Avoiding Dangerous Minerals in Everyday Items

By: Rachel

Goal

• My long-term goal is to find out what minerals are in everyday accessories and find out if any are harmful to us and if there is something we could do to replace the harmful ones.

• I also want to come up with alternatives for people with allergies to certain minerals

Original Topics

• Make-up– Hair Products– Lotions and Sunscreen

• Jewelry– Watches– Bracelets– Rings

Grow Topic

• Make–up– Harmful minerals and ingredients– Positive minerals and ingredients – General idea of what some of these harmful and

positive minerals can do– Mascara, nail polish, face creams, perfume, hand

lotions, and lip gloss/stick (I did research on all of these but I did not include them all in the presentation)

Make-up

• General Cosmetics: Harmful-– Parabens: mess up human hormones, growth ad

damage DNA– Phthalate: Is used to prevent the nail polish from

getting fragile– Parfum (fragrance): can trigger allergies, asthma

and in rare occasions, have been associated with cancer and neurotoxicity

When and what to avoid

• When nursing or pregnant try to avoid any phthalates

• Many nail polishes have phthalates and parabens in them. This can cause damage to your blood cells and nails

• Companies are not required to list all of the ingredients, but if the label says fragrance, it probably means there are chemicals and/or phthalates in it

Make-up

• General Cosmetics: Helpful– Oxidizers: Oxidizers are commonly used in hair

product to make hair have more volume– Magnesium: commonly used in lotions. Can help

treat eczema or a condition known a vitiligo. Vitiligo is when you get exposed to sunlight, the pigment of your skin reduces

– Sulfur: helps with eczema, acne

The point of this presentation was not to scare you but to open your eyes a little to the reality of the dangers of general cosmetics. All of the

products I listed will only have ill affects on you if you put them on three times a day for ten years

straight. If you have that much makeup on all the time anyways it might be a problem.

I made a list of harmful minerals and I posted it to the wiki if you want to look at it.