Heavy Metals In Your Cosmetics? How to Know and What to Do About It
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Did you know that there might be dangerous levels of heavy metals in cosmetics? Yes, heavy metals in makeup is a real concern that you should be aware of. Here's what you need to know about this serious problem and what you can do about it.
When you think about being exposed to lead or other heavy metals, you typically would think about lead in old paint or toys, mercury in fish or in fluorescent bulbs, right?
But could there be enough heavy metals in your blush or lipstick that you could be getting toxic exposure?
Everything from your eye shadows to lip glosses, mascara, and even skincare can have heavy metals in it, and it could be a significant problem.
Let's talk about it.
But first, let's talk about metals.
What are Heavy Metals?
Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that have a high atomic weight (high atomic number) and a density that's least 5 times greater than that of water.
Multiple applications (industrial, domestic, agricultural, technological and even medical) have led to both the widespread use and distribution of heavy metals throughout the environment.
In recent years, concerns have been raised over the potential effects of heavy metals on human health and the environment.
Are All Heavy Metals Toxic?
Yes and no. The toxicity of heavy metals depends on dose, route of exposure (breathing, skin contact, or in blood, etc.), and chemical species, as well as the age, gender, genetics, and health status of the individual who is exposed to the metal.
Following is an alphabetical list of heavy metals based on the above criteria. Note that this is just a partial list. There are more metals that could be included, including rare earth elements.
- Arsenic
- Aluminum
- Beryllium
- Cadmium
- Chromium
- Copper
- Iron
- Lead
- Mercury
- Nickel
- Thallium
- Tin
- Zinc
Out of the above list, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury are the most toxic of the group and so these are the ones that get the most attention in public health arenas.
These elements are thought to be systemic toxins that can cause organ damage, even at lower levels of exposure. They are also classified as human carcinogens (known or probable) according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
It’s notable that iron and zinc are essential nutrients like iron and zinc. They can be useful at appropriate levels, but can also be toxic in excess of that amount.
What Is Heavy Metal Toxicity?
Heavy metal toxicity (or heavy metal poisoning) can either be acute or chronic.
Acute is a sudden intense exposure (like a toxic spill or other type of accident), whereas chronic toxicity happens over time–with gradual exposures leading up to a systemic overload.
With all of the heavy metals being in our environment, exposures build up over time, and since it’s hard for our bodies to excrete some of these metals (and some people have a harder time excreting them than others), health problems can result.
Chronic heavy metal exposure has been linked to many health problems such as cancer, birth defects, kidney disease, and lung conditions.
Low-birth weights and developmental delays have been determined to be a result of lead exposure during pregnancy.
The Flint, MI water crisis, while about heavier amounts of lead in water, is evidence of the horrible damage that heavy metal exposures can cause.
Anyone can suffer health problems from prolonged exposures to heavy metals, but if you are pregnant or have health conditions, you might be at an increased risk. Children are also at a greater risk since their bodies don’t detox efficiently and they are smaller in stature, so any exposure will have a greater negative effect.
Does Your Makeup Contain Heavy Metals?
It’s scary to think about, but skincare and cosmetics are is one of the most common ways that people are exposed to heavy metals. So–how is that happening?
Well, heavy metals end up in cosmetics in one of two ways: either during manufacturing or they are part of the natural colors used in the product.
But you can’t see them or smell them. If there’s a high enough concentration, you might taste them, but that would be highly unlikely.
The ONLY way to know if your makeup contains heavy metals is to test it.
Most companies don’t do testing and there is no regulation in the US about heavy metal contamination in cosmetics.
The Food and Drug Administration has determined that 10 ppm of lead in cosmetics is safe, but they don’t require companies to abide by these standards or to even test them.
The truth is, that other than color additives for cosmetic products, really no testing is mandatory for the beauty industry.
Examples of Heavy Metals Found in Beauty Products
Mercury has been found in skin whitening creams (1 woman apparently had 100 times the average amount of mercury in her urine).
Lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, and aluminum have been found in lipstick and lip glosses (some in very unsafe levels). Basically, in all kinds of color cosmetics, heavy metal contamination has been discovered.
In a recent federal analysis, the FDA found that over 400 shades of lipstick from popular brands were contaminated with trace amounts of lead.
Even with “safe” levels determined for these products, when you add up the exposures that most women get between multiple beauty products and other exposures (think air, water, food, bulbs, etc.), toxic levels can be more easily reached.
What About Natural Cosmetics?
I'm all about natural products, but in this case, it might not be the best choice–here’s why.
