Why You Should Only Use Paraben-Free Makeup

I started using makeup when I was 14 years old. Like most everyone else, I never really read the labels. I went to the store and got overwhelmed and excited about all the beautiful, colorful makeup products. So much makeup to choose from! The store looked beautiful and clean, all the makeup on the shelves were organized perfectly, and waiting for me to pick them up and take them home. Even as I grew up and makeup became my profession, I still didn’t bother to check the labels and see if they were toxin-free clean makeup! If the pigment caught my eye and the price was affordable, it was mine.

But things changed when I got pregnant with my first child. Finally, it occurred to me that what I put on my skin went inside my body and that what goes inside my body was going to affect my baby. So I decided to learn more about the beauty industry. I did some research online, read books, met with laboratories, and I found so much information, much of which wasn’t great.

The Ugly Truth About Chemicals in Cosmetics

The one book that I enjoyed the most to learn from was:

“No More Dirty Looks” book by Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt

This book taught me a lot about the beauty industry, first as a consumer and then as a founder of a makeup brand. It opened my eyes to the danger in ingredients and products, how things really work behind the scenes, how things not always look like what it seems to be, and what to avoid as a consumer and a founder of a makeup brand.

You see, all those makeup brands created a colorful, beautiful environment. It means the second you walk into the store, look at their website, or the perfect model in their commercial, you feel safe. Most sustainable makeup brands want you to believe that they are ethical makeup brands, that they are affordable, clean makeup. If the model in that commercial has that perfect skin and her makeup looks amazing, so do you. Right? Wrong! 

Let me share with you something that I have learned. Product laboratories will take a mouse, inject chemicals into this poor little one, and see how his body reacts. If this mouse, let’s say dies from brain cancer after 6 months, those chemicals won’t be removed from products. 

What they do is calculate the size of the mouse, and the percentage of how much chemicals were injected to cause cancer and/or death. They convert this to the size of a human being and figure out the safest percentage to use on a human being. If 60% of chemicals were injected into a mouse, they will put only 5% of those chemicals. After all we are much bigger than a mouse, so we are safe. Right? Sorry, wrong again! 

How many products do we use in one day? Soap, hair products, body products, makeup, food…. So if we really calculate our size and the amount of the products that we use every day. We are damn close to 60% if not much much more!

What are Parabens?

Parabens are artificial preservatives, a big group of chemicals, that are absorbed into the body through the skin. Parabens in makeup and other products are used all the time. Parabens are added to makeup and other products to prevent and reduce mold and growth of bad bacterias which can harm us. Parabens also increase the shelf life of makeup and other products. 

Some studies show that makeup and other products can be made without parabens in them to be safe. Also whether or not you have parabens in your product, the shelf life is the same:

• No longer than two years in the store 
• No longer than a few months to 2 years after opening, depending on the product.

So it is very clear that parabens in makeup or other products should not be used.

The Dangers of Parabens in Cosmetics

If companies that sell any type of product, makeup or otherwise, had to put one image that describes their ingredients, especially parabens in makeup, most of them would look like this:

Not only are parabens in makeup and other products bad for the environment, daily use of makeup/product containing parabens can:

• Disrupt hormones in the body
• Harm fertility and reproductive organs, in all genders 
• Affect birth outcomes 
• Increase the risk of cancer
• Skin irritation 
• Preterm birth 

Puzzle’s Commitment to Creating Paraben-Free Makeup

I learned my lesson. I will never formulate any product that has parabens. I want consumers to trust me and know that my makeup brand is an ethical makeup brand, and I will always provide affordable, clean makeup. 

I hope that this blog helps you understand that when it comes to makeup it's not only about what color foundation is right, colorful eye makeup, or how beautiful the pigments look. Most importantly, beauty is about health and safety. There are enough ethical makeup brands that have affordable, toxin-free makeup out there for you to choose from, and guess what? They create an environment that is colorful, beautiful, uses real people as their models, and most of all are safe!