Lipstick ingredients in many cases are a noxious mix of petroleum-based chemicals, many of which have not been thoroughly tested for safety. Several of these ingredients can cause allergic reactions or interfere with your body’s hormones. Some can even damage important body systems like the nervous system and the immune system.

Who would have ever thought that the pretty colors that help you look beautiful can actually cause harm? The truth of the matter is that many of the ingredients that color your lipstick are derived from coal tar, which causes cancer. Now, these coloring ingredients may not be known to cause cancer, but many of them have not been adequately tested to determine if they are safe.

Most of the color ingredients in your lipstick that give you an incredible number of shades to choose from are D&C and FD&C colors, meaning artificial colors. However, most of the time, D&C and FD&C are left off the label, so you’ll see the color listed as “Orange 5” or “Blue 1 Lake.”

Why should you care about this?

The FDA has approved D&C Colors for drugs and cosmetics, but not for food. Therefore, they cannot be used on the things you eat. Now, despite the fact that lipstick is a cosmetic and not a food, everyone who wears it eats it. Every time you lick your lips, you’re eating a bit of lipstick. In fact, “it was reported in the June 2002 issue of Glamor magazine that women inadvertently ingest about 4 pounds of lipstick in their lifetime.”

The other artificial colors used in lipsticks, FD&C Colors, have been approved by the FDA for food, drug, and cosmetic use.

D&C and FD&C colors are regulated by the FDA, but only in terms of the amount of toxic metals, lead, and arsenic they contain. D&C colors cannot contain more than 20 ppm [parts per million] of lead and arsenic. FD&C colors are limited to 10 ppm.

Lead and arsenic are poisonous. Therefore, every time you lick your lips, you may receive a small dose of these harmful chemicals.

Testing of several different lipstick brands in 2007 for the presence of lead found that more than half of the brands tested had a lead level higher than that allowed in candy. Most recently, the FDA tested 22 brands of lipstick and found lead in every one of them—and at levels even higher than the 2007 study! However, the FDA considers the lead detected in the tested lipstick to be harmless. However, since lead accumulates in your body, and even small amounts of lead in lipstick can cause harm, do you want to add lead to your body every time you lick your lips?

It is important to note here that the D&C and FD&C Colors certification does not address any other harmful effects these colors may have on your body. For example, neither D&C Colors nor FD&C Colors are reviewed to determine if they cause allergic reactions, are irritating to the skin, toxic to the nervous system or reproductive system, or even cause cancer.

Also, much of what you put on your skin is absorbed directly into your bloodstream. This fact is NOT accounted for in the standards for D&C colors, which allow twice as much toxic lead and arsenic as FD&C colors.

Avoid these D&C colors that are commonly found in lipsticks:

*Orange 5

* Orange Lake 5

*Red 6

*Red lake 6

*Red lake 7

*Red 21

*Red Lake 21

*Red 27

*Red lake 27

*Red lake 30

*Red lake 33

Steer clear of these FD&C color ingredients that are also found in lipstick:

* Blue Lake 1

* Yellow Lake 5

* Yellow 6 Lake

This is just a sampling of the types of color ingredients you can find in your lipstick. When you check the ingredient list on your lipstick, you may find other color ingredients that are not listed here, but should be avoided. For example, it’s best to ignore any lipstick that contains color ingredients with a number after it, or with a number and “lake.”

Also, there are other harmful ingredients in your lipstick besides the colors. These include xenoestrogens, or endocrine disruptors, which interfere with your hormones. Some of the most common found in lipstick are parabens. Methylparaben and propylparaben are the most commonly found in lipsticks.

Another type of ingredient that you will want to pass up is the penetration enhancer. It causes more of the lipstick ingredients to be absorbed by the body. An example of a common penetration enhancer found in lipstick and other cosmetic products is propylene glycol.

By now, you are probably wondering how you are supposed to protect yourself.

Here is a simple way to start using healthier lipstick and cosmetic products:

Check the ingredient list for the chemicals listed above when shopping for lipstick, as well as all your other cosmetic products. Then choose only those products that are free from these harmful ingredients. You may need a magnifying glass to read the fine print. Do this and you’ll be off to a good start.