You’ll want to break up with your mascara after reading these 5 health risks of using the cosmetic

What beautifies your eyes can deteriorate your health! Here’s why your mascara is a recipe for disaster.
Mascara
Those long and luscious lashes come at a price! GIF courtesy: Giphy
Sonakshi Kohli Published: 16 Mar 2020, 13:18 pm IST
  • 70

In the big, bad world of beauty, there is no stone left unturned to beautify a woman’s face and enhance her features to make her look as doll-like as possible. 

From intense-black kajal to highlight the eyes and lip-plumping lipsticks to make lips look fuller to contour sticks for a sculpted face–we have it all. But the most dangerous beauty product that most of us own is mascaras, which we use everyday to enhance and volumize our lashes and make our eyes look wide open.

You can blame the Egyptians for kick-starting this trend all you want, but you have only yourself to blame if you don’t minimise your mascara usage after reading about these health risks associated with the seemingly-harmless cosmetic.

1. The chemicals used in mascaras can spell doom for your health
Chemicals like cheap petroleum distillates for even application, aluminium powder for colour, and parabens for preservation used in mascaras have been touted as being dangerous for your health by the American Environmental Working Group. Apart from causing organ system toxicity and increased skin absorption, these chemicals have also been linked to breast cancer.

Breast size
Chemicals are harsh for your breasts too. Image courtesy: Shutterstock.

Also, read: Ping! Your smartphone is wrecking your skin. And here’s what you can do about it

That’s not all! These chemicals can also cause an allergic reaction giving you teary eyes or under-eye rashes to deal with.

2. That mascara packaging is a breeding ground for bacteria
In a study published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, researchers found staph bacteria in a whopping 79% of the mascara samples they tested—all thanks to the mascara wand carrying our daily eye secretions into that dark, dingy mascara tube. Which, no points for guessing, makes it the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

3. Being careless with it can give you a stye
Leaving your mascara out in the open, leaving the product on your lashes for too long, using mascara way past its expiry date, or simply sharing it with your girl pals can lead to bacteria spreading to your lashes and lids, and giving you an eye infection aka stye!

Also, watch:

Select Topics of your interest and let us customize your feed.

PERSONALISE NOW

In fact, it can even lead to an allergic reaction and cause irritation in the surrounding sensitive areas. So, be really careful, ladies.

4. Your eyes aren’t safe either
Apart from the obvious risk of you hurting your cornea while applying mascara in case you accidentally poke yourself with the wand-mascara can weaken your eyesight. We are not saying it, research conducted at the Ohio State University is. And we’ve only got the harmful chemicals in mascaras to blame for this.

5. You can lose your precious lashes
What you use to enhance and volumize your lashes can actually make you lose whatever little that you have, or so, reveals research conducted at the College of Optometrists, the U.K. While the chemicals can weaken the roots of your lashes and make them fall, lash loss can also be attributed to the tedious process of removing the stubborn mascara—especially the waterproof ones.

So kick that mascara wand to the curb-or avoid daily use-and save your eyes from the torment of this product.

  • 70
About the Author

Twenty kilos down and struggling to maintain the weight loss by preaching healthy eating, while eating unhealthy every now and then. ...Read More

Next Story