Most “natural” cosmetics (think mineral makeup) are made primarily from talc and clay. These ingredients are often contaminated with heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and cadmium during the mining and manufacturing process and then they end up on your lips, cheeks, and face.
If companies aren’t proactively testing both raw materials and end products, there is no way to know if the product is safe or not, despite them being “natural”.
If you've been around Whole New Mom for a while, you know that I LOVE making almost anything from scratch. I make my own Eye Makeup Remover, Body Wash, and Hair Rinse, and a while ago, I thought I’d try my hand at natural cosmetics and purchased some raw ingredients.
However, once I found out about how heavy metals can contaminate the raw ingredients for makeup, I reached out to the manufacturer asking about heavy metals in the iron oxides, etc. that I purchased, but I never got a satisfactory response.
Mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, and more are all natural. So even if your products are “natural” or “organic” or DIY, if they have metals in them, they can still be a source of heavy metals at unsafe levels.
What You Can Do About This
The main role of government is to keep the citizenry safe, but sadly, regulation of the beauty industry is basically non-existent. Here in the U.S., the federal government didn't pass any laws regulating beauty products from 1938 until 2022.
Basically, you need to get informed–Know what's in your products and really know your manufacturer. And I mean REALLY know them. There’s a lot of monkey business going on out there. Ask me how I know.
1. Skip the Color Cosmetics – or Maybe Not
If you want to completely avoid heavy metals in makeup, you just might have to avoid color cosmetics completely and skip the whitening creams too. In fact, whitening toothpastes have also been known to have heavy metal contamination too.
To be as safe as possible, skip the foundation, blush, eye pencil, lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, and eye shadow. You can alternatively try a line of products that uses only plant-based colors, but then you can be dealing with other toxins like pesticides that are concentrated more heavily in color extract.
But if you, like me, want a little color on your face, then you need to do your homework.
2. Check Your Products for Safety
Go to Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep directory to see what is in your products. Keep in mind, however, that only ingredients are listed — not contaminants.
What is listed on the label is only part of the picture.
3. Buy from a Safe Company
Contact companies and ask about heavy metals and their products.
Ask if they batch test and what the presence is of heavy metals in their products.
I buy my personal care products from several companies since I don't think that one size really fits all, however, Crunchi is one very solid company that you can trust when it comes to heavy metals.
Crunchi and Heavy Metals
Crunchi not only does third-party testing for heavy metals, but they also work to prevent heavy metals from being in their products at all. Furthermore, they test for heavy metals two ways.
They invest in the highest purity grade colorants (iron oxides) and other raw materials available for our color cosmetics and skincare formulations. Also, they don't use lake dyes or FD&C colorants because the risk of heavy metal contamination in petroleum-derived colorants/pigments is quite a bit higher than in mineral-derived colorants.
Crunchi tests individual ingredients as well as every batch of finished products and they aim to be at non-detect or as low as possible while being far below EU and Canadian guidelines.
Testing Levels and “Non-detect” Claims
Finally, whenever a company talks about testing free or non-detect, it's important to know what their testing levels are. Otherwise, a company could have a test with sensitivity that's very high, so they will test “non detect” while there are still a lot of heavy metals in their products.
As an example of a company that does stringent testing, Crunchi uses tests with a sensitivity as low as .003 ppm for Lead, .003 ppm for Arsenic, .001 ppm for Mercury and .001 ppm for Cadmium. So when they say that they are non-detect, you can know with confidence that the levels are really low.
You can see more about Crunchi's high standards in my Crunchi review and my post about Beautycounter alternatives.
No matter where you shop, make sure you do your homework and keep the heavy metals off of your face. Because no one wants more toxins in their life.
What surprised you most about this information?
This post was originally published on April 23, 2015, and was rewritten and updated with new images on February 2, 2021. Following is one of the original images for reference.
I have been using some of the 100% Pure products. The mascara for me seems to be light. After a day at work I get home & it looks like I don’t have any on. I use the tinted moisturizer & love it. I heard about the Ava Anderson from my sister. Would like to try it but haven’t gotten around to ordering it yet. Now I see Suzanne Sommers has a makeup line out. Anyone tried her products yet?
Haven’t tried them -sorry.
Okay so I have been searching for a company that sells cosmetics that are free of the heavy metals. I looked at the Beauty Counter site, as well as Ava Anderson that you mentioned. I also looked into the other one mentioned above by someone Rejuva. Those three look pretty good so far. It looks like you are a consultant for the two you mentioned is there one you prefer over the other?? I really want to find something natural. I love Young Living Essential Oils and really want to find makeup that is more natural as well.
Hi there. I see why that is confusing.
