How do well educated, professionally successful women react when they come to know that a trusted beauty accessory like Lipstick is actually harmful to their health ? Do they feel furious, betrayed, indifferent ?

I showed the Times of India article on Lead in Lipsticks (about the CERS study) to a few beautiful ladies in the age group of 20 -30 and explained  the salient points of the study, the reaction obtained from them was quite interesting.

A few nuggets are listed below:

Natasha Coutino, Journalist, uses lipstick regularly. She was not aware of the harmful effects of lipstick until she came to know about the lead in lipstick study. She would now use lipstick only or rare occasions. “These cosmetic brands should be penalized for putting their loyal customers at such a risk”, feels Natasha. “They should assure the customers that they will be more responsible in future and never add such toxins in any other products”, She adds.

Divya Nair Hinge, a Senior PR Consultant too uses lipstick regularly and is aware of harmful effects of lipstick. However she is reluctant to give up using lipstick. “It’s a necessary evil”, reveals Divya. However She feels that there should be stringent enforcement of the law and licenses given to cosmetic companies should be revoked if they default.

Darshana Welling, Senior Manager (Digital Content) too uses lipstick regularly. She was under the impression that only cheap brands were harmful, the revelation of the study that expensive brands had higher lead content astonished her. She would now use lipstick only on those rare occasions when it is unavoidable. “Cosmetic companies should be more transparent and it should be mandatory for them to list all components on their products”, feels Darshana.

Juthika Nagpal, Deputy Manager, uses lipstick on a regular basis and is open to using them regularly inspite of knowing their lead content. “I feel there are more important and basic health concerns that need to be dealt first before going after cosmetic companies responsible for the lead in lipstick. Surely it has lower priority status as  compared to things like sewage leaks that occur in our drinking water supply”, quips Juthika.

Mousumi Ghosal, Journalist, once used to apply lipstick on a daily basis. She had a passing awareness about presence of harmful chemicals in lipstick but not about lead. The revelation of the CERS study about higher lead content in the more expensive brand was a surprise for her. “Film actresses and beauty pageant models use cosmetics on a regular basis. Surely they would have come across the harmful effects of cosmetics and lipstick. They should come forward and share their side of the story”, feels Mousumi. “Cosmetics are an indispensable part of a woman’s life. Government should take stringent measures against companies manufacturing and marketing such harmful products”, she adds.

Dr. Harshada Kotian, a respected Ayurvedacharya rarely uses lipstick. She strongly feels that any product harmful to human health should be taken off the market. “Health conscious women especially in the field of medicine should come forward and suggest harmless, herbal alternatives to lipstick and other chemical based cosmetic products”,  explains Harshada.

These are just some examples.

The bottom line is even well educated women have a vague knowledge that  chemical based cosmetic products including lipstick are harmful in general, they do not know the extent of their harm.

They are not totally averse to using lipstick and other beauty products even when forewarned about the risk associated with their use because they feel there are not viable alternatives.

Also today’s women are busy tackling other issues which hold more priority in their lives !! However, this does not mean the lead in lipstick or harmful cosmetics issue is trivial or is going unnoticed by the fair sex.

As Dr Harshada pointed out, the need of the hour is for health conscious women to rally together, pool their resources and come out with home made, herbal alternatives that not only enhance beauty in the short term but maintains good health in the long term.