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Kean | Style > Beauty

Beauty products that are safe for you and the environment

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Samantha Feller Student Contributor, Kean University
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Stephanie Musat Student Contributor, Kean University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Kean chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

 

Every girl has some attachment to their favorite shampoo, lotion and eye shadow. What if you found out that those products were bad for the environment or tested on animals? Would they still be your favorite?

Lipstick is a main source of petroleum entering the body for women. Environmental Working Group (EWG), an advocacy organization in Washington, DC. The EWG researched 711 lipstick products. According to their research, 28 percent of lipsticks contained ingredients associated with cancer risk from chemicals like butylated hydroxytoluene, Nylon 6, ferric oxide, polyethylene, and titanium dioxide.

Mineral make up is the way to go. Make the switch and you will be helping the environment and  yourself. Aside from mineral make up there are many other types that are organic and contain almost all natural ingredients.

“I think eco friendly products are an easy way to help the environment,” said Brianna Daniel, Kean student.

A good brand for hair care is Desert Essence, it is sulfate free and leaves a nice shine. “To support sustainability, we use natural and organic ingredients from around the world. We support a federation of Australian plantation farmers who have signed a pledge not to use any artificial pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. No animal testing is performed on our raw materials or our finished products,” according to their mission statement.

Many of their products use tea tree oil, native of the Australian coast and long recognized by Aborigines for its abundant healing and cleaning benefits. Tea tree oil has for the last half century been the subject of considerable medicinal research in Australia. Continued scientific testing there has revealed tea tree oil to contain more than 100 different chemical compounds, making this singular leaf-derived oil an effective anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and detoxifying agent, according to their site.

It seems like a big step and a time consuming task but remember it is for a great cause; helping the environment.

You wouldn’t eat something knowing it had toxins, why put it on your face or in your hair now that you know.


Stephanie Musat is a senior journalism major at Kean University. She is currently the online editor for The Tower, Kean University's student newspaper, and has previously served as the editor in chief of The Daily Orange, the independent student newspaper of Syracuse, New York. Able to recite every word in Love Actually, she appreciates the King's English, but wants to clarify that spelling favorite as 'favourite' doesn't make you cool or British. Stephanie believes a cup of tea can cure anything, has an affinity for wearing sequins, and she loves her cat, Truman, more than any human (just don't tell her mom.)