From time immemorial, handbags have
always been an essential part of women’s dressing, and most of the time,
many women feel incomplete without them, and sometimes reluctant to
leave the house without having one.
These days, while men tend to move
around with just their phones and maybe keys, women seem to be carrying
the world around in their handbags; perhaps that is why their bags are
getting bigger.
No doubt, the handbag provides a safe
haven for the numerous items they move around with, ranging from phones,
toiletries, cosmetics, mirror, powder, comb, handkerchiefs and other
things, but one item that seems to have occupied a prominent place in
women’s handbags is the make-up bag or box.
These bags, available in varied sizes,
contain items that women apply to enhance their looks to a desired
taste, and it is not for nothing that a woman’s appearance while wearing
makeup would be quite different from when she’s just natural.
In fact, recently, a Chinese man sued
his new wife few days after their wedding, alleging that his wife
deceived him with makeup while they were dating and that it was after
they got home and she woke up the next morning that he realised how ugly
the woman she married was. Thus, he sued for damages for being deceived
into the relationship. Such is the power of ‘change’ that makeup
offers.
To further demonstrate how important it
is to them, women dare all odds to apply it anywhere, including office,
in the car, in the traffic, while walking on the road and many other
places, and its importance during wedding ceremonies cannot be
overemphasised, as it has become an integral part of preparing the bride
for the ceremony.
Makeup items include lip gloss,
concealer, foundation, blush, translucent powder, mascara, neutral eye
shadow, defining eye shadow, eye liner, lipstick, fluffy powder brush,
blush brush, eye shadow brush, crease brush, eye liner brush and
tweezers.
However, as helpful as these items are
in enhancing women’s outlook, studies have shown that some of them could
be harmful, especially those who are out of date. This implies that
there are dangers lurking inside some makeup bags.
In a report reviewed by Mail Online,
scientists at the London Metropolitan University examined some makeup
products and found that cosmetics that are expired have a high level of
harmful bacteria. They even found that one of the bacteria present,
enterococcus faecalis, could cause meningitis and septicaemia, which are
deadly diseases.
In the research sponsored by an online beauty retailer, escentual.com, laboratory
tests were conducted on five beauty products, including blusher,
foundation and lip gloss, four of which had just expired while one was
still within the usable period. At the end of the study, the researchers
were able to establish that the four out-of-date products and the
usable lip gloss tested positive for potentially dangerous bacteria.
The scientists simply advised that women
should dispose makeup items that are expired, because, according to
them, a few days and months could make a huge difference in how safe the
makeup items are. They noted that women could be spared from the
effects of these bacteria if they don’t use expired makeup items.
The Chief Executive Officer of the company that sponsored the study, escentual.com,
Rakesh Aggarwal, said, “Most women are totally unaware that their
cosmetics are a potentially breeding ground for deadly bacteria. If you
think about it, you wouldn’t keep food for months after the use by date,
so why should this be acceptable for cosmetics.
“This research has even surprised us and
has shown that there is a serious health risk here if women keep using
expired makeup items. Pregnant women or mothers with small babies need
to take extra care after our findings showed that the deadly meningitis
bacteria, Enterococcus Faecalis/Faecium, was found on several items of
out of date make-up.”
A microbiologist from LMU, Paul
Matewele, who was part of the research team, explained that six
different types of bacteria were found on a number of everyday makeup
items, especially those that had expired.
He said, “Under strict laboratory tests,
all the old make-up products of foundation, lip gloss and lipstick
tested positive for Enterococcus faecalis. Other deadly bacteria found
include eubacterium, which causes bacterial vaginosis; Aeromonas, one of
the causes of gastroenteritis and wound infections; and Staphlyoccocus
epidermidis, a nasty bug which is resistant to antibiotics and is deadly
for people in hospital or who have catheters or surgical implants.
“Others are Propionibacterium, one of
the main causes for acne and other skin conditions, and Enterobacter,
which causes urinary and respiratory tract infections mainly in hospital
patients with compromised immune systems.”
The study further found that a blusher
that had expired for nine months had the largest amount of bacteria and
could lead to urinary tract infections, while a mascara that had expired
for four months had the second largest amount of bacteria.
Interestingly, a lip gloss that had not
expired but was a year old had the third highest level of bacteria, and
the scientists pointed out that it tends to be prone to more bacteria
because it is applied to the mouth, where a lot of bacteria reside.
Also, a lip stick has some bacteria even
when it was just 10 months old while another makeup item, foundation,
that had expired for four months was found to have the fourth highest
amount of bacteria.
Notably, (most) men don’t use makeup,
but they are also not immune from the germs that women who use expired
makeup are prone to. The researchers explained that transfer of germs is
possible when there is direct contact with such makeup item and that
“kissing would be the easiest way to pass on the germs.”
Impliedly, men should be cautious while
kissing women who have makeup on their lips because, according to the
study, if such a woman had used an expired makeup item and they kissed
such a woman, they would also receive their fair share of the germs
available at that moment.
Beyond the health risks in using expired
makeup items, it appears that people are getting infections through the
cosmetics they use, perhaps because there is no serious attention on
them unlike the one on consumables like food and drugs.
Some scientists have advised that people
should be cautious when it comes to cosmetics and beauty products
because some of the ingredients used in preparing them are harmful and
would be better in the test tube in a laboratory than on people’s faces
because some of these beauty products could cause illnesses in the body.
In their book, ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous:
Protecting yourself from the hidden dangers of cosmetics,’ Kim Erickson
and Samuel Epstein found that a number of ingredients used for beauty
products are not good for the body, noting that the negative effects of
using such products build up over the years.
According to Mail Online, Erickson
said, “Some modern cosmetics contain a host of dubious ingredients,
which are cheap, stable and have a long shelf-life, but the long-term
effect on the body could be deadly. Many of the same ingredients have
been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
These authors also revealed that
chemicals present in beauty products usually find their ways into the
bloodstream through body spray, body cream, perfumes, powders, lip
gloss, which can be swallowed, among others.
Commenting on the findings of the study,
a medical practitioner, Dr. Rotimi Adesanya, explained that one
cosmetic product people should be wary of is toning creams, saying it
had been found to be associated with kidney problem.
“If the study is true, most of those
makeup items are being used around the face, and anything that is
contaminated and is used around the face can easily get to the brain,
and that is how meningitis, which is the inflammation of the brain
tissues, may come in. so, people should just be careful.” he added.
Hello, my name is Kay. I'm also young fellow trying explore the world technology and learn from others. i love surfing online to share knowledge and ideas with people. 
