Added: 10/14/2005 |
Fish scales as makeup ingredientCosmetics producers aspire to make women more attractive, young and healthy. As we know, the most popular forms of cosmetics are lipsticks, lip glosses, powder, foundation, blusher, mascara, eyeshade, eyeliners, nail polish and so on. Let's have a look at some kinds of makeup and their ingredients. Can they influence the women's health?
Lipstick is one of the most popular type of makeup used by the majority of women. It's a common knowledge that even in ancient times (particularly in Egypt) women painted their lips with mignonette tree leaves. But only in the 16th century scientists discovered that it was dangerous and even poisonous. The expression "kiss of death" has its roots in that era. But this fact didn't undermine the attitudes of cosmetics. It is still accepted. May it happen so that the reason for this is that not every person is informed about the makeup effect on human health?
What does lipstick contain nowadays? As a matter of fact, the majority of lipsticks is made of oils, waxes, emollients and some pigments. But there's also one ingredient of modern lipsticks, which for the recent 10 years has been a discussion topic among scientists and health professionals. It is pearl essence mainly obtained from herring scales. Many synthetic versions of this ingredient have been generated, but being too expensive they are not in wide use. As a matter of fact, not every fish has scales. For example, clingfishes, whose bodies are protected with mucus.
Fish scales are used particularly to create shiny colors. Without this ingredient it would be almost impossible to add a mirror-like effect to lips or nails. That's the reason why many makeup companies use such animal-based ingredient as carmine pearl essence. This substance is extracted from Atlantic herring, a small oily fish that swims in the North Atlantic.
Fish scales are available on a number of fish markets. For making a good lipstick fish scales are, first of all, dipped in hydrogen nitride and got crushed and sqeezed into special mixture. Most lipsticks also contain acid, which influences the lips cells. That's the reason why producers put there castor oil.
Speaking about nail polishes I can't but mention that fish scales are also used in their production. But each more or less informed woman knows that nail polishes do not only make their nails beautiful but also make harm. Fish scales and other ingredients of nail polishes may destroy small arteries of the nails. So, there may be lack of red tint. Nails can become dull and colorless, ugly and rough. It's interesting to know that different colors effect the human health in different ways.
As a result, nowadays many women who prefer using such makeup as lipstick or nail polish often suffer from different unknown diseases. Maybe if they paid more attention to the content of the beauty products they purchase, they would avoid some conditions. Of course, it would influence the demand on this product but at the same time it would make people healthier.
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