, in 2015, the companies can only be lying more.  Here's how they really hide the imperfections, meaning the companies' secrets:

     Europe bans 1,371 toxic chemicals from their personal care products and the U.S. bans only 11. It's a fact. U.S. companies aren't trying to protect your health, and that proves it.  Within your products, there are thousands of chemicals just waiting to be activated.  These toxic chemicals are being put into your makeup, since they're not banned.  It's not just the makeup however, they're in body spray, cleaning supplies, and even hand sanitizer.  Ironic, isn't it, how the products you think are killing germs and helping clean are actually helping make you unhealthy.  And where are these products going?  Well since the makeup is going on your skin, the chemicals are going into your bloodstream since the skin and bloodstream are connected.  Within your bloodstream, things like cancer are being caused and this leads to unhealthy environments and bodies. So, the next time you think about buying a product that will make you look better on the outside, think about what it's doing to your inside.


The author's comments:

After talking to my mother's friend and cancer survivor, I learned about all the chemicals and toxic ingredients contained in our everyday products.  I learned how valuable my skin is and how I should only be using natural products, meaning products with words in the ingredients that I can actually pronounce.


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