5 Ugly Beauty Biz Facts

The beauty industry banks $500 billion a year by helping people hide the epidermal truth—so it should come as no surprise that the biz glosses over a few facts. Treehugger lists five:

• Skin-toxic chemicals lurk in many skincare products, "and trigger skin problems such as rashes, redness, acne, and other symptoms of contact dermatitis."

• Carcinogens exist in products by companies that give to breast-cancer research: "Cosmetics companies, including Estée Lauder, Revlon, and Avon, are some of the worst offenders."
• Cosmetic products sold in the US are required to pass no safety tests: "Period."
  
• Toxic chemicals aren't listed on labels of personal-care products. Lax laws allow many of them off the label, but watch for oft-contaminated chemicals, like sodium laureth sulfate, urea, and quarternium-15.

For the fifth, click on the link below.
(More Estee Lauder stories.)