Does more consumption of cosmetics damage your skin?

Written by, Olayemi Joel

Without an iota of doubt, our skins need the best healthy treatment we can give them. This includes the application of cosmetics products to improve the appearance and function of the skin.

The Food and Drug Administration in the United States, describes cosmetics as “products intended to be applied to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body’s structure or function.”

Chief among the many examples of cosmetics are those applied to face. These include: gels, skin care creams, lipsticks, eye shadow, foundation, powders, rouge, concealer, etc. Despite claims that much consumption of many of these cosmetics causes skin cancer and skin irritations, yet, the use of these products by people has always increased.

Many females apply make ups to their face before jetting out of the house, and can hardly can do without beautifying their faces and skin that way before going out. Without an iota of doubts, different cosmetics perform different or similar functions on the skin. The role of part or the sum of these cosmetics is to give their users a very appealing appearance. They help to also bring out the beauty in many people; which is a fantastic thing to know.

However, as much as it is not bad and unsafe to use or apply cosmetics to the body, more of their usage is detrimental to the safety and function of your skin. The first thing to know at the back of the mind is that the active ingredients in many of these cosmetics have the ability to alter the skin’s structure when over used, thereby causing defects in the normal function of the skin.

For example, hydroquinone; an active ingredient found in skincare creams, reduces the melanin content on the skin when applied. Yes, such product helps to tone the skin and make it look fresh and youthful, but at the same time, excessive application of such skin care creams has the ability to cause adverse effects to the skin.

Dermatitis, which is the inflammation of the epidermis of the skin to cause skin irritation, often occurs as a result of over usage of cosmetics products. Apart from being expensive, excessive usage of lipsticks and lip balm have been discovered to cause lip dryness which results into loss of

moistening tendency of the lips over time.

Also, the use of makeup concealers by people to hid pimples from sight is likely to result in appearance of blemishes across the length and breadth of the skin.

The one more danger of over consumption is the frightening skin cancer; which has an increasing statistics showing its adverse influence recently. Some of the products in cosmetics such as parabens, phthalates, benzophenone-3, are known to be endocrine disruptors and play important roles in causing cancer to the skin.

When using a new cosmetic product or one which when used, results into itching, skin irritation, more pimples or swelling, the best action to take is to dispose such product or minimize the use of such product to the minimal level.

This is because the ugly reactions on the skin may be as a result of over usage of the cosmetics; which might have triggered an allergic reaction or a similar reaction to manifest.