April 2011
I get asked this a lot, so I’m going to try and break it all down in this article.
The cosmetic industry is completely unregulated, except if they are making a medical claim such as “acne treatment” or “SPF” etc., etc., and these products (those which are regulated) are not regulated for safety just for effectiveness of the claim and even that is suspect. There are over 100,000 chemicals being used in the cosmetic and cleaning industry in the U.S., less than 10% of them have ever been tested for human safety and next to none have ever been tested for safety when combined with other components, which is exactly what a cosmetic product is, a cocktail of ingredients.
How does the industry work? Well like most things it’s based on fear, fear of aging, fear of not being beautiful enough. These fears are preyed upon by slick marketing campaigns and false claims. The average cosmetic product is 95% petroleum filler with an active compound to give you the desired effect for about 6 hours; long-term effectiveness is not part of the plan. Within that formulation there are generally about 12 known carcinogens, the average person uses 12-15 products a day…if you do the math that’s over 144 chemicals per person per day!
What is a carcinogen exactly? Carcinogens may increase the risk of cancer by altering cellular metabolism or damaging DNA directly in cells, which interferes with biological processes, and induces the uncontrolled, malignant division, ultimately leading to the formation of tumors. This is unfortunate because most people believe that if you can buy something from a retailer it must be safe, right? We have been programmed to believe this. But it’s not true. Or maybe it is, if we die before we age, well than that is “anti aging,” isn’t it?!
In fact, in my 11 years of research, most products on the market today are actually causing long term effects, like premature aging, skin thinning and of course, cancer. All in the name of a good 6 hours of reducing fine lines and wrinkles.
Here are a few more examples of lies of the cosmetic industry. You know when you go to a nice hotel and you see your favorite brand in tiny little bottles? Well guess what, those are not what you think they are. Even 5 star hotels are only willing to spend about $0.20 cents per bottle for amenities. Here’s how it works. There are a few companies who license brand names, look and scent and then create an even more toxic cocktail of carcinogens and make it look and smell the same…but it’s really not the same at all. Chemicals are cheap. How do they get away with this? “Not for resale” that’s how. If you can’t buy it, they don’t have to list the ingredients. Pretty slick, eh?
You’re probably reading this and saying, wow! Good thing I buy all natural products. But being natural or organic when it comes to skin care means nothing. Again, there is nobody regulating the use of these words, so you can still find plenty of carcinogens and formaldehyde donors in the “natural” aisle. It’s very tricky. Many cosmetic ingredients are manufactured by component companies, and they come up with great names for things like “vegetable emulsifying wax”. That’s just peas and carrots, right? Nope, it’s 78% petroleum. In the last few years there’s been a lot of buzz about parabens. Well, what do you think replaced parabens? Answer: sodium hydroxymethyl glycinate, a known formaldehyde donor.
But wait, there’s good news…
Understanding the skin is quite simple really, your skin is your largest organ and it absorbs up to 80% of what you put on it. Feed it a healthy diet. Aging can be understood very simply. When you are born your skin produces new skin cells about every 30 days; this keeps us youthful. As we age, this process slows down; this is called aging. By the time we are 70, it could take up to 120 days to produce new skin cells. Also inflammation has a lot to do with skin health, both external factors, i.e. sun, smoke, environmental pollution and of course toxic products, as well as our diet affect the PH of our body and our skin. Our diets are loaded with acidic foods, coffee, soda, alcohol, pretty much all animal products, etc.
So the way we formulate at Pangea Organics, and how skin care should be formulated, is to treat the skin as we should treat the body. 100% of our ingredients are active; therefore, if an ingredient isn’t doing something positive for your skin, we don’t use it. We don’t use fillers. We fill our tubes and bottles up with powerful antioxidants (did you know that organic foods have 30% more antioxidants than conventional?). We use ingredients that speed up skin cell regeneration, and we use a lot of anti-inflammatory ingredients. We feed your skin what it thirsts for. What do you get in return? Healthy skin, and products that outlast, outperform and outdo all of your expectations.
Nobody does it, like we do it.
Hope this all helps. By the way, there’s no better month to toss the toxins than this month. All Pangea products are 25% off on our site as well as in select stores nationwide.
Please feel free to post any questions you may have.
Cheers to healthy skin!
-Joshua Scott Onysko Founder & CEO Pangea Organics