I am almost for sure moving away from Beautycounter and towards Ava Anderson. I have multiple thoughts about that, but if you look at the ingredients you will see that the Ava Anderson ones are much cleaner.Beautycounter is doing a great job of moving away from the toxic ingredients in most makeup and skincare and towards safer contents. What exactly are you looking for re: cosmetics?The Ava Anderson lip glosses are lovely and their mascara is fantastic.Happy to help with all of it.There are few items that Ava Anderson doesn’t carry, like eye pencil, but they do have an eyeliner.I suspect they will have it soon, but not yet. Hope that helps.Update – Ava Anderson had a lot of mislabeling and other issues so I no longer recommend them nor their new brand, Pure Haven Essentials.
I am mainly looking for makeup, I am not one to wear a ton of makeup or even to wear it everyday, but I do like to wear it and want to feel good about it. I am trying to get into using better products in general, but it can all be very overwhelming. I will see something that looks good and then look a little deeper and maybe something else is saying that it is not so good. I have people I know that use Arbonne, and some use Younique, but from what I read there are still some questionable things in those. I know that there is not a perfect line out there I just want to find what will be best and affordable. It really is a lot to take in 🙂
Hi there. Yes, I am not a fan of many of the ingredients in those lines.
This list from Ava Anderson might be of interest to you. It has a list of ingredients to avoid. ….Update – Ava Anderson had a lot of mislabeling and other issues so I no longer recommend them nor their new brand, Pure Haven Essentials.They have a new one out now but I don’t have a link to that. Hope that helps.
I sale beautycounter and I will never use anything else. I get so many compliments on how beautiful my skin looks. I was so so shocked to find out what I did about cosmetics and personal care. This is a great article. Thanks for posting it.
Thanks much, Lindsey!
You are such a great resource … I only just recently found your blog … I’m in the process of reducing the chemicals, metals and nastiness … two almost adult kids, one with asthma one recently diagnosed with gluten sensitivities and dust mite allergies. Her allergist told us to be vigilant in finding GF make-up that is also dust mite free. This brings me to ask … do you know if Beautycounter products are gluten free? And do you know if they test for dust mites? We discovered my daughter’s dust mite allergy months after we went to the ER with an allergic reaction following a meal of GF/organic pancakes … after several visits to an allergist he told us she has “pancake syndrome” … caused by dust mites in packaged mixes and flours … basically every baking mix and flour product (bottled dry spices and herbs too) has the potential of having dust mites … baked goods (like cakes, brownies, etc.) cook at a higher temperature and for a longer period than pancakes … apparently the dust mites were still alive in her pancakes and caused the allergic reaction. Soooo, dust mites in makeup is yet another issue my family is trying to eliminate in our products. She’s currently using GF-make up from Tarte and so far, no problems.
Hi there. Thanks for your encouragement – it means a great deal. As for the gluten and dust mites….I have never heard of dust mites in products — food or otherwise, but I am happy to find out whatever would help you. As for gluten, there is a very detailed response to that on the Beautycounter site. I looked at Tarte’s and it appears that they do not have a definitive “gluten free” statement, but that they state that they do not use gluten to formulate their products. The information on gluten from Beautycounter is on this page under their FAQs. I would think that you would be fine with all or most of their products, but you can also rest assured that they have a 60 day full refund policy so you could try whatever you like and return it if it doesn’t work. The last I heard their return rate was only 1.3%.
Here is the FAQ section. https://www.beautycounter.com/adrienneurban?goto=/faqs
Feel free to comment with any other concerns. Is there something I can ask them about the dust mites? Did you ask Tarte about that and if so, what was their response?
You can also email me at wholenewmom at gmail dot com if you like.
Hey Sharyn, have you heard about Danielle Walker from Against All Grains? She is a on very strict gluten-free diet and she recently started using Beautycounter products, including makeup 🙂 She has zero reactions to them and even joined the company as a consultant 🙂 She is very sensitive to gluten so she also needs to be very careful.
Thanks for sharing, Kasia. That’s very true. There are some people who are celiac who avoid certain Beautycounter products but for the most part they are not an issue. Thanks again!
Thank you for sharing this information! I thin the heavy metal screening that Beautycounter uses is incredible and I’m so glad someone is out there asking the hard questions. I don’t think we need to sacrifice having fun with make up and our health!
Thanks, Lindsay :). I’ve never been a big makeup gal but I have enjoyed wearing a little lipstick recently.
It’s scary that this stuff is so pervasive. No wonder people are experiencing so ,any health issues! I’m now starting to make more and more of my own beauty products. My latest favorite is a homemade face serum that has made an amazing difference in my skin. I wrote about it here: https://everydaymindfulliving.com/amazing-homemade-face-serum/
Looks interesting. Thanks! I know – the heavy metal thing really upset me. I had no idea. To see how much is in some cosmetics is really frightening.
