Warning: You Could Be Using Lipstick With Lead
Would you eat something you knew contained unsafe amounts of lead? Would you put it on your lips?
The answers to these questions may seem self-evident. But the 81% of American women who wear lipstick with lead daily may unknowingly be saying “yes” to lead and ingesting it with every touch-up.
A recent FDA analysis of 400 popular lipsticks found lead in every single product.
Even more alarming was the fact that 380 of those lipsticks with lead exceeded 0.1 parts per million (ppm) of lead, the amount allowed in candy bars. The worst offender, Maybelline’s “Color Sensation 125 Pink Petal,” contains 7.19 ppm of lead—a shocking 70 times more than is safe to ingest.
Unbelievably, the FDA insists these products are safe to use because they are not intended to be ingested.
But should we not be concerned that eating, kissing, or drinking while wearing lipstick with lead might easily lead to ingesting some of the product? Furthermore, skin is highly permeable, meaning that substances (including lead) can be absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream. 
This is why so many medications can be administered transdermally (through the skin, or dermis) via skin patches, creams, and oils.
Until the FDA starts regulating the amount of lead that cosmetic manufacturers can use in their products, look for lead-free lipsticks. According to a useful list compiled by The Daily Green, brands that offer lead-free shades include:
- Avon
- The Body Shop
- Clinique
- Dior
- Estee Lauder
- MAC
- Revlon
- Tarte
- Wet ‘n’ Wild
Keep yourself –and the ones you kiss—safe and lead-free by selecting only lipstick shades that are known to be lead-free.
