Make-up takes away young girls childhood and it throws them into a world
where they are a victim of sexualisation and they might die because of the cosmetics.
The earlier the children start wearing make-up, the more they are at risk of getting cancer or other deceases, like breast cancer. Breast Cancer is not only a danger for girls, it is also a danger for boys, the products we use today contain toxic ingredients. Both the fashion world and the make-up industry work hard to keep us blind of the danger they pose. They want us to use their products because it is a billion dollar industry and the competition for consumers is tough.
“The daily beauty fix can be as addictive, compelling and expensive as some drug habits.”They are expanding their industry by offering make-up to children as young as 6 years old, and some even younger. There are also many who use make-up on their infants. They use the consumer’s ignorance of the consequences of what make-up does to children and how it changes their body image, but that’s not all, the toxins in cosmetics can make the child emotionally unbalanced and it can even be deadly. So it is not only the make-up and how the fashion world changes their view of what the ideal child and adult should look like, it damages them. It is the products itself that are dangerous. For children it’s even worse because they are more vulnerable for the toxic ingredients and carcinogens.
“Modern cosmetics contain a host of dubious ingredients that sound as if they´d be more at home in a test tube than on our faces. And although, for most if us, the majority of products appear safe in the short run. The results from long-term use could be deadly.”
The children today grow up too fast. They start using make-up at a very young age. The difference between children and adults gets less detectable with both make-up and clothing. The clothing of the youth are bolder, and more revealing. They are vulnerable for early sex. They’re young faces turn into an adults face before they are ready. Children as young as 6 years old use makeup and it gets more common and the consumer gets younger every year. The amount of makeup is more like what an adult would use. Children and teenagers look older than they are because of make-up. The next generation grows up in a more shallow or dense world, where looks are more important than personality and skills. They should not be concerned about how they look when they still are children. They should have the opportunity to be children, and enjoy themselves.
“To assure growing industry sales, advertisers target the anxiety that swirls around our physical appearance, spinning a fairy tale of beauty and sex appeal that begins the moment we reach puberty.”
Children today lose their childhood because of the trend of the fashion world. We see this through the responsibilities required when consuming products like make-up. Young girls today are encouraged to use their female sides from a very young age. They are playing on their sexual sides by throwing them into an industry that has created a new trend that children should look more like women. This causes a problem where the girl easily gets in a problematic situation, because they look like mature adults. They can easily get in a situation where they are sexually abused, because of their age they don’t know how or why this is dangerous and it puts them in this predicament. For children clothing and cosmetics, is normal. This is the new trend, to look like an adult.
The younger the child is when they start using make-up. The more they are at risk to develop cancer and other diseases and also mental diseases. The question is: Why is this such a popular trend, and what are the consequences for the girls? Why is the new trend with make-up influencing infants and toddlers? The easy answer to this question is that the industry wants you and your children from the youngest age as possible, for as long as possible.
“Erickson particularly warns against risks of ovarian cancer from genital dusting with talc by young woman and risks of relatively rare cancers, non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma, multiple lymphoma, and leukemia, along with ovarian cancer from the regular use of black or dark brown permanent or semipermanent hair dyes.”
Every year the industry uses a huge amount of money to prevent people from questioning their products too much, they try to comfort people into believing that products are not dangerous. They want people to use it, and from a younger age then before. It’s on the expense of the next generation, they learn that without make-up, and you are not pretty or beautiful. You need these cosmetics to be as beautiful as everybody else. They play with the insecurity that we humans naturally have.
“During the 1970s, consumers began to question the safety of mainstream cosmetics. To counteract the growing scepticism on the part of consumers, manufacturers set out to prove how safe their products were by sponsoring research into several of the synthetic chemicals commonly fond in cosmetics. While the results sounded reassuring, the politics and science behind the studies were anything but. Since the studies were paid for by the cosmetics companies, it was no surprise that the findings ultimately supported the industry´s profit margin by using misleading research to soothe consumer´s fears.”
“When you see breast development in a 7- or 8-year-old, and he happens to be using these products, that doesn’t prove the products are to blame—but you certainly have to consider the possibility. Until we have more evidence, I think it would be wise to avoid using products that contain lavender or tea tree oils, especially on children, who are more susceptible to estrogenic ingredients.”
“Although sporadic independent research continues, consumers are rarely privy to the findings. These studies, conducted without the benefit of industry backing, usually appear buried in obscure medical journals and gain little attention from the media. Those that do make the headlines are disputed by industry-founded experts who make the findings appear false or inconclusive. This scientific “he said, she said” scenario makes it all but impossible for consumers to understand the impact of the modern cosmetics can have their health.”
When you compare this statement to what Drop-Dead Gorgeous claims, this is just one of many ways how the industry tries to explain away the danger the products may have. They try to put the blame on other things then the products and they pay whomever they need to, to talk about the products in a less harmful way. Even though the article form Ophera Winfrey is a reliable source and it contradicts Drop-Dead Gorgeous, but it still backs up Drop-Dead Gorgeous because it tell about many other different companies who do the same.
“Coal tar colours, phenylenediamine, benzene, even formaldehyde, are just a few of the synthetic chemicals commonly included in shampoos, skin creams, and blushes-toxins that are absorbed into your skin whit every use.”
The Body Shop is another example, the founder clams that the Body shop, is an organic product, but research shows that only a few of the products contain any organic material, and usually it is only 2 or 3 ingredients in each product. And they do not take away the dangerous ingredients they just add the organic ones. So all in all they are just as dangerous and not better in any way then any other products on the market.
The consequences of cosmetic products are more dangerous than we would like to think, they consume us, surrounds us, and they take over. The young children are absorbed in this massive industry without any idea of the danger they might get themselves into, even before their lives can begin. The industry both fashion and cosmetics does what they can to get your children as early as possible as costumers, without thinking of the death sentence they put on their young lives.
“These synthetic ingredients are inexpensive, stable and have a long shelf-life. Manufacturers love them, but the results from long-term use could be deadly.” People should be more aware of the danger that the cosmetics pose for everybody who uses the products, everything from toothpaste to hair colour. They pose an enormous threat and we should be more aware of them. There should also be some rules/laws of what is legal in the cosmetics, and be treated as strictly as food and drugs.
If you see it from another side, there is also the danger of the sexual abuse that grows bigger whit the amount of make-up. It hides the children’s age and put them in a situation that can be a difficult one to handle because of the young age. Children and teens today start having sex earlier then what was normal a few years ago. They can be as young as 12 and 13 in their first intercourse, some even younger, and there are the teen moms, that can be used as an effect to this new trend.
It is a harsh reality we live in and we must take a stand for what we believe is right and protect our young ones. Teach them the value of self-respect and love for themselves, their natural selves before they hide in the make-up. If we’re not careful the innocence of our children will disintegrate in the overwhelming industry of the fashion and cosmetic world.