The Price of Beauty

OPINION by Brandi Bottalico ’10, Staff Reporter

After discovering my moisturizing lotion was a gyp, I decided to switch to organic face care. I had no clue where to start so I researched and discovered the huge difference that ingredients make. After schooling myself on what to look for and what to avoid, I took a trip to CVS. When walking down the lotion aisle, an orange box caught my eye. It was a moisturizer I had seen online. The name was Yes to Carrots. Sounds organic enough right? Remembering it was made with more natural ingredients and only few unpronounceable words, I took it to the counter, then reluctantly said farewell to my fifteen dollars. Yes. Fifteen dollars for my 1.7 fl oz tub. As opposed to my 3.4 fl oz moisturizer that was half the price.

So my experimenting began. There was definitely a noticeable difference. I only needed to put it on once and my skin was fine all day. No more little emergency lotion in my purse for when my skin felt dry. No girl should waste that valuable purse space for back up lotion. I was in love.

Once my Yes to Carrots began running low I would skim my finger around the bottom of the container in every nook and cranny to get all I could before having to admit that it was gone. I was no longer fooled by Biore’s Nourish lotion because it did nothing of the sort. I had said Yes! to Carrots and that was that. I would have to buy more. I couldn’t go back. I was a changed girl. My eyes were opened. Fifteen bucks well spent. Organic was definitely better.

Not only does it have the benefits for your looks, it is better for your health and our environment. Every day we wake up to put on our layers of foundation, gel our hair so that the curl has just the right amount of bounce and spritz our wrists with that new fragrance. But have we ever considered the results of this? Of course we have… duh! We look gorgeous all day. But seriously we don’t think any further about the consequences. I mean think about all those chemicals in our shampoos, soaps, makeup, lotion, hair dye, etc. when you wash them down the drain at the end of the day do you seriously consider where they go? or the effects they had on your body?

By using these hair products, dyes, and makeups we are expelling harmful chemicals into our environment. If these chemicals are so harmful to the environment we can also consider their side effects on our bodies and health. Chemicals such as carcinogens (cancer causing substances) are included in many of these products. We put many chemicals on our bodies daily and they go down the drain, affecting our wildlife, streams and rivers. If you can’t picture this then imagine the effect of you throwing a carrot in your yard everyday as opposed to a bottle of nail polish remover. Clearly there will be some consequences on the environment with the latter.

Also consider the same example for your skin. If your applying these harsh chemicals to them everyday than the body’s largest organ will be effected. Oh and don’t be surprised to know that your skin is not the only part of your body effected by these beauty products. These chemicals are expelled into the air that you breath and this could effect you in other ways — causing breathing difficulties or worse.

Students interviewed admitted to using at least 5 to 10, if not more, products a day.But if the soap, body and face wash used is organic then skin would reap the benefits.There would be no need for the extra expenses to cover up the negative effects of the harsh products. Buying that unnecessary glump of concealer for that emerging zit — $7. Paying for heavy duty lotion to ease dry skin-$8. Saying, “oh no I’m not wearing makeup” when asked why your skin looks so amazing — Priceless.

So in your consideration to switch to all organic beauty products remember its benefits to your health — and to the environment’s.