You say you “took zeolite” could you explain the exact regimen? Also, what was the ‘program that was supposed to help the body release the metals on it’s own’? Thanks!
I am not much for makeup, but I HAVE to have mascara! I have been using the 100% PURE mascara it smells wonderful and does a good job, but a bit too light, so I ‘beefed’ it up with some homemade mascara recipes, which has helped a lot. I also use a tiny bit of cream makeup to even out my skin, but when it is gone, I plan to make my own using recipes found on blogs like this (you might have even had one or two recipes here)…
Yes, there is more in this post about what I did. I did nutritional balancing but I am not sure it really did that much for me. It was all about hair analysis and I have moved on since. I don’t use a lot either…foundation and eye pencil and mascara pretty much. Does the 100% pure smudge? I am going to have to ask them about metals. Beautycounter is coming out with one soon apparently so I am excited about that and about ditching my Cover Girl :(. I have a few recipes – eye makeup remover and hair rinse and such. I hope to have a few more soon. Thanks!
Rejuva Minerals tests for heavy metals and they are rated quite well on EWG Cosmetics Safety Database.
I’ve heard of them. Is that the only brand you use? I see they do have good EWG ratings. I didn’t mention that in the post – Beautycounter cares about that too.
Do you know, by chance, how often they test?
I would imagine they would provide you with their testing results and frequency of testing. Their website is pretty detailed.
I also use the 100% Pure makeup.
🙂
I asked them. Thanks! I’m now curious about 100% Pure as well. I’ve only tried 1-2 products of theirs.
I use 100% Pure mascara and various lip colors, and their eyebrow gel.
I like them a lot.
Do you have the smudge problems with mascara?
Depends on the product. The 100% Pure doesn’t smudge on me. The eye pencils do, though.
Now that’s a problem I haven’t had with eye pencils :).
Hello Suzan. Just wanted to update you that I had 100% Pure on my site but I had to remove them due to odd ingredient responses. If you want any more info I can communicate with you about it.
Thank you for the article. Have known this for years and am glad you put all the info together in a good informative article! I don’t wear make-up and haven’t for decades now….. I’m sending this to my sister who uses all kinds of make-up…maybe she will believe me now!
Question: What type of Zeolite do you use? Powder, liquid or capsules? Where do you purchase it? I am a Dental Hygienist and have mercury toxicity! I did do chelations years ago, however, I’d like to start detxoing again. Thank you!
Hi there and you’re welcome. I use liquid.
Did you see the post this week on mercury toxicity? https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/how-i-recovered-from-mercury-poisoning/
Who do you purchase your mascara from?
Right now, sadly, I buy Cover Girl, b/c I think I have literally tried every natural one on the market and they all smudged :(. But Beautycounter is coming out with a mascara soon so I am really looking forward to it. Do you have smudging issues too?
Wow, so interesting, thank you! Makes me kind of sad.
You are so welcome. I agree with you. I was shocked to learn all of this too. What product line are you using, by the way?
Currently, I’m using basic mainstream products like Lorac, Urban Decay, Tarte, etc. It hasn’t been until recently that I’ve become interested in products that aren’t toxic to my health.
I want to get my certification in makeup though, specifically because I adore makeup. So finding this out is a huge bummer haha
Oh wow. Well, you could follow in the footsteps of Christie Coleman at Beautycounter. She’s amazing. If you go here you can see her in a video with their products. She does covers for Elle, Teen Vogue and Glamour – she’s uber talented. Apparently her relative developed Parkinson’s and they linked it to chemical exposures so she became convinced that it was important to get toxins out of beauty products. You can see the video here. I think you’ll find it to be inspiring.
I never was a big makeup gal but I am using lipstick now and find it to be fun :). (and minus all the lead, of course)
I haven’t used any of those but I’ve seen them in stores. When I started making the change to more “natural” beauty products, I was using Cover Girl and Revlon and Maybelline (buying stuff on sale mostly).
It’s good you have some better choices now. I will say, and this is no pressure at all, that I am thrilled w/ the Beautycounter performance. They have a makeup artist on staff who does covers for Elle, Teen Vogue, and Glamour – so you know the stuff is good. He relative got Parkinson’s (I think) and they linked it to chemical exposures and she became convicted that she didn’t want to put harmful products on models’ faces anymore.
And they have a 60 day money back guarantee and their return percentage is only 1.3%. It’s good stuff. I encourage you to take a look at it.