According to an article mentioned in my local food co-op's e-newsletter, "Women who use cosmetics daily absorb up to five pounds per year. That's a lot of chemicals moving directly into your bloodstream and organs without the filtering and breakdown that oral ingestion provides."
In my own defense, I have to say 1) I don't wear that much make-up. In fact, most people react with "you're wearing make-up??" whenever I say something about my make-up; and 2) What I wear under my make-up is more likely to be absorbed into my body than the make-up. The moisturizers and sunscreen act as a barrier to the minimal make-up I wear. In addition, I try to buy organic moisturizers, toners, and sunscreen...more than I can say for many other people who are absorbing their make-up. ;)
Then, too, surely, ingesting many tons of conventional foods a year is harder on a person's system than the 5 lousy pounds of make-up. Dh and our kids don't wear make-up anyway, so it's a moot point for them, and 80% or more of the foods we normally eat are organic, unless we're traveling or at someone else's home. So, I'm not too worried. Besides, the crap (Raid and Lysol sprays, bleach fumes, and yucky conventional foods laden with artificial colorings and flavors and partially hydrogenated oils, etc.) that my parents have put into my body as a young child is probably what will do me in, not the 5 pounds of make-up I may or may not have absorbed into my body each year.
"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)
