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 Woollens have been packed and sultry summer is on. The thought of water & power shortage and hot & humid weather is sufficient enough to send shivers down our spine even when the mercury is shooting up. Very soon we would be looking for anti-perspirants and deodorants. Let us think twice before we use them. Questions have been raised regarding safety of certain additives that are commonly found in most of our toiletries. It is difficult to say whether these additives are safe or not. The basic purpose of toiletries is to keep you clean and fresh all day long. Taking frequent baths and using tissues to wipe off the sweat as often as required can achieve this.
While anti-perspirants reduce perspiration, deodorants are supposed to reduce body odour. The former based on astringent salts achieve this by retarding the flow of
sweat and the latter make use of chemicals to kill odour-producing bacteria. According to a study published in a recent issue of Insight, a publication of the Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS), the chemical based deodorants and anti-perspirants even discolour clothes and weaken the textile's fibres, especially cotton and linen.
 Soaps and shampoos also contain detergents, foaming agents, emulsifiers and certain solvents as ingredients. Some of these may cause diseases of skin; eyes, liver and some of them may even be carcinogens. In addition, every time one opens a bottle of a cosmetic, microorganisms in the environment rush in. This systemic contamination can lead to serious infection in the user of the cosmetic. The best way to avoid this is not to share your cosmetics and follow the rule of good personal hygiene and common sense.
Manufacturers use certain preservatives and anti-bacterial compounds which themselves can cause allergic and irritant reactions to the cosmetic user. Many cosmetics proclaim to be based on natural products. There is still no clear definition of what natural actually means. Even natural products are known to have caused allergic reactions in the users. Besides a declaration of natural does not guarantee pure, clean or perfect. The original source of 'natural' could be heavily contaminated with bacteria, pesticides and chemical
fertilizers used to improve the crop yield.
 Several cosmetic packages carry labels "dermatologist tested", "sensitivity tested", "allergy tested" and "non-irritating", but these are no guarantee that the cosmetic will not cause any reactions on the user.
You can follow certain precautions to protect yourselves and maintain the quality of your cosmetics:
- Keep makeup containers tightly closed except when in use.
- Keep makeup containers out of sunlight; light can degrade preservatives.
- Don’t use eye cosmetics if you have an eye infection, such as conjunctivitis, and
discard all the products that you were using when you discovered the infection.
- Never add any liquid to bring back the product to its original consistency. Any external addition could introduce bacteria in to it.
- Never share your cosmetics.
- Throw away the cosmetics if the colour changes or an odour develops.
- Never apply makeup while you are driving.
Serious injury from makeup or cosmetics and toiletries may be rare but precautions are a must. It is for the users to decide if long lashes, brightly coloured nails and lips dabbed with coloured lipsticks are worth the risk!
Anoop Khanna
Asst. Manager (PR)
For further details contact:
Loss Prevention Association of India Ltd., (LPA)
Seethakathi Chambers, ( 4th Floor)
688, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 006.
Phone : 8524648, 8523920.
Fax: 8523746.
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