Allure November 2021 “BEAUTY INDUSTRY WE HAVE A GLITTER PROBLEM…”FLASHES OF METAL AND HINTS OF SPARKLE IN EYE SHADOWS AND LIPSTICKS ARE TINY-BARELY A HAIR’S WIDTH-BUT NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THEIR FOOTPRINT IS BIGGER THAT WE EVER THOUGHT” By Elizabeth Siegel
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Summary offered by 2244
“Glittery makeup is the stuff of weekend nights spent with friends and weekday mornings spent trying to look bright-eyed.” Fun for sure but it “lives on long after you take it off” and glitter, whether from your highlighter or nail polish, is being found in “rivers, soil, even dust in the street.”
What is the composition of glitter anyway?
Glitter is “made one of four ways: from microplastics (banned from cleansers-exfoliators and toothpaste), cellulose, mica or glass” none of which are biodegradable and will “remain intact for centuries.” Some forms of glitter “pose major hazards for living things” but whether they make their way into our food is unclear as more research is needed.
“How prevalent are microplastics in makeup?
Allure’s survey suggests about ⅓ of makeup products contain microplastics.
“How problematic are they?
Still an emerging area of study, it is regardless well known that chemicals within plastics may have a variety of human health impacts including “associations with certain types of cancer to issues with regard to reproduction…”
“Inhalation is a major source of microplastic exposure” so what are the alternatives?”
Some makers are moving to make products from biodegradable cellulose but unfortunately “the cellulose core…[is] wrapped in other materials…[typically] aluminum and a plastic polymer film” substances that make glitter “shiny and hold it together.” So far studies have evaluated large releases of glitter and “we do not know if the effects persist at lower concentrations…” Mica is one solution but questions about it being “responsibly sourced” and without “child labor” is unclear with most coming from Madagascar known to have “approximately 10,000 children, as young as four years old” working in mica mines. Big makers “Coty and L’Oreal…[reportedly] are committed to avoiding mica that has been mined with child labor.”