Not everything that shines is gold. Sometimes is just iron oxide that shines as a component of our facial highlighter. From the hearth of the Earth to our shelves, minerals are increasingly more present in our Beauty products. But are they a safe bet for the consumer?
Not everything that shines is gold. Sometimes is just iron oxide that shines as a component of our facial highlighter. From the hearth of the Earth to our shelves, minerals are increasingly more present in our Beauty products. But are they a safe bet for the consumer?
Nowadays we have to look under the surface of the Earth to talk about make-up. The appraisal for what is natural is more and more present in the cosmetic industry and, because of that, any substance that may fall under that category will immediately stand out today. Iron or zinc oxide. Titanium dioxide. Mica, silica, talc or clays. Throw the first mineral those who have never read these names on the labels of their Beauty products. Actually, let’s try again: throw the first mineral those who have already read these names on the labels of their Beauty products. Or even better, throw the first mineral those have actually read the labels of their Beauty products. Anyone? Maybe it is time to make the world of cosmetics more accessible to consumers. So, let us make a journey to the center of the Earth, in order to find out more about the composition of the products that frequently fill up our shelves.
“The concept of ‘mineral make-up’ was created by the cosmetics industry to define make-up products that contain only pigments, solvents and other powders from mineral origin”, explains Marta Ferreira, PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and author of the blog A Pele que Habito. It is important to place this increasing value in mineral cosmetics as a part of the movement that praises a more natural and organic Beauty, namely after the 70s, when consumers started to become more conscious about the general impact of products in their health. Still, Marta encourages the idea that currently “there is no legal definition, not even a certification, for these kinds of products, so it is possible for any make-up brand to define their cosmetics as ‘mineral’”. Nothing new when we are talking about Beauty au naturel. This is because, even though the sustainable side of the cosmetic industry keeps growing, it is also increasingly more difficult to control.
But the history of using minerals in Beauty has its start before the 70s. According to our specialist, “minerals found in nature, such as lead, copper and iron, were mixed with ashes, oils and water, to form mixtures of various colours and textures, then used in religious rituals, war, or even as a form of seduction and individual expression.” So our current use of make-up is nothing more than a 2.0, or let’s say, an updated version of what was common amongst our ancestors. Not when we talk about the reasons or the events that created the need for wearing make-up, but mainly thanks to the progresses - mostly scientific - concerning their composition. For example, lead is no longer used in cosmetics because of its high toxicity and the majority of mineral ingredients are now produced synthetically. Yes, that is right, a big portion of those minerals that are classified as natural are, in reality, a product made in lab. Something that, for Marta Ferreira, can bring several advantages: “Besides being more profitable, the industrial production of these materials can offer several benefits from an environmental point of view, reducing the overexploitation of resources, the contamination of soils and waters, but also labor exploitation.” Aside from the environmental perspective, that is increasingly more important in an industry where sustainability appears to be crucial for consumers, there are also advantages regarding our health. “We hardly find minerals of ‘pure’ chemical constitution in nature, and sometimes these contain traces of harmful metals, like mercury or arsenic, that need to be eliminated”, states the editor of the blog A Pele que Habito, also adding the example of ingredients like titanium dioxide “that can demean product formulas when not covered by protective materials, like silicones.”
It is true that, even after knowing the advantages associated with synthetic production, there are still several options in the Beauty market that prioritise organic features in production, choosing to exploit minerals naturally. However, Marta explains that “even in these cases, it is necessary to submit these materials to some degree of refinement, since all the ingredients used in cosmetic production have to comply with an adequate purity degree, that can guarantee the uniformity between the batches of manufacturing and the safety of consumers.” This is the first question mark placed to the classification of mineral make-up as a natural product. And no one translates it better than our specialist: “To what extent can we continue to classify a raw material that is subjected to complex processes of purification, spending so much resources and energy, as natural?” The second question mark relates to the balancing of advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the natural exploitation of minerals. When questioned if Beauty products with mineral composition have more benefits than traditional cosmetics, Marta Ferreira explains that that is an analysis that has to be made “case by case”. Yet, there were presented several examples that help us understanding how synthetic does not have to be always seen as something negative, just like natural is not, well… always positive. And one of the minerals that helps portraying this paradox is mica. “The mineral exploitation of mica is frequently performed in developing countries, by workers subjected to horrible working conditions, and sometimes even children.” Because of that, the specialist asserts that the production of synthetical mica (Synthetic Fluorphlogopite) ends up being more socially sustainable.
The goal was to make everything easier, but perhaps we might have placed some doubts where there were none before. So let us return to the beginning. Why did minerals become a part of our cosmetics in the first place? “Zinc oxide, titanium dioxide and iron oxides are used in almost every make-up product, and even on sunscreens”, explains Marta Ferreira, highlighting zinc oxide and titanium dioxide as components that are able to give a white color, opacity and a certain degree of solar protection to products. “Also micas, talc and clays are used to dilute other powders, change the texture of liquid or semi-solid products, or even provide specific characteristics (oil absorption, immediate firming effect, blur finishing, etc.)”, clarifies the specialist. Besides being associated with the ideal of sustainable and organic Beauty, mineral make-up is equally advertised by brands as a less aggressive alternative for sensitive skin, with a lighter finishing, that does not clog pores. With this purpose in mind, in the last years we have been seeing the creation, of make-up lines or even entire brands with the so-called natural products as their composition is mainly made of mineral ingredients. However, Marta Ferreira considers mineral make-up as a “marketing positioning” rather than a “characteristic related to product composition”. Mainly because a lot of cosmetics, even those which are not promoted as natural, have on their ingredient list these same components. Only by analysing the product label are we able to understand if it “contains also any dyes or other powders of synthetical origin”, but the specialist concludes that even classifying a mineral product by its list of ingredients ends up “not offering any advantage, whether in terms of safety or efficacy”, specially for the consumer.
In the end, minerals were already an essential part of cosmetics before there was even a discussion about sustainability in the Beauty industry. And even though the desire for consuming increasingly more organic, clean, and natural is understandable, and sometimes the wisest choice, it is essencial to interpret the message that the industry sends to its consumers, because it is not always the same as what the labels say. Not everything that shines is gold. Not everything that is synthetical is bad. Not everything that is natural is good.
Originally translated from The Underground Issue, published October 2021.Full credits and stories on the print issue